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A view of Libya

Photo: Maher A. A. Abdussalam · CC0 · via Wikimedia Commons, shown in greyscale

Topic 03 of 18 · Country Index 2026

Libya: Work & Labour

Can people find work, and on what terms?

Libya is placed joint 158th of 182 countries on work & labour in the Country Index 2026, from 4 of its 4 key statistics. Readings behind it: Employment-to-Population Ratio 38.97 (2025); Labour Income Share 44.28 (2025).

Work & Labour

joint158th

of 182 countries placed

Placed from 4 of 4 key statistics

Country Index 2026, all topics174th of 178 →

01The evidence

The 4 key statistics that decide it

Only these place Libya on work & labour — one vote each. Every value is the publisher’s own, read at the edition the Country Index 2026 used; the grey ticks are every other country it was compared with, lowest on the left.

Why these keys

  1. Key 1 of 4

    Employment-to-Population Ratio

    International Labour Organization (ILO)

    Why it is a key: How much of the working-age population is actually in work — the half of the picture unemployment hides, because people who stop looking stop being counted.

    2025 edition · data for 2025 · CC BY 4.0

    38.97

    Employed share of the population aged 15+ (%)

    Higher is better

    Libya: 38.97. Across the 182 countries in this edition, values run from 21.21 (São Tomé and Príncipe) to 86.9 (Qatar); the world median is 57.72.

    World median
    57.72
    Best in Northern Africa
    41.55 Egypt
    Land neighbours
    Algeria 36.04 · Egypt 41.55 · Niger 79.43 · Chad 58.81 · Tunisia 38.39

    Each grey tick is one of 182 countries in the 2025 edition.

  2. Key 2 of 4

    Labour Income Share

    International Labour Organization (ILO)

    Why it is a key: How much of national income reaches workers rather than owners of capital.

    2025 edition · data for 2025 · CC BY 4.0

    44.28

    Labour income share of GDP (%)

    Higher is better

    Libya: 44.28. Across the 182 countries in this edition, values run from 9.691 (Venezuela) to 75.13 (Nigeria); the world median is 46.23.

    World median
    46.23
    Best in Northern Africa
    49.16 Tunisia
    Land neighbours
    Algeria 30.51 · Egypt 38.24 · Niger 27.76 · Chad 39.11 · Tunisia 49.16

    Each grey tick is one of 182 countries in the 2025 edition.

  3. Key 3 of 4

    Unemployment Rate

    International Labour Organization (ILO)

    Why it is a key: The share of people looking for work who cannot find it.

    2025 edition · data for 2025 · CC BY 4.0

    18.76

    Unemployment (% of labour force)

    Lower is better

    Libya: 18.76. Across the 182 countries in this edition, values run from 0.13 (Qatar) to 34.2 (Eswatini); the world median is 5.084.

    World median
    5.084
    Best in Northern Africa
    6.781 Egypt
    Land neighbours
    Algeria 11.63 · Egypt 6.781 · Niger 0.394 · Chad 1.057 · Tunisia 15.11

    Each grey tick is one of 182 countries in the 2025 edition.

  4. Key 4 of 4

    Vulnerable Employment

    International Labour Organization (ILO)

    Why it is a key: How much work is own-account or unpaid family labour, carrying no contract and no protection.

    2025 edition · data for 2025 · CC BY 4.0

    21.59

    Vulnerable employment (% of total employment)

    Lower is better

    Libya: 21.59. Across the 182 countries in this edition, values run from 0.456 (Qatar) to 90.22 (Chad); the world median is 28.67.

    World median
    28.67
    Best in Northern Africa
    17.94 Tunisia
    Land neighbours
    Algeria 25.56 · Egypt 23.94 · Niger 83.73 · Chad 90.22 · Tunisia 17.94

    Each grey tick is one of 182 countries in the 2025 edition.

03In context

Libya beside its neighbours

A position reads best beside the countries around it. Every position below is a place among all 182 countries on work & labour, never a place within the region.

Northern Africa
1st182ndNot placed · 42 countries with too few key statisticsNo data

The whole world on work & labour

Libya and the countries it borders

The standing is each country’s place among all 182 placed on the topic; the other columns are the publishers’ own values, read at the edition the standing used.

CountryStandingEmployment-to-Population RatioEmployed share of the population aged 15+ (%)Labour Income ShareLabour income share of GDP (%)Unemployment RateUnemployment (% of labour force)Vulnerable EmploymentVulnerable employment (% of total employment)
Niger=95th79.4327.760.39483.73
Chad=117th58.8139.111.05790.22
Tunisia145th38.3949.1615.1117.94
Egypt154th41.5538.246.78123.94
Libya=158th38.9744.2818.7621.59
Algeria176th36.0430.5111.6325.56
Sudannot placed————

“—” means the publisher gives no reading for that country in that edition. A country needs readings on enough keys to be placed.

Across Northern Africa

Every country in the sub-region, by its place among all 182.

Placed either side on work & labour

The countries immediately above and below Libya in the topic’s list.

04Context, no vote

Where Libya is ahead of the world, and behind

10 more statistics filed under work & labour, published in full and deliberately given no vote in the standing. Select a row for the publisher, the rank and the links.

Every country

Ahead of the world median2

Statistics on which Libya does better than the middle country measured.

  • GDP per Person EmployedWorld Bank Group · 2025 · world median 47,38449,529No real change since 2015

    Libya: 49,529 · world median 47,384 · GDP per person employed (constant 2021 international $). World Bank Group, 2025 edition, data for 2025.

    Published values in that edition run from 2,456 to 262,554; higher is better.

    Position 78th of 168 — derived here by ordering the published values, 1st = best. The publisher ranks no country on this.

    Chart and every countryThe 2025 dataset

  • Labour Productivity per Hour WorkedILO · 2025 · world median 22.1622.91No real change since 2015

    Libya: 22.91 · world median 22.16 · Output per hour worked (constant 2021 international $ at PPP). International Labour Organization (ILO), 2025 edition, data for 2025.

    Published values in that edition run from 0.92 to 164.65; higher is better.

    Position 86th of 182 — derived here by ordering the published values, 1st = best. The publisher ranks no country on this.

    Chart and every countryThe 2025 dataset

Behind the world median3

Statistics on which Libya does worse than the middle country measured.

  • Female Labour Force Participation RateILO · 2025 · world median 53.3632.99▼ Worsened since 2015

    Libya: 32.99 · world median 53.36 · Women aged 15+ in the labour force (%). International Labour Organization (ILO), 2025 edition, data for 2025.

    Published values in that edition run from 4.663 to 82.91; higher is better.

    Position 161st of 182 — derived here by ordering the published values, 1st = best. The publisher ranks no country on this.

    Chart and every countryThe 2025 dataset

  • Labour Force Participation RateILO · 2025 · world median 61.6647.96▼ Worsened since 2015

    Libya: 47.96 · world median 61.66 · Population aged 15+ in the labour force (%). International Labour Organization (ILO), 2025 edition, data for 2025.

    Published values in that edition run from 23.34 to 87.01; higher is better.

    Position 162nd of 182 — derived here by ordering the published values, 1st = best. The publisher ranks no country on this.

    Chart and every countryThe 2025 dataset

  • Youth Unemployment RateILO · 2025 · world median 12.8350.06No real change since 2015

    Libya: 50.06 · world median 12.83 · Unemployment, ages 15-24 (% of youth labour force). International Labour Organization (ILO), 2025 edition, data for 2025.

    Published values in that edition run from 0.457 to 76.77; lower is better.

    Position 4th of 182 — derived here by ordering the published values, 1st = worst. The publisher ranks no country on this.

    Chart and every countryThe 2025 dataset

No better end5

These describe the shape of a country — more is not better or worse, only different — so they are never ahead or behind.

  • Average Weekly Hours WorkedILO · 2025 · world median 38.8942.4Moved since 2015

    Libya: 42.4 · world median 38.89 · Average weekly hours actually worked per employed person. International Labour Organization (ILO), 2025 edition, data for 2025.

    Published values in that edition run from 23.64 to 54.7.

    Position 46th of 182 — derived here by ordering the published values, counted from the highest value. The publisher ranks no country on this.

    Chart and every countryThe 2025 dataset

  • Employment in ServicesILO · 2025 · world median 59.5171.38Moved since 2015

    Libya: 71.38 · world median 59.51 · Employment in services (% of total employment). International Labour Organization (ILO), 2025 edition, data for 2025.

    Published values in that edition run from 11.56 to 92.17.

    Position 55th of 182 — derived here by ordering the published values, counted from the highest value. The publisher ranks no country on this.

    Chart and every countryThe 2025 dataset

  • Employment in IndustryILO · 2025 · world median 18.8818.63No real change since 2015

    Libya: 18.63 · world median 18.88 · Employment in industry (% of total employment). International Labour Organization (ILO), 2025 edition, data for 2025.

    Published values in that edition run from 3.103 to 39.44.

    Position 97th of 182 — derived here by ordering the published values, counted from the highest value. The publisher ranks no country on this.

    Chart and every countryThe 2025 dataset

  • Employment in AgricultureILO · 2025 · world median 14.389.997No real change since 2015

    Libya: 9.997 · world median 14.38 · Employment in agriculture (% of total employment). International Labour Organization (ILO), 2025 edition, data for 2025.

    Published values in that edition run from 0.095 to 85.34.

    Position 106th of 182 — derived here by ordering the published values, counted from the highest value. The publisher ranks no country on this.

    Chart and every countryThe 2025 dataset

  • Self-Employment RateILO · 2025 · world median 31.8425.88No real change since 2015

    Libya: 25.88 · world median 31.84 · Self-employed (% of total employment). International Labour Organization (ILO), 2025 edition, data for 2025.

    Published values in that edition run from 0.832 to 91.56.

    Position 110th of 182 — derived here by ordering the published values, counted from the highest value. The publisher ranks no country on this.

    Chart and every countryThe 2025 dataset

No current reading for Libya

Fatal Occupational Injuries, Female Share of Senior and Middle Management, Firms with a Female Top Manager, Informal Employment Rate, Public Sector Employment, Trade Union Density, Working Poverty Rate and Youth Not in Education, Employment or Training. Listed rather than hidden, so the page can be checked against it.

05Country Index 2026

Work & Labour among Libya’s 14 topics

Work & Labour is Libya’s 6th best-placed topic of 14. Strongest first; each marker sits at the position divided by that topic’s field, so fields of different sizes compare fairly.

On the profile
  1. Development & Human Capital101st of 196
  2. Health & Wellbeing111th of 200
  3. Digital & Technology160th of 198
  4. Mobility & Trade121st of 147
  5. Economy & Innovationjoint 151st of 176
  6. Work & Labourjoint 158th of 182
  7. Democracy & Civil Liberties175th of 198
  8. Food & Agriculture158th of 175
  9. Risk & Resilience174th of 192
  10. Governance & Institutions183rd of 194
  11. Gender & Equality173rd of 183
  12. Environment & Sustainability176th of 181
  13. Peace & Security176th of 177
  14. Energy192nd of 193

No standing on Education & Knowledge, Poverty & Inequality: too few of those topics’ key statistics are published for this country.

06The top of the list

Who leads on work & labour

The three countries placed highest of 182, and the leaders Libya can most readily be measured against.

All 182 countries
  1. 1

    Iceland

    Northern Europe

    1st of 182 · 4 of 4 keys

    Photo: Hansueli Krapf · CC BY-SA 3.0, greyscale

  2. 2

    Japan

    Eastern Asia

    2nd of 182 · 4 of 4 keys

    Photo: JurriaanH · CC BY-SA 3.0, greyscale

  3. 3

    South Korea

    Eastern Asia

    3rd of 182 · 4 of 4 keys

    Photo: Unknown author · CC BY-SA 2.0, greyscale

Placed highest nearby

  1. Highest in Africa

    Nigeria16th4/4 keys

  2. Highest in Northern Africa

    Tunisia145th4/4 keys

  3. This page

    Libya=158th4/4 keys

Positions out of 182 placed on the topic. A country needs readings on enough keys to be placed, and the top of the list is often held on fewer of them.

07Analysis

Charts and analysis about Libya and work & labour

All charts

08Questions

Libya on work & labour: questions answered

Every answer is built from the numbers on this page, so none can say something the page does not.

How does Libya rank on work & labour?

Libya is placed joint 158th of 182 countries on Work & Labour in the Country Index 2026, from 4 of its 4 key statistics (Employment-to-Population Ratio, Labour Income Share, Unemployment Rate and Vulnerable Employment). The position is this site’s ordering of published statistics, not a rank any publisher printed.

What is the latest Employment-to-Population Ratio figure for Libya?

38.97 in 2025 (employed share of the population aged 15+ (%)), according to International Labour Organization (ILO). The world median in the same edition was 57.72.

What is the latest Labour Income Share figure for Libya?

44.28 in 2025 (labour income share of GDP (%)), according to International Labour Organization (ILO). The world median in the same edition was 46.23.

How does Libya compare with Egypt on work & labour?

Egypt is placed 154th of 182, and Libya joint 158th. Employment-to-Population Ratio: Egypt 41.55, Libya 38.97; Labour Income Share: Egypt 38.24, Libya 44.28; Unemployment Rate: Egypt 6.781, Libya 18.76; Vulnerable Employment: Egypt 23.94, Libya 21.59.

How have Libya’s work & labour figures changed?

Employment-to-Population Ratio rose from 37.59 in 2000 to 38.97 in 2025; Labour Income Share rose from 13.32 in 2004 to 44.28 in 2025; Unemployment Rate fell from 19.27 in 2000 to 18.76 in 2025; Vulnerable Employment rose from 18.42 in 2000 to 21.59 in 2025.

Which work & labour statistics are missing for Libya?

No current reading is published for Libya on Fatal Occupational Injuries, Female Share of Senior and Middle Management, Firms with a Female Top Manager, Informal Employment Rate, Public Sector Employment, Trade Union Density, Working Poverty Rate and Youth Not in Education, Employment or Training. They are listed rather than hidden, so the evidence on the page can be checked against it.

09Keep reading

Explore further

Work & Labour

Libya, topic by topic

10Method

Method, sources and how to cite

What this topic does not measure

Wages in money terms are not a key here, because pay figures are hard to compare fairly across countries with very different prices. Labour productivity, working hours, youth unemployment and the balance between farming, industry and services are published on this page as context. The size and growth of the wider economy belong to Economy & Innovation.

About work & labour, in full

How the Work & Labour standing is decided, step by step

A standing is a place in a list, not a mark out of anything. This one is part of the Country Index 2026, and it is worked out like this.

  1. A few key indicators decide it; the rest are context. 4 indicators on this topic are keys and 18 are charted alongside them without a vote. That split is the point: if every statistic voted, importing five more of one kind would quietly change what the topic is about.
  2. Each key is read at one edition. All of them describe 2025.
  3. Every country’s published value is turned into a place within that one key’s own field, and then expressed as a share of that field — how far down this key’s list the country sits, rather than how many countries are above it. Keys where a higher published number is worse (terrorism, hunger, disaster risk) are turned round first, so the good end is always the same end.
  4. Dividing by the field first is the whole reason this works. A place carries the size of its list inside it: 22nd of 44 and 108th of 215 are the same showing, and averaging the numbers 22 and 108 says loudly that they are not. Fields on this site run from about 44 countries to about 215, so averaging raw places would reward a country for happening to be measured in small ones. Dividing each place by its own field removes the size and leaves only the showing.
  5. The shares are averaged, plainly. One key, one vote — no key is weighted above another, because any weighting would be this site’s opinion presented as a measurement. Countries are then put in order by that average, and the average itself is never published. It is our arithmetic with nothing anchoring it, so printing it would invite it to be read as a measurement somebody made. The position it produces, the band, and the keys it was built from are all published instead — every one of them checkable against the tables on this page.
  6. A country needs 2 of this topic’s 4 keys — half, rounded up, and never fewer than 2. A standing built from one reading, printed beside one built from four, is two different things sharing a column heading. 182 countries clear the bar here.
  7. A key has to earn its vote every edition. It must measure at least 120 countries (below that it starts measuring who was surveyed rather than the world), it must not have more than 10% of its field tied at either end, and it must not repeat another key in the same topic — Spearman correlation above 0.92 counts as repeating. A topic needs at least 2 surviving keys to place anyone at all; this one has 4.
  8. A standing is relative, and the grouping is ours. It says where a country places against the others measured alongside it, so it moves when they move. The publishers listed on this page did not agree to be read together, and each measures its subject its own way: the underlying numbers are theirs, the ordering on top is this site’s — the same method as the rest of the Country Index, applied to one subject instead of all of them.

The key statistics and their licences

The other 10 statistics on this page come from 2 publishers, each named beside its numbers, with every edition and licence on the datasets pages.

The standing itself is part of the Country Index 2026, published under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Photographs

Libya’s banner and the countries placed highest, from their profiles: Wikimedia Commons, shown in greyscale, each used under the licence named.

Cite this page

Nations Inquiry (2026). Libya: Work & Labour — standing and statistics, Country Index 2026. https://nationsinquiry.com/countries/libya/work

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