Services Employment - Ranking 1997
In 1997, Burundi (5.38%), Lao PDR (8.88%), and Madagascar (12.60%) ranked highest in services employment among all countries. Djibouti ranked lowest at 93.46%.
Data & analysis
- Burundi — 11.56
- Niger — 17.74
- Chad — 19.76
- Central African Republic — 20.55
- Mozambique — 20.55
The 2025 World Bank data on services employment reveals a stark global divide. The top of the ranking is dominated by Sub-Saharan African economies, where services account for a minimal share of jobs: Burundi leads at just 11.6 percent, followed by Niger at 17.7 percent. These figures reflect labor forces overwhelmingly concentrated in subsistence agriculture and informal trade, with limited formal service-sector development. At the opposite extreme, Djibouti (92.2 percent) and Luxembourg (91.5 percent) represent economies where services dominate employment, often due to a small agricultural base and reliance on finance, logistics, or tourism. A structural reason for the bottom’s high services share is the absence of a large manufacturing sector, forcing workers into low-productivity services. As digital infrastructure expands in low-income nations, the leaderboard could reshuffle if new service jobs emerge in remote work or fintech, though agricultural transformation would need to precede such a shift.
| Rank | Country | Value | YoY % |
|---|---|---|---|