Countries by Employment Rate (%)
Complete ranking of 38 countries • Percentage of population aged 25-64 years • Updated 2026
About Employment Rate Rankings
Iceland leads all 38 countries in Employment Rate with a value of 87.612, while Turkey ranks last at 59.242. The gap between top and bottom reflects meaningful global variation.
What Employment Rate Measures
Employment Rate is a comparative indicator tracked across countries by the OECD. It provides a quantitative basis for cross-national comparison, enabling researchers and policymakers to benchmark national performance on this dimension against global peers.
Why This Ranking Matters
Examining Employment Rate across all countries reveals patterns that might not be obvious at the national level. Regional clusters, outlier nations, and historical trajectories all become clearer when the full global picture is assembled in a single ranking.
Global Range
Values range from 59.242 (Turkey) to 87.612 (Iceland) — minimal difference across 38 countries.
Regional Patterns
European countries dominate this ranking, holding 17 of the top 20 positions. This strong regional concentration suggests shared economic, geographic, or policy factors that drive higher values across the continent.
Values are broadly distributed across countries, with the middle 50% ranging from 76.066 to 82.39. The overall spread from 59.242 to 87.612 reflects significant global variation.
Notable Outliers
The top of the ranking is competitive: Iceland and Czechia are separated by only 2%, indicating that the leading positions could shift with updated data.
Continental Leaders
Highest Ranked
The top five countries for Employment Rate are Iceland (87.612), Czechia (85.498), Japan (85.145), Sweden (84.235), and Hungary (84.159). Together, these nations represent the global leaders in this metric.
Lowest Ranked
At the other end of the spectrum, Turkey (59.242), Costa Rica (69.029), Italy (70.054), Mexico (70.939), and Colombia (71.196) have the lowest values globally.
Data Source & Methodology
Rankings are based on the latest available data from OECD, covering 38 of 249 countries and territories. Countries without data for this metric are excluded from the ranking. All values represent the most recently reported figures.
Top 10 Countries
Full Rankings
| Percentile | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st |  Iceland | 87.6% | Europe | 100% |
| 2nd |  Czechia | 85.5% | Europe | 97% |
| 3rd |  Japan | 85.1% | Asia | 95% |
| 4th |  Sweden | 84.2% | Europe | 92% |
| 5th |  Hungary | 84.2% | Europe | 89% |
| 6th |  Switzerland | 84.0% | Europe | 87% |
| 7th |  New Zealand | 83.9% | Oceania | 84% |
| 8th |  Netherlands | 83.8% | Europe | 82% |
| 9th |  Estonia | 83.4% | Europe | 79% |
| 10th |  Germany | 82.4% | Europe | 76% |
| 11th |  Ireland | 81.8% | Europe | 74% |
| 12th |  Portugal | 81.6% | Europe | 71% |
| 13th |  Denmark | 81.5% | Europe | 68% |
| 14th |  Slovakia | 81.3% | Europe | 66% |
| 15th |  Norway | 81.3% | Europe | 63% |
| 16th |  Lithuania | 81.0% | Europe | 61% |
| 17th |  Slovenia | 80.5% | Europe | 58% |
| 18th |  Poland | 80.5% | Europe | 55% |
| 19th |  Australia | 80.3% | Oceania | 53% |
| 20th |  United Kingdom | 80.2% | Europe | 50% |
| 21st |  Canada | 79.2% | North America | 47% |
| 22nd |  Latvia | 79.2% | Europe | 45% |
| 23rd |  Finland | 78.8% | Europe | 42% |
| 24th |  Israel | 78.4% | Asia | 39% |
| 25th |  Austria | 78.2% | Europe | 37% |
| 26th |  Luxembourg | 77.3% | Europe | 34% |
| 27th |  France | 77.2% | Europe | 32% |
| 28th |  United States | 76.7% | North America | 29% |
| 29th |  South Korea | 76.1% | Asia | 26% |
| 30th |  Belgium | 75.8% | Europe | 24% |
| 31st |  Spain | 74.2% | Europe | 21% |
| 32nd |  Chile | 73.5% | South America | 18% |
| 33rd |  Greece | 72.0% | Europe | 16% |
| 34th |  Colombia | 71.2% | North America | 13% |
| 35th |  Mexico | 70.9% | North America | 11% |
| 36th |  Italy | 70.1% | Europe | 8% |
| 37th |  Costa Rica | 69.0% | North America | 5% |
| 38th |  Turkey | 59.2% | Europe | 3% |