Countries ranked by Labor force (number of people)

The number of people aged 15 and over who are working or looking for work.

#1 China (768M), #2 India (618M), #3 United States (175M). The last place is Tonga (33.6K).

How to read this number

People aged 15 and over who supply labor for producing goods and services: those who are employed plus those who are unemployed but looking for work, including first-time job seekers. Modeled estimates by the International Labour Organization (ILO).

A country with a large population has a large labor force, so this ranking mostly follows population. Countries differ in whether they count unpaid family work, so comparisons are approximate.

  • Countries listed: 178 (of 193)
  • Data years: 2021–2025 (differs by country)
  • 174 countries use 2025 data

Map

Ranking table

Sorted from the highest value

RankCountryLabor force (number of people)YearBar
1 China 768,071,923 2025
2 India 617,625,336 2025
3 United States 174,833,917 2025
4 Indonesia 147,104,597 2025
5 Nigeria 116,581,818 2025
6 Brazil 108,318,282 2025
7 Pakistan 85,158,214 2025
8 Bangladesh 74,739,682 2025
9 Russia 72,771,294 2025
10 Japan 69,477,012 2025
11 Mexico 61,707,262 2025
12 Vietnam 57,041,323 2025
13 Ethiopia 56,779,061 2025
14 Philippines 52,204,133 2025
15 Germany 43,549,178 2025
16 Thailand 40,871,242 2025
17 Democratic Republic of the Congo 39,217,778 2025
18 Türkiye 36,882,225 2025
19 Egypt 36,106,369 2025
20 United Kingdom 35,409,108 2025
21 Tanzania 34,052,654 2025
22 France 31,862,995 2025
23 South Korea 29,865,575 2025
24 Iran 29,521,716 2025
25 Colombia 27,099,025 2025
26 South Africa 26,731,522 2025
27 Italy 25,660,587 2025
28 Spain 24,759,183 2025
29 Kenya 24,711,751 2025
30 Uganda 23,393,999 2025
31 Myanmar 22,940,495 2025
32 Canada 22,846,475 2025
33 Argentina 22,422,031 2025
34 Ukraine 20,538,715 2021
35 Peru 19,242,514 2025
36 Malaysia 18,719,406 2025
37 Saudi Arabia 18,383,677 2025
38 Poland 18,174,157 2025
39 North Korea 17,696,854 2025
40 Madagascar 17,092,352 2025
41 Angola 16,321,277 2025
42 Mozambique 15,658,114 2025
43 Australia 15,125,385 2025
44 Uzbekistan 14,638,807 2025
45 Algeria 13,556,625 2025
46 Ghana 13,250,486 2025
47 Côte d’Ivoire 13,067,763 2025
48 Morocco 12,631,464 2025
49 Iraq 12,493,376 2025
50 Niger 11,971,064 2025
51 Cameroon 11,466,010 2025
52 Venezuela 11,118,416 2025
53 Sudan 10,949,089 2022
54 Cambodia 10,367,640 2025
55 Netherlands 10,347,056 2025
56 Chile 10,326,077 2025
57 Kazakhstan 10,009,918 2025
58 Burkina Faso 9,914,873 2025
59 Afghanistan 9,433,041 2025
60 Mali 9,156,646 2025
61 Ecuador 8,977,208 2025
62 Nepal 8,362,760 2025
63 Malawi 8,323,726 2025
64 Sri Lanka 8,264,760 2025
65 Romania 8,244,587 2025
66 Yemen 8,155,939 2025
67 Zambia 8,011,366 2025
68 Guatemala 7,684,762 2025
69 United Arab Emirates 7,602,907 2025
70 Bolivia 6,980,187 2025
71 Zimbabwe 6,854,692 2025
72 Syria 6,764,801 2025
73 Chad 6,746,477 2025
74 Benin 6,644,562 2025
75 Burundi 6,308,213 2025
76 Senegal 6,131,225 2025
77 Rwanda 5,843,274 2025
78 Sweden 5,701,347 2025
79 Czechia 5,578,235 2025
80 Dominican Republic 5,512,758 2025
81 Portugal 5,485,246 2025
82 Belgium 5,463,472 2025
83 Haiti 5,268,189 2025
84 Switzerland 5,165,662 2025
85 Azerbaijan 5,110,243 2025
86 South Sudan 5,070,344 2023
87 Hungary 4,936,333 2025
88 Cuba 4,855,941 2025
89 Israel 4,828,536 2025
90 Belarus 4,795,335 2025
91 Austria 4,753,079 2025
92 Guinea 4,722,818 2025
93 Greece 4,715,509 2025
94 Honduras 4,340,779 2025
95 Tunisia 4,268,286 2025
96 Singapore 3,760,133 2025
97 Papua New Guinea 3,746,653 2025
98 Laos 3,650,484 2025
99 Somalia 3,555,419 2025
100 Paraguay 3,528,777 2025
101 Serbia 3,321,043 2025
102 Nicaragua 3,319,222 2025
103 Denmark 3,294,817 2025
104 Jordan 3,220,931 2025
105 Norway 3,094,897 2025
106 Bulgaria 3,090,210 2025
107 New Zealand 3,076,335 2025
108 El Salvador 2,989,409 2025
109 Togo 2,960,760 2025
110 Sierra Leone 2,934,968 2025
111 Kuwait 2,927,890 2025
112 Ireland 2,912,741 2025
113 Finland 2,886,946 2025
114 Kyrgyzstan 2,868,314 2025
115 Oman 2,843,365 2025
116 Slovakia 2,761,816 2025
117 Liberia 2,673,807 2025
118 Tajikistan 2,647,875 2025
119 Republic of the Congo 2,641,346 2025
120 Libya 2,616,929 2025
121 Costa Rica 2,427,166 2025
122 Panama 2,287,522 2025
123 Turkmenistan 2,202,574 2025
124 Qatar 2,198,274 2025
125 Central African Republic 2,076,374 2025
126 Georgia 2,012,582 2025
127 Lebanon 1,837,294 2023
128 Uruguay 1,806,025 2025
129 Eritrea 1,763,700 2025
130 Croatia 1,744,218 2025
131 Jamaica 1,612,761 2025
132 Lithuania 1,553,918 2025
133 Armenia 1,485,063 2025
134 Mongolia 1,457,964 2025
135 Moldova 1,373,086 2025
136 Bosnia & Herzegovina 1,340,707 2025
137 Albania 1,259,172 2025
138 Mauritania 1,248,560 2025
139 Botswana 1,199,393 2025
140 Namibia 1,152,801 2025
141 Slovenia 1,049,047 2025
142 Latvia 948,428 2025
143 Bahrain 919,501 2025
144 Guinea-Bissau 899,220 2025
145 Lesotho 889,530 2025
146 Gabon 844,145 2025
147 Gambia 807,275 2025
148 North Macedonia 789,369 2025
149 Cyprus 770,268 2025
150 Estonia 754,206 2025
151 Equatorial Guinea 737,977 2025
152 Trinidad & Tobago 651,715 2025
153 Timor-Leste 635,489 2025
154 Mauritius 622,328 2025
155 Solomon Islands 448,502 2025
156 Eswatini 430,869 2025
157 Bhutan 411,263 2025
158 Fiji 390,290 2025
159 Luxembourg 355,974 2025
160 Guyana 326,682 2025
161 Malta 323,052 2025
162 Comoros 310,841 2025
163 Montenegro 296,618 2025
164 Maldives 272,320 2025
165 Djibouti 267,610 2025
166 Suriname 257,128 2025
167 Bahamas 245,159 2025
168 Iceland 242,507 2025
169 Brunei 237,763 2025
170 Cape Verde 226,448 2025
171 Belize 184,286 2025
172 Barbados 151,620 2025
173 Vanuatu 120,833 2025
174 St. Lucia 101,771 2025
175 Samoa 57,776 2025
176 St. Vincent & Grenadines 53,688 2025
177 São Tomé & Príncipe 35,075 2025
178 Tonga 33,628 2025

Each value is the latest year available for that country (see the Year column), so the years can differ from country to country.

Data is available for 178 of 193 countries. The rest are not listed.

Source: Labor force, total, indicator SL.TLF.TOTL.IN. Processed by this site. data.worldbank.org

How it has changed (1990–2025)

See how labor force (number of people) has changed across the world’s countries from 1990 to 2025.

  • The country ranked first is China in both 1990 and 2025.
  • Japan’s labor force (number of people) went from 64.2M in 1990 to 69.5M in 2025 (up about 8%).
  • Japan ranked #6 of 178 countries in 1990 and #10 of 174 in 2025. The number of countries differs between the years, so the ranks are not directly comparable.
Labor force (number of people): Japan and the top 5 countries in 2025From 1990 to 2025. Last values: China 768M, India 618M, United States 175M, Indonesia 147M, Nigeria 117M, Japan 69.5M.0200M400M600M800M1990200020102025ChinaChinaIndiaIndiaUnited StatesUnited StatesIndonesiaIndonesiaNigeriaNigeriaJapanJapan
Key years for Japan and the leading countries in 2025
Country19902000201020202025
China640M707M774M761M768M
India308M410M468M533M618M
United States128M147M158M167M175M
Indonesia78.1M101M118M137M147M
Nigeria43.4M59.3M75.3M97M117M
Japan64.2M67.8M66.1M68.7M69.5M
Countries with data178178178178174

See the full history, year by year

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