Unemployment by country

Every economy Bullrun holds a reading for: 119 in all, ranked highest first. Sudan is the highest at 61.2% and Thailand the lowest at 1.0%; the median is 5.3%. Each row carries its own period and source, because these providers publish on different calendars - two rows in this table can be more than a year apart.

Unemployment by country, ranked

#EconomyUnemployment rateBandPeriodSource
1Sudan61.2%Severe2025IMF
2South Africa32.4%Severe2025IMF
3West Bank and Gaza24.4%Severe2022IMF
4Nigeria22.6%Severe2018IMF
5Jordan21.3%Severe2025IMF
6Tunisia15.2%Severe2025IMF
7Georgia13.9%High2025IMF
8São Tomé and Príncipe13.5%High2017IMF
9Morocco13.0%High2025IMF
10Armenia12.8%High2025IMF
11Ukraine11.6%High2025IMF
12Lebanon11.5%High2023IMF
13Algeria11.4%High2019IMF
14Bosnia and Herz.11.4%High2026-08Eurostat
15Finland11.0%High2026-09OECD
16Kosovo10.8%High2024IMF
17North Macedonia10.7%High2026-09Eurostat
18Panama10.4%High2025IMF
19Spain10.3%High2026-09OECD
20Chile9.6%High2026-08OECD
21Suriname9.5%High2025IMF
22Bahamas9.4%High2025IMF
23Serbia8.7%Slack2025IMF
24Albania8.7%Slack2025IMF
25Sweden8.6%Slack2026-09OECD
26Syria8.6%Slack2010IMF
27France8.5%Slack2026-09OECD
28Cabo Verde8.5%Slack2025IMF
29Colombia8.5%Slack2026-09OECD
30Turkey8.4%Slack2026-09OECD
31Estonia8.0%Slack2026-09OECD
32Greece7.6%Slack2026-09OECD
33Iran7.5%Slack2025IMF
34Uruguay7.5%Slack2025IMF
35Argentina7.4%Slack2025IMF
36Egypt7.3%Slack2025IMF
37Luxembourg7.3%Slack2026-09OECD
38Latvia7.3%Slack2026-09OECD
39Barbados7.2%Slack2025IMF
40Pakistan7.1%Slack2025IMF
41Denmark6.8%Slack2026-09OECD
42Canada6.7%Slack2026-10OECD
43Costa Rica6.6%Slack2026-08OECD
44Euro Area6.5%Slack2026-09OECD
45Italy6.3%Slack2026-09OECD
46Austria6.3%Slack2026-09OECD
47Romania6.3%Slack2026-09Eurostat
48Lithuania6.2%Slack2026-09OECD
49Brazil6.0%Slack2025IMF
50Belgium6.0%Slack2026-09OECD
51Peru5.9%Healthy2025IMF
52Iceland5.9%Healthy2026-09OECD
53Slovakia5.7%Healthy2026-09OECD
54Mauritius5.7%Healthy2025IMF
55Puerto Rico5.6%Healthy2025IMF
56Bahrain5.6%Healthy2025IMF
57Portugal5.6%Healthy2026-09OECD
58Venezuela5.5%Healthy2018IMF
59New Zealand5.3%Healthy2025IMF
60Azerbaijan5.3%Healthy2025IMF
61Dominican Rep.5.3%Healthy2025IMF
62Mongolia5.3%Healthy2025IMF
63China5.1%Healthy2025IMF
64Switzerland5.1%Healthy2026-06Eurostat
65Fiji5.0%Healthy2025IMF
66Norway5.0%Healthy2026-09OECD
67India5.0%Healthy2025IMF
68Honduras4.9%Healthy2025IMF
69Indonesia4.9%Healthy2025IMF
70Paraguay4.8%Healthy2025IMF
71Ireland4.8%Healthy2026-10Eurostat
72Uzbekistan4.8%Healthy2025IMF
73Australia4.7%Healthy2026-09OECD
74United Kingdom4.7%Healthy2026-07OECD
75Brunei4.7%Healthy2025IMF
76Hungary4.6%Healthy2026-09OECD
77Kazakhstan4.6%Healthy2025IMF
78Trinidad and Tobago4.5%Healthy2025IMF
79San Marino4.5%Healthy2025IMF
80Croatia4.3%Healthy2026-09Eurostat
81Philippines4.2%Healthy2025IMF
82El Salvador4.2%Healthy2025IMF
83Germany4.1%Healthy2026-09OECD
84United States4.1%Healthy2026-10OECD
85Kyrgyzstan4.0%Healthy2025IMF
86Aruba4.0%Healthy2025IMF
87Cyprus4.0%Healthy2026-09Eurostat
88Netherlands4.0%Healthy2026-09OECD
89Sri Lanka3.9%Tight2025IMF
90Moldova3.8%Tight2025IMF
91Slovenia3.6%Tight2026-09OECD
92Hong Kong3.6%Tight2025IMF
93Bhutan3.5%Tight2023IMF
94Malta3.4%Tight2026-09Eurostat
95Bulgaria3.4%Tight2026-09Eurostat
96Jamaica3.4%Tight2025IMF
97Poland3.4%Tight2026-09OECD
98Taiwan3.4%Tight2025IMF
99Bolivia3.3%Tight2025IMF
100Saudi Arabia3.2%Tight2025IMF
101Ecuador3.1%Tight2025IMF
102Israel3.0%Tight2026-09OECD
103Malaysia3.0%Tight2025IMF
104Czechia2.8%Tight2026-09OECD
105Nicaragua2.7%Tight2025IMF
106Mexico2.6%Tight2026-09OECD
107South Korea2.6%Tight2026-09OECD
108Seychelles2.6%Tight2025IMF
109Tajikistan2.5%Tight2011IMF
110Belarus2.5%Tight2025IMF
111Japan2.4%Tight2026-09OECD
112Russia2.2%Tight2025IMF
113Vietnam2.2%Tight2025IMF
114Liechtenstein2.0%Tight2025IMF
115Belize2.0%Tight2025IMF
116Singapore2.0%Tight2025IMF
117Macao1.7%Tight2025IMF
118Andorra1.3%Tight2025IMF
119Thailand1.0%Tight2025IMF

How the scale reads

BandWhat it meansEconomies
< 4%Tight31
4 to 6%Healthy38
6 to 9%Slack28
9 to 15%High16
15%+Severe6

These are the same bands that shade the map on the Global Markets dashboard, so a country's colour there and its band here always agree.

What this measures

The harmonised unemployment rate - people without work who are available for it and looking - as a percentage of the labour force, seasonally adjusted, for 119 economies. Monthly OECD and Eurostat observations are preferred by period; the IMF's annual series is the floor for the roughly eighty economies neither publishes monthly, and those rows show a year rather than a month. A rate this measure calls low can still sit beside a very low participation rate, which it does not capture.

Source: OECD and Eurostat monthly harmonised rates, with the IMF's annual series as the floor. Coverage differs from metric to metric because these providers cover different sets of economies, and a gap is left as a gap rather than filled from a proxy - an absent economy is one we hold no reading for, never a zero. See the data license.

Other metrics by country

Global markets dashboard · Every economy scored · Screen stocks by country