Sudan: Employment in services (% of total employment) (modeled ILO estimate)

Key figures

What the numbers say

In 2022, Sudan's employment in services (% of total employment) (modeled ILO estimate) rose 0.5 percentage points on 2021 (from 45.74% to 46.24%).

Across the 30 yearly changes before that (1992 to 2021), the average change was +0.27 percentage points and a typical year strayed about 0.6 percentage points from that (the standard deviation). This year's change was 0.4 standard deviations above 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 1.13 percentage points in 2016 and the biggest yearly fall was 1.86 percentage points in 2020. The numbers show how large and when, not why; for the cause, look at what happened in that country in those years.

From 2013 to 2022 there is no clear straight-line trend: a straight line explains 15% of the movement over 10 observed years, so the value is moving around more than it is heading anywhere.

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

How it compares

See how every economy compares in the full ranking.

Closest to Sudan in the 2022 ranking

• West Bank and Gaza — 1st of 2: 63.78%

What this measures

Employment is defined as persons of working age who were engaged in any activity to produce goods or provide services for pay or profit, whether at work during the reference period or not at work due to temporary absence from a job, or to working-time arrangement. The services sector consists of wholesale and retail trade and restaurants and hotels; transport, storage, and communications; financing, insurance, real estate, and business services; and community, social, and personal services, in accordance with divisions 6-9 (ISIC 2) or categories G-Q (ISIC 3) or categories G-U (ISIC 4).

Limitations: There are many differences in how countries define and measure employment status, particularly members of the armed forces, self-employed workers, and unpaid family workers. Where members of the armed forces are included, they are allocated to the service sector, causing that sector to be somewhat overstated relative to the service sector in economies where they are excluded. Where data are obtained from establishment surveys, data cover only employees; thus self-employed and unpaid family workers are excluded. In such cases the employment share of the agricultural sector is severely underreported.

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

All 32 values

Employment in services (% of total employment) (modeled ILO estimate) in nearby economies

• Angola — 40.85% (2025)
• Benin — 41.44% (2025)
• Botswana — 66.2% (2025)
• Burkina Faso — 31.56% (2025)
• Burundi — 11.56% (2025)
• Cabo Verde — 67.69% (2025)
• Cameroon — 43.53% (2025)
• Central African Republic — 20.55% (2025)
• Chad

More social protection & labor data for Sudan

• Net migration — 291,469 (2025)
• Refugees under the mandate of the UNHCR by country or territory of origin — 2.82 million (2025)
• Refugees under the mandate of the UNHCR by country or territory of asylum — 809,816 (2025)
• Labor force participation rate for ages 15-24, female (%) (modeled ILO estimate) — 7.68% (2022)
• Labor force participation rate for ages 15-24, male (%) (modeled ILO estimate) — 45.13% (2022)
• Labor force participation rate for ages 15-24, total (%) (modeled ILO estimate) — 26.53% (2022)
• Labor force participation rate, female (% of female population ages 15-64) (modeled ILO estimate) — 14.59% (2022)
• Labor force participation rate, male (% of male population ages 15-64) (modeled ILO estimate)

Reading data like this

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Questions people ask

What is Sudan's employment in services (% of total employment) (modeled ILO estimate)?

46.24% in 2022, according to the World Bank (World Development Indicators).

How has it changed since 1991?

It is up 8.58 percentage points from 37.66% in 1991. The highest value was 48.27% in 2019 and the lowest 37.66% in 1991.

Is the latest change in employment in services (% of total employment) (modeled ILO estimate) unusual for Sudan?

In 2022, Sudan's employment in services (% of total employment) (modeled ILO estimate) rose 0.5 percentage points on 2021 (from 45.74% to 46.24%). Across the 30 yearly changes before that (1992 to 2021), the average change was +0.27 percentage points and a typical year strayed about 0.6 percentage points from that (the standard deviation). This year's change was 0.4 standard deviations above that average, so it was an ordinary year: it sits within the range of normal year-to-year movement.

Source

World Bank, World Development Indicators, indicator SL.SRV.EMPL.ZS, licensed CC BY 4.0. Original source: ILO Modelled Estimates database (ILOEST), International Labour Organization (ILO), uri: https://ilostat.ilo.org/data/bulk/, publisher: ILOSTAT, type: external database, date accessed: January 17, 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.

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