Italy: Ratio of female to male labor force participation rate (%) (national estimate)

Key figures

What the numbers say

In 2025, Italy's ratio of female to male labor force participation rate (%) (national estimate) rose 0.2 percentage points on 2024 (from 70.65% to 70.85%).

Across the 30 yearly changes before that (1995 to 2024), the average change was +0.58 percentage points and a typical year strayed about 0.58 percentage points from that (the standard deviation). This year's change was 0.7 standard deviations below that average, so it was an ordinary year: it sits within the range of normal year-to-year movement.

On record, the biggest yearly rise was 2.02 percentage points in 2004 and the biggest yearly fall was 1.36 percentage points in 1992. The numbers show how large and when, not why; for the cause, look at what happened in that country in those years.

From 2016 to 2025 the straight-line trend is upward, about 0.26 percentage points a year. A straight line explains 86% of the movement over 10 observed years.

Worked out from the yearly values above. How the checks work: standard deviation, z-scores and straight-line trends.

A straight-line projection, tested first

Extending that straight line gives about 71.71% for 2028. We show this only because the same method, fitted on earlier years, predicted 2023 to 2025 better than "no change" would have: its average miss was 0.12%, against 0.65% for assuming no change. Treat it as a continuation of the recent pattern, not a forecast of events: it cannot see a recession, a policy change or a revision to the data.

See how a linear trend forecast works and the guide on forecasting without fooling yourself.

How it compares

In 2025, Italy had the 66th highest value of the 83 economies reporting that year. Higher is not always better: for some indicators the lowest value is the one to aim for. See the full ranking.

Closest to Italy in the 2025 ranking

• Chile — 62nd of 83: 73.94%
• Brazil — 63rd of 83: 73.07%
• Dominican Republic — 64th of 83: 71.08%
• Panama — 66th of 83: 70.44%
• North Macedonia — 67th of 83: 69.96%
• Colombia — 68th of 83: 68.28%

What this measures

Ratio of female to male labor force participation rate is the proportion of female labor force participation relative to male labor force participation. The labor force participation rate is the labor force as a percent of the population ages 15 and older. The labor force is the sum of all persons of working age who are employed and those who are unemployed.

Limitations: Data on the labor force are compiled by the ILO from labor force surveys, censuses, and establishment censuses and surveys. For some countries a combination of these sources is used. Labor force surveys are the most comprehensive source for internationally comparable labor force data. They can cover all non-institutionalized civilians, all branches and sectors of the economy, and all categories of workers, including people holding multiple jobs. By contrast, labor force data from population censuses are often based on a limited number of questions on the economic characteristics of individuals, with little scope to probe.

Regional and income-group figures are computed by the World Bank as a weighted average.

All 51 values

Ratio of female to male labor force participation rate (%) (national estimate) in nearby economies

• Albania — 81.88% (2024)
• Armenia — 74.87% (2023)
• Austria — 86.23% (2025)
• Azerbaijan — 88.94% (2022)
• Belarus — 88.23% (2025)
• Belgium — 85.42% (2025)
• Bosnia and Herzegovina — 66.23% (2025)
• Bulgaria — 79.99% (2025)

More social protection & labor data for Italy

• Net migration — 75,448 (2025)
• Refugees under the mandate of the UNHCR by country or territory of asylum — 192,914 (2025)
• Unemployment, female (% of female labor force) (national estimate) — 6.76% (2025)
• Unemployment, male (% of male labor force) (national estimate) — 5.66% (2025)
• Unemployment, total (% of total labor force) (national estimate) — 6.13% (2025)
• Labor force participation rate for ages 15-24, female (%) (national estimate) — 18.5% (2025)
• Labor force participation rate for ages 15-24, male (%) (national estimate) — 26.37% (2025)
• Labor force participation rate for ages 15-24, total (%) (national estimate) — 22.58% (2025)

Reading data like this

• Where to find free public data, and how to check it before you trust it — 2 min read
• Data analysis examples: 6 worked from one dataset — 3 min read
• Real change or random noise? A plain guide to reading your numbers — 2 min read

Questions people ask

What is Italy's ratio of female to male labor force participation rate (%) (national estimate)?

70.85% in 2025, according to the World Bank (World Development Indicators).

How has it changed since 1961?

Source

World Bank, World Development Indicators, indicator SL.TLF.CACT.FM.NE.ZS, licensed CC BY 4.0. Original source: Labour Force Statistics database (LFS), International Labour Organization (ILO), uri: https://ilostat.ilo.org/data/bulk/, publisher: ILOSTAT, type: estimates based on external database; Staff estimates, World Bank (WB) Figures are fetched from the World Bank API and refreshed monthly; see the series on data.worldbank.org. The full definition and method are in the World Bank's metadata glossary. Comparisons use the same World Bank release.

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