Women in the labor force (share of women) over time (1990–2025)

Follow women in the labor force (share of women) for the world’s countries, year by year, from 1990 to 2025.

• The country ranked first changed over time: Burundi in 1990–1995, Mozambique in 1996–2004, Tanzania in 2005–2009, Madagascar in 2010–2025.
• Japan’s women in the labor force (share of women) went from 50.1% in 1990 to 55.9% in 2025 (up 5.8 points).
• Japan ranked #82 of 178 countries in 1990 and #73 of 174 in 2025. The number of countries differs between the years, so the ranks are not directly comparable.

Japan and countries at the top, middle and bottom

Key years for Japan and countries at the top, middle and bottom of the 2025 ranking

Country	1990	2000	2010	2020	2025
Madagascar	83.9%	83.9%	83.9%	82.2%	82.9%
Estonia	59.7%	52.6%	55.1%	57.1%	61.0%
Japan	50.1%	49.2%	48.3%	53.1%	55.9%
Czechia	52.7%	51.6%	49.2%	51.5%	53.5%
Kyrgyzstan	47.9%	57.9%	51.4%	43.9%	44.1%
Yemen	16.1%	20.2%	10.0%	4.9%	4.7%
Countries with data	178	178	178	178	174

Biggest changes, 1990–2025

Compared among the countries that have data in both 1990 and 2025. Countries with a very small starting value are left out, because their ratios look exaggerated.

Biggest increases

Country	1990	2025	Change	Rank
Malta	26.8%	55.8%	up 29 points	#155 → #74
United Arab Emirates	29.3%	53.0%	up 23.7 points	#154 → #91
Luxembourg	34.3%	57.5%	up 23.2 points	#140 → #60
Panama	32.4%	54.9%	up 22.5 points	#148 → #80
Chile	31.0%	52.9%	up 21.9 points	#151 → #92

Biggest decreases

Country	1990	2025	Change	Rank
Tajikistan	44.3%	21.9%	down 22.4 points	#108 → #163
Cameroon	77.6%	56.6%	down 21 points	#8 → #69
Guinea	63.5%	42.6%	down 20.8 points	#38 → #133
Vanuatu	74.0%	53.3%	down 20.7 points	#16 → #90
Malawi	78.4%	58.2%	down 20.2 points	#7 → #58

The number of countries differs between the years, so the ranks are not directly comparable.

All countries in key years

Open the table (countries with data)

Key years for Japan and the leading countries in 2025

Country	1990	2000	2010	2020	2025
Madagascar	83.9%	83.9%	83.9%	82.2%	82.9%
Solomon Islands	82.0%	82.4%	82.5%	81.6%	82.3%
Nigeria	74.6%	77.6%	76.4%	74.9%	80.7%
Tanzania	84.1%	84.3%	83.9%	79.3%	80.3%
Burundi	90.5%	83.3%	79.3%	78.6%	79.5%
North Korea	76.6%	77.9%	77.7%	76.3%	77.7%
Cambodia	77.5%	77.8%	81.3%	77.1%	77.4%
Mozambique	86.8%	87.4%	82.7%	76.9%	77.1%
Uganda	70.8%	71.2%	70.7%	74.0%	75.6%
Benin	57.1%	63.5%	69.1%	73.6%	75.2%
Bolivia	55.8%	59.0%	57.7%	65.0%	72.9%
Eritrea	74.4%	74.1%	73.8%	72.0%	72.8%
Niger	69.2%	69.0%	68.6%	63.7%	72.8%
Moldova	54.8%	56.4%	62.7%	68.1%	72.3%
Angola	75.6%	75.5%	75.6%	71.3%	72.2%
Liberia	71.5%	71.8%	71.8%	71.4%	72.0%
Bahamas	64.3%	68.1%	69.5%	65.2%	70.7%
Iceland	66.2%	73.5%	70.5%	69.3%	70.0%
Vietnam	74.7%	70.0%	71.7%	69.1%	68.6%
New Zealand	53.4%	56.7%	61.4%	64.7%	66.1%
Republic of the Congo	65.8%	66.3%	67.1%	63.3%	65.6%
Central African Republic	66.0%	65.8%	65.9%	64.8%	65.5%
Peru	43.7%	53.5%	72.0%	59.9%	65.0%
Burkina Faso	79.4%	77.3%	74.8%	69.5%	64.1%
Botswana	48.7%	49.5%	53.3%	56.1%	63.7%
Singapore	44.1%	52.1%	57.1%	61.7%	63.6%
Kenya	69.7%	70.5%	71.1%	62.2%	63.0%
Jamaica	63.9%	58.1%	52.3%	57.6%	63.0%
Netherlands	55.2%	59.0%	60.3%	61.8%	62.7%
Kazakhstan	64.8%	65.8%	66.3%	63.6%	62.6%
Australia	52.3%	54.6%	58.7%	60.1%	62.5%
Israel	46.3%	53.5%	57.5%	59.4%	62.3%
Switzerland	51.6%	57.6%	60.0%	62.6%	62.2%
Zimbabwe	59.2%	60.9%	60.6%	59.4%	62.2%
Norway	52.8%	61.3%	63.8%	62.5%	62.1%
St. Lucia	48.2%	52.9%	60.8%	49.3%	62.0%
Qatar	50.4%	48.9%	50.8%	59.5%	61.9%
Democratic Republic of the Congo	71.8%	71.4%	65.1%	60.3%	61.8%
Timor-Leste	66.9%	64.2%	61.9%	60.5%	61.7%
Laos	60.3%	58.7%	56.9%	58.7%	61.6%
Sweden	62.8%	58.1%	59.0%	60.6%	61.5%
Cyprus	42.7%	49.3%	57.8%	59.1%	61.2%
Barbados	60.9%	63.6%	64.4%	59.7%	61.0%
Estonia	59.7%	52.6%	55.1%	57.1%	61.0%
Denmark	61.1%	60.0%	59.0%	57.9%	60.8%
Azerbaijan	64.3%	72.2%	59.8%	64.4%	60.8%
Guinea-Bissau	55.2%	55.5%	55.9%	56.8%	60.3%
Canada	57.9%	58.7%	61.9%	59.4%	60.2%
Ireland	41.7%	51.9%	55.2%	55.1%	59.8%
Côte d’Ivoire	47.8%	50.4%	60.4%	56.5%	59.5%
St. Vincent & Grenadines	44.0%	47.9%	52.8%	56.1%	59.2%
China	73.1%	67.9%	63.7%	59.7%	59.1%
Paraguay	51.3%	51.7%	53.0%	57.1%	59.0%
Thailand	65.6%	65.6%	63.7%	59.1%	59.0%
Albania	53.5%	50.8%	46.8%	52.3%	58.6%
Ethiopia	74.9%	74.6%	74.4%	59.3%	58.5%
Haiti	56.7%	56.8%	60.6%	61.4%	58.3%
Malawi	78.4%	78.1%	70.5%	63.1%	58.2%
Lithuania	60.0%	54.9%	52.3%	57.4%	57.7%
Luxembourg	34.3%	41.5%	48.8%	55.9%	57.5%
United Kingdom	52.0%	53.7%	55.5%	58.3%	57.3%
Rwanda	51.8%	53.1%	54.1%	56.7%	57.3%
Uruguay	42.6%	49.0%	54.9%	54.2%	57.3%
South Korea	47.2%	49.4%	49.8%	53.1%	56.8%
Belarus	53.1%	53.5%	57.4%	57.9%	56.8%
Bhutan	54.7%	59.3%	63.3%	63.0%	56.7%
Georgia	70.3%	68.2%	60.4%	55.2%	56.7%
Togo	54.2%	55.2%	55.6%	55.3%	56.6%
Cameroon	77.6%	77.9%	70.5%	58.1%	56.6%
Finland	58.6%	56.6%	55.9%	55.2%	56.5%
Zambia	51.0%	51.1%	51.5%	54.4%	56.4%
United States	56.0%	58.7%	57.5%	55.7%	56.3%
Japan	50.1%	49.2%	48.3%	53.1%	55.9%
Malta	26.8%	29.8%	34.3%	51.3%	55.8%
Germany	45.2%	49.0%	52.5%	55.1%	55.3%
Ghana	70.1%	68.9%	67.5%	58.0%	55.3%
Latvia	53.8%	49.0%	53.7%	55.8%	55.2%
Slovakia	59.1%	52.6%	50.6%	51.8%	55.1%
Austria	43.1%	49.0%	53.6%	55.2%	55.1%
Panama	32.4%	44.9%	48.4%	55.9%	54.9%
Namibia	48.2%	47.3%	52.1%	52.5%	54.9%
Portugal	48.1%	52.7%	55.8%	53.2%	54.6%
Russia	60.0%	54.7%	56.0%	54.6%	54.5%
Brunei	47.0%	54.9%	56.8%	54.5%	54.4%
Hungary	46.1%	45.6%	46.6%	51.3%	54.3%
Indonesia	50.5%	51.7%	51.0%	53.2%	53.7%
Dominican Republic	35.4%	39.7%	41.7%	47.4%	53.7%
Czechia	52.7%	51.6%	49.2%	51.5%	53.5%
Brazil	44.4%	51.9%	55.0%	50.3%	53.4%
Vanuatu	74.0%	73.7%	57.9%	53.4%	53.3%
United Arab Emirates	29.3%	33.9%	42.9%	58.2%	53.0%
Chile	31.0%	37.7%	46.9%	45.4%	52.9%
Mali	60.5%	60.5%	60.4%	50.6%	52.8%
Spain	33.4%	40.7%	51.7%	50.9%	52.8%
Serbia	49.3%	46.7%	41.8%	46.2%	52.6%
Equatorial Guinea	52.4%	52.7%	52.5%	50.1%	52.6%
Argentina	43.1%	50.5%	47.7%	46.5%	52.5%
Ecuador	46.9%	45.9%	48.0%	48.2%	52.4%
Slovenia	52.0%	51.3%	53.1%	53.1%	52.3%
Malaysia	35.8%	40.6%	44.8%	51.4%	51.6%
Colombia	53.4%	53.4%	54.4%	51.1%	51.6%
Poland	53.5%	48.6%	48.9%	49.3%	51.6%
Sierra Leone	65.1%	64.7%	60.3%	51.1%	51.6%
France	46.4%	48.5%	51.1%	50.1%	51.5%
Mongolia	51.4%	53.8%	53.2%	56.0%	51.5%
Nicaragua	33.0%	35.9%	44.4%	48.1%	51.3%
Montenegro	43.8%	42.4%	41.6%	43.3%	51.2%
Armenia	57.6%	54.5%	54.4%	54.3%	51.1%
Papua New Guinea	48.1%	47.9%	47.7%	49.8%	50.8%
Philippines	47.4%	47.2%	48.1%	42.7%	50.5%
Cape Verde	40.9%	44.1%	51.3%	46.8%	50.5%
Bulgaria	44.9%	44.3%	47.8%	49.5%	50.4%
South Africa	44.7%	46.6%	44.8%	44.1%	49.9%
Belgium	36.5%	43.6%	47.8%	48.7%	49.8%
El Salvador	41.0%	45.4%	46.0%	43.2%	49.1%
Eswatini	43.3%	44.4%	46.1%	46.5%	48.5%
Lesotho	66.7%	66.7%	59.5%	48.5%	48.1%
Trinidad & Tobago	43.4%	48.4%	52.2%	49.3%	47.8%
Comoros	32.2%	32.2%	32.7%	44.9%	47.6%
Mauritius	38.0%	38.7%	43.5%	43.1%	47.5%
Mexico	34.0%	38.9%	42.9%	41.7%	47.5%
Croatia	47.3%	44.4%	46.0%	44.4%	47.4%
Guyana	37.5%	35.4%	39.3%	40.3%	47.4%
Chad	64.6%	60.2%	53.8%	48.1%	47.3%
Kuwait	41.4%	44.2%	47.3%	46.5%	47.2%
Belize	32.7%	39.8%	45.0%	41.5%	46.5%
Costa Rica	32.9%	38.6%	44.1%	48.6%	46.0%
Gambia	45.3%	45.5%	45.5%	44.8%	45.5%
Suriname	32.4%	33.4%	40.6%	42.9%	44.9%
Greece	35.5%	39.5%	43.2%	42.7%	44.7%
Kyrgyzstan	47.9%	57.9%	51.4%	43.9%	44.1%
North Macedonia	45.5%	40.9%	40.7%	41.9%	42.7%
Guinea	63.5%	62.9%	53.3%	41.9%	42.6%
Tonga	36.3%	44.5%	43.6%	42.3%	42.3%
Bahrain	29.7%	34.3%	43.6%	41.0%	42.3%
Romania	41.4%	42.4%	41.9%	42.7%	41.8%
Gabon	37.4%	37.9%	40.0%	39.1%	41.6%
Uzbekistan	38.2%	39.6%	39.0%	39.1%	41.2%
Myanmar	59.6%	56.2%	51.7%	44.7%	40.9%
Italy	35.0%	35.4%	37.9%	39.5%	40.8%
Maldives	19.9%	37.0%	36.6%	37.1%	40.7%
Cuba	36.3%	36.3%	41.9%	42.3%	40.0%
Honduras	44.5%	43.4%	42.7%	47.0%	39.6%
Bosnia & Herzegovina	41.7%	41.2%	40.2%	37.1%	39.2%
Bangladesh	24.2%	28.7%	35.7%	40.3%	38.6%
Fiji	39.7%	37.8%	43.9%	36.2%	38.5%
Guatemala	44.3%	46.1%	41.6%	38.3%	38.3%
Turkmenistan	43.6%	49.9%	42.5%	37.6%	38.2%
Senegal	32.1%	33.0%	33.6%	37.1%	38.2%
Türkiye	33.9%	26.5%	27.4%	30.8%	37.1%
Venezuela	48.6%	47.9%	49.6%	36.9%	37.1%
Saudi Arabia	15.0%	16.4%	17.6%	29.3%	33.6%
Libya	26.5%	30.4%	34.1%	31.0%	33.0%
India	30.3%	34.4%	28.4%	26.0%	32.4%
Sri Lanka	45.1%	36.3%	34.0%	31.7%	31.0%
Samoa	43.0%	42.5%	41.5%	35.2%	30.7%
Oman	22.9%	23.9%	26.5%	29.1%	30.0%
Nepal	20.6%	21.3%	24.7%	27.2%	27.5%
Tunisia	22.2%	23.7%	24.8%	26.3%	26.5%
Mauritania	25.2%	28.3%	27.5%	25.9%	26.2%
Pakistan	11.2%	16.1%	22.0%	23.4%	24.0%
São Tomé & Príncipe	21.7%	22.5%	22.7%	22.6%	22.7%
Tajikistan	44.3%	44.4%	28.4%	20.5%	21.9%
Somalia	21.2%	21.1%	20.6%	20.9%	20.7%
Morocco	22.8%	24.9%	25.5%	20.7%	19.7%
Djibouti	15.4%	16.3%	17.1%	18.3%	19.4%
Egypt	22.2%	20.4%	23.2%	14.6%	18.5%
Jordan	11.2%	11.8%	14.5%	15.0%	16.0%
Algeria	11.7%	12.0%	14.4%	13.2%	14.1%
Iran	9.6%	13.7%	15.1%	13.7%	14.0%
Syria	18.8%	20.9%	13.0%	12.7%	12.7%
Iraq	8.5%	9.8%	12.0%	10.9%	10.9%
Afghanistan	15.7%	14.3%	15.6%	16.5%	5.1%
Yemen	16.1%	20.2%	10.0%	4.9%	4.7%
Lebanon	18.0%	19.7%	22.8%	25.9%	–
Sudan	23.6%	27.8%	27.4%	17.0%	–
South Sudan	71.2%	71.2%	71.9%	71.0%	–
Ukraine	53.6%	52.9%	51.8%	48.1%	–
Countries with data	178	178	178	178	174