Countries With the Lowest Labour Scores

Every country with a figure for labour score, ranked from lowest to highest. The top three are Eswatini (-1.97), Djibouti (-1.82) and Congo, Rep. (-1.69). The middle country of the 195 has 0.16.

What this measures

Labour score, in typical gaps (standard deviations). Source: PlaceStats. For this measure, higher is better.

The average of 4 measures from 2 publishers. Each measure is first put on a common scale: 0 is the average country in an average year, and 1 is a typical gap between countries (a standard deviation). Each is turned so that higher is better. Measures are averaged within each publisher first, so a publisher with many measures does not count for more. Members: Informal employment, Vulnerable employment, Youth not in work or study, Unemployment.

A standard deviation is a typical gap between places.

The full ranking

Each country’s latest figure, from 2018–2025. The year beside each value says when it was measured.

More on labour score

• Countries With the Highest Labour Scores
• Labour score by country: trend over time and what it goes with

Related rankings

• Countries With the Lowest Active Labour Market Spending
• Countries With the Lowest Unemployment Benefit Spending
• Countries With the Lowest Retirement Age, Men
• Countries With the Lowest Retirement Age, Women
• Countries With the Lowest Hours Worked
• Countries With the Lowest Informal Employment
• Countries With the Lowest Unemployment
• Countries With the Lowest Female Labor Participation

A ranking describes countries, not the people in them, and a high or low place does not by itself say why. All country rankings.