Countries with the Most Self-Employed Workers 2024
Source:
World Bank
Key Findings
🏆
Chad leads in Self-employed (% of total employment) with 91.51 in 2024.
📊
Average Self-employed (% of total employment) in 2024: 83.99 · median: 84.78.
↔️
Gap in 2024: Chad is 1.2× larger than Laos.
About This Dataset
Countries with the Most Self-Employed Workers 2024
The 20 countries with the highest share of self-employed workers in 2024. Chad leads at 91.51% of all employment, ahead of Niger at 89.74% and Sierra Leone at 89.04%. Self-employment here includes own-account workers and unpaid family workers, not just business owners. Figures are ILO modelled estimates for 182 countries.
Analysis
The median country has 32.14% self-employment. A high share is usually a sign of informal work rather than entrepreneurship: 32 of the 182 countries measured are above 70%, and they are overwhelmingly low-income economies where formal wage jobs are scarce.
Data Insights
Numbers, trends & sources behind this chart
Methodology & source
- Data source
- World Bank
- Coverage
- 20 entities · 2024 · 20 observations
- Measure
- Self-employed (% of total employment)
- Last updated
- 31 August 2026
- Compiled by
- The ANYSTAT team, from the source above
How the figures are calculated
- Values use the measure and unit named on this page. Consult the dataset description and cited source for coverage, definitions and any unit conversions. Displayed values may be rounded for readability.
- Entities are ranked highest-first on their value in 2024.
Data Sources & References
All external sources cited in this dataset
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