Countries with the Highest Unemployment Rate 2024

About This Dataset

Countries ranked by unemployment (% of labour force) in 2024, using World Bank figures for the 182 countries that reported that year. Eswatini leads on 34.64, ahead of South Africa (32.28) and Djibouti (26.01). The share of the labour force without work but available for and seeking work, modelled by the ILO. People who have stopped looking are not counted as unemployed, so a country with little formal employment can post a low rate.

Analysis

Eswatini (34.64), South Africa (32.28) and Djibouti (26.01) take the top three. Across the twenty shown, values run from 34.64 down to 13.21, a spread of 21.43. Only 2.36 separates Eswatini from South Africa in second, 6.8% of the leading figure. 10 of the 20 reach half the leading figure, 17.32 or more. Eswatini stood at 34.61 in 2023, so its figure rose by 0.03 over the year. Eswatini also came first in 2023. Of the 20 in this table that also reported in 2023, 12 recorded a higher figure than the year before and 8 a lower one. The largest single move was Botswana, from 23.38 to 23.81. The chart shows the twenty highest of 182 reporting countries, so it describes the top of the distribution rather than the world average.

Source: World Bank

Key Findings

🏆

Eswatini leads in Unemployment (% of Labour Force) with 34.64 in 2024.

📊

Average Unemployment (% of Labour Force) in 2024: 19 · median: 18.

↔️

Gap in 2024: Eswatini is 2.6× larger than Montenegro.