Sovereign and dependent territory rows of the World Bank “Unemployment, total (% of total labor force, modeled ILO estimate)” indicator (top 30 by most recent year). Methodologies vary by country. Aggregates (region.id === “NA”) excluded.
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How to use this chart
Play/Pause starts and stops the year-by-year animation, the year slider jumps to any year, and the speed selector (0.5×, 1×, 2×) changes playback speed. Each year shows the top 12 entries out of the 30 held in the dataset.
About this ranking
About this metric. “Unemployment Rate by Country (Time Series)” reformats data published by the World Bank (World Bank indicator code SL.UEM.TOTL.ZS). Values are expressed in %.
What to watch. South Africa and its neighbours holding above 30% for decades is the sobering constant — structural unemployment that no boom fixes. Rich-country recessions (2009, 2020) barely register at this scale, a reminder of how different the two problems are.
Caveats. Unemployment requires actively seeking work, so countries with large informal economies can post low rates despite widespread precarious work. Discouraged workers who stop searching also vanish from the numerator, flattering the figure when conditions are worst.
Trends in the data
The top of the latest year is dominated by southern Africa: Eswatini (34%), South Africa (32%), Djibouti, Botswana and Gabon. South Africa’s rate in particular has stayed high for decades, and is usually explained by structural inequality that outlasted apartheid, a mismatch between education and available skills, and the scarcity of entry-level work for young people. Unemployment moves with the business cycle, but most of the countries at the top of this table carry structural unemployment that a boom does not fix.
The 1991 line-up looked completely different. The leaders were Montenegro (30.12%), Djibouti, North Macedonia, South Africa and Jordan — the former Yugoslav republics of the Balkans stood out. By 2025 Montenegro is down to 13.57% (18th) and North Macedonia to 12.26% (22nd). Both roughly halved their rate in three decades, the largest improvement in this table. Because the top 30 is cut by the latest year’s value, yesterday’s worst performers are still on screen, sinking towards the bottom.
The largest increases are Armenia (1.77% → 12.87%) and Georgia (2.7% → 12.1%), 7.3× and 4.5× respectively. Reading that as simple deterioration would be a mistake. 1991 is the year both countries became independent from the Soviet Union, where a planned economy meant that, on paper, almost everyone held a job. The jump reflects unemployment that started being measured, as much as jobs that were actually lost. When the political system changes, so does what the indicator points at.
The 30-country average rose from 15.2% in 1991 to a peak of 18.6% in 2020 — the global contraction in employment caused by COVID-19 — and stands at 17.1% in 2025. The centre of gravity has shifted decisively towards southern Africa: Botswana went from 13.82% to 24.48% (17th to 4th) and Eswatini from 20.52% to 34.2%, taking first place. Mineral-dependent economies can grow quickly without creating many jobs, and are often cited as a case where growth and employment come apart. Algeria moved the other way, falling from 20.6% to 11.63% (6th to 27th), while Yemen (25th → 11th), Haiti (27th → 16th) and Iraq (24th → 14th) climbed — all countries carrying long conflicts or political instability.
One caveat matters more than any single number here. The definition of unemployment (whether a person is actively seeking work) and the size of the informal economy differ from country to country, so a low headline rate can coexist with widespread precarious work. That the cast at the top of this table can turn over this completely in thirty years says a great deal about the indicator itself: institutions and security move it more than the business cycle does.
Trivia quiz
Which UN agency sets international labour standards and statistics?
The International Labour Organization (ILO), founded in 1919. (Source)
What is unemployment caused by a downturn in demand called?
Cyclical (demand-deficient) unemployment, which falls as the economy recovers; structural unemployment comes from industry shifts. (Source)
What is unrecorded, unregulated economic activity called?
The informal economy (informal sector), especially large in developing countries. (Source)
Source
World Bank — Unemployment, total (% of total labor force, modeled ILO estimate) (SL.UEM.TOTL.ZS)