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

Key figures

Over five years it is up 8.71 percentage points from 35.43% in 2020. Since 1991 it is down 1.08 percentage points from 45.21% in 1991. The World Bank has no value for 20 of the years in between; the chart leaves those gaps open rather than joining across them.

What the numbers say

On record, the biggest yearly rise was 7.98 percentage points in 2001 and the biggest yearly fall was 1.78 percentage points in 2024. The numbers show how large and when, not why; for the cause, look at what happened in that country in those years.

From 2018 to 2025 the straight-line trend is upward, about 2.47 percentage points a year. A straight line explains 89% of the movement over 8 observed years.

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

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 15 values

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

• Algeria — 25.63% (2017)
• Bahrain — 50.08% (2015)
• Egypt, Arab Rep. — 33.58% (2024)
• Iran, Islamic Rep. — 20.93% (2024)
• Israel — 90.83% (2025)
• Jordan — 28.64% (2024)
• Kuwait — 56.8% (2016)
• Malta — 79.62% (2025)

More social protection & labor data for South Asia

• Net migration — -1.3 million (2025)
• Refugees under the mandate of the UNHCR by country or territory of asylum — 1.44 million (2025)
• Refugees under the mandate of the UNHCR by country or territory of origin — 238,179 (2025)
• Labor force participation rate for ages 15-24, female (%) (modeled ILO estimate) — 19.57% (2025)
• Labor force participation rate for ages 15-24, male (%) (modeled ILO estimate) — 45.37% (2025)
• Labor force participation rate for ages 15-24, total (%) (modeled ILO estimate) — 32.97% (2025)
• Labor force participation rate, female (% of female population ages 15-64) (modeled ILO estimate) — 35.5% (2025)

Reading data like this

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Questions people ask

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

44.14% in 2025, according to the World Bank (World Development Indicators).

How has it changed since 1991?

It is down 1.08 percentage points from 45.21% in 1991. The highest value was 48.08% in 2001 and the lowest 28.41% in 2018.

Where does this data come from?

The World Bank's World Development Indicators, 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).

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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