Saudi Arabia's unemployment, youth female (% of female labor force ages 15-24) (national estimate) was 18.88% in 2025, the latest year in the World Bank's World Development Indicators. That is down 32.62 percentage points from 51.5% in 2020.
Key figures
| Value | Year | |
|---|---|---|
| Latest | 18.88% | 2025 |
| Five years earlier | 51.5% | 2020 |
| Highest | 61.86% | 2017 |
| Lowest | 18.88% | 2025 |
| Average since 2017 | 38.05% | 2017–2025 |
| First recorded | 19.57% | 1992 |
Over five years it is down 32.62 percentage points from 51.5% in 2020. Since 1992 it is down 0.69 percentage points from 19.57% in 1992. The World Bank has no value for 18 of the years in between; the chart leaves those gaps open rather than joining across them.
What the numbers say
In 2025, Saudi Arabia's unemployment, youth female (% of female labor force ages 15-24) (national estimate) fell 2.75 percentage points on 2024 (from 21.63% to 18.88%).
Across the 11 yearly changes before that (2008 to 2024), the average change was −2.5 percentage points and a typical year strayed about 7.63 percentage points from that (the standard deviation). This year's change was 0.0 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 4.78 percentage points in 2009 and the biggest yearly fall was 22.86 percentage points in 2021. The numbers show how large and when, not why; for the cause, look at what happened in that country in those years.
From 2017 to 2025 the straight-line trend is downward, about 6.1 percentage points a year. A straight line explains 91% of the movement over 9 observed years.
Worked out from the yearly values above. How the checks work: standard deviation, z-scores and straight-line trends.
How it compares
In 2025, Saudi Arabia had the 25th highest value of the 81 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.
| Value | Year | |
|---|---|---|
| Saudi Arabia | 18.88% | 2025 |
| High income | 11.97% | 2025 |
Closest to Saudi Arabia in the 2025 ranking
What this measures
Youth unemployment refers to the share of the labor force ages 15-24 without work but available for and seeking employment. Definitions of labor force and unemployment differ by country.
Limitations: The criteria for people considered to be seeking work, and the treatment of people temporarily laid off or seeking work for the first time, vary across countries. In many cases it is especially difficult to measure employment and unemployment in agriculture. The timing of a survey can maximize the effects of seasonal unemployment in agriculture. And informal sector employment is difficult to quantify where informal activities are not tracked.
Regional and income-group figures are computed by the World Bank as a weighted average.
All 16 values
| Year | Unemployment, youth female (% of female labor force ages 15-24) (national estimate) |
|---|---|
| 2025 | 18.88 |
| 2024 | 21.63 |
| 2023 | 23.04 |
| 2022 | 26.41 |
| 2021 | 28.64 |
| 2020 | 51.5 |
| 2019 | 51.64 |
| 2018 | 58.81 |
| 2017 | 61.86 |
| 2016 | no data |
Unemployment, youth female (% of female labor force ages 15-24) (national estimate) in nearby economies
- Egypt, Arab Rep. — 28.99% (2024)
- Iran, Islamic Rep. — 30.42% (2024)
- Israel — 4.67% (2025)
- Jordan — 33.76% (2024)
- Malta — 10.16% (2025)
- Morocco — 44.36% (2022)
- Pakistan — 13.23% (2025)
- Qatar — 1.26% (2024)
More social protection & labor data for Saudi Arabia
- Net migration — 119,738 (2025)
- Refugees under the mandate of the UNHCR by country or territory of asylum — 448 (2025)
- Labor force participation rate for ages 15-24, female (%) (modeled ILO estimate) — 16.61% (2025)
- Labor force participation rate for ages 15-24, male (%) (modeled ILO estimate) — 43.89% (2025)
- Labor force participation rate for ages 15-24, total (%) (modeled ILO estimate) — 31.48% (2025)
- Labor force participation rate, female (% of female population ages 15-64) (modeled ILO estimate) — 34.89% (2025)
- Labor force participation rate, male (% of male population ages 15-64) (modeled ILO estimate) — 84.47% (2025)
Reading data like this
Questions people ask
- What is Saudi Arabia's unemployment, youth female (% of female labor force ages 15-24) (national estimate)?
- 18.88% in 2025, according to the World Bank (World Development Indicators).
- How has it changed since 1992?
- It is down 0.69 percentage points from 19.57% in 1992. The highest value was 61.86% in 2017 and the lowest 18.88% in 2025.
- How does Saudi Arabia rank?
- 25th highest of 81 economies with data for 2025.
- Is the latest change in unemployment, youth female (% of female labor force ages 15-24) (national estimate) unusual for Saudi Arabia?
Source
World Bank, World Development Indicators, indicator SL.UEM.1524.FE.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: external database, date accessed: September 28, 2026 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.
Want to ask your own questions of data like this? Try AnalyzeIt: upload a file or ask about public data in plain words, and every figure comes with its working.
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