The International Labor Organization has published its 2025 list of countries where the most women work. The survey measures the percentage of working-age women (15–64) who are either employed or actively looking for work. Among the key takeaways is the fact that women are more likely to work in very poor or very rich countries, but less so in middle-income ones. For example, Madagascar (low income) and Iceland (high income) both have the same rate of women workforce participation.
The top 30 countries where women work the most
A total of 184 countries were included in the study, but we’ve narrowed that figure down to the top 30 countries where women work the most. Is your nation listed?
Check out this post and work through the results to find out the country with the highest women workforce participation rate.
30. Eritrea
In Eritrea, a country in East Africa, the women workforce participation rate is 75%. Pictured is a female farm worker carrying a basket of onions to be packed for shipment to the market at Akordat.
29. The Bahamas
The women workforce participation rate in the Bahamas is 76%. Pictured is a female employee in the cigar rolling room at the Graycliff Cigar Company in Nassau, where skilled torcedors (cigar rollers) hand-roll fine cigars.
28. Cyprus
In Cyprus, the women workforce participation rate is also 76%. Here, a woman picks oranges from a tree near Nicosia. Oranges are among a wide range of crops cultivated on the Mediterranean island.
27. Benin
Likewise, the women workforce participation rate in Benin, a country in West Africa, is 76%. Pictured is a woman carrying peanuts for groundnut paste in the country’s Zou department, named for the Zou River.
26. Portugal
Portugal is another country where the women workforce participation rate is 76%. Here, a fruit and vegetable seller is pictured at a local food market.
25. Kazakhstan
Similarly, the women workforce participation rate in Kazakhstan is 76%. A packer is seen here working on the production line at a biscuit factory in Shymkent, in the south of the country.
24. Germany
Germany is another nation where the women workforce participation rate is 76%. It’s a country where women are significantly over-represented in education, health, and social work.
23. Belarus
Pictured: a female employee works on a doll made of flax at a souvenir factory in the town of Mogilev in Belarus, a country where the women workforce participation rate is also 76%.
22. Japan
In Japan, the women workforce participation rate is 77%. Here, a female quality control engineer inspects equipment in a Tokyo electrical goods manufacturing plant.
21. Australia
The women workforce participation rate in Australia is also 77%. Pictured is an agronomist working on land in New South Wales.
20. Lithuania
In Lithuania, the women workforce participation rate is 78%. In this image, a female cosmetologist is seen with her client after completing a beauty treatment procedure.
19. Canada
Canada also registers a women workforce participation rate of 78%. Pictured is a female soldier saluting the national flag.
18. Uganda
The women workforce participation rate in Uganda is also 78%. Here, two women are seen running a small clothing business in Adjumani, a town in the country’s northern region.
17. Norway
Likewise, in Norway the women workforce participation rate is 78%. Pictured is an employee of the Old Bergan Museum, a reconstructed small town consisting of around 50 wooden houses dating from the 18th and 19th centuries.
16. Mozambique
And 78% is the women workforce participation rate in Mozambique. In this photograph, a model is seen taking part in the Mozambique Fashion Week event in Maputo.
15. Denmark
In Denmark, the women workforce participation rate is 79%. Denmark has one of the world’s most segregated labor markets, where women are disproportionately represented in the public sector.
14. Cambodia
The women workforce participation rate in Cambodia is also 79%. The image shows female garment factory workers traveling in a van as they make their way home after their shift in the country’s Kampong Speu province.
13. Finland
Finland has a women workforce participation rate of 80%. Here, a female chef and her colleague prepare food samples and treat visitors during the Gastro Helsinki trade fair for the hotel, restaurant, and catering industries.
12. New Zealand
In New Zealand, the women workforce participation rate is also 80%. Pictured is a female farmhand in a milking parlor on a smallholding in South Island’s Canterbury Plains.
11. Switzerland
Two women are seen working on a gherkin processing line at the Reitzel pickle factory at Aigle in Switzerland. The country has a women workforce participation rate of 80%.
10. Estonia
In Estonia, the women workforce participation rate is 81%. Here, a female woolen souvenir vendor is pictured in Tallinn, the county’s capital.
9. Burundi
Similarly, the women workforce participation rate in Burundi is 81%. A landlocked county in East Africa, Burundi is a resource-poor nation and relies mainly on subsistence farming.
8. Tanzania
The women workforce participation rate in Tanzania is 82%. Pictured is a group of women in Mkokotoni, a town in Zanzibar, preparing a catch of dagaa—small fish that serve as a crucial food source in many communities.
7. Nigeria
Nigeria also records a women workforce participation rate of 82%. In this photograph, a craftswoman makes clay pots using traditional methods at her local pottery workshop in a suburb of Lagos.
6. Sweden
Likewise, Sweden’s women workforce participation rate is 82%. Here, Astrid Linder, an engineer at the Swedish National Road and Transport Research Institute, is pictured next to her creation, the world’s first female crash test dummy called SET 50F, designed to help make sure women are better protected in cars.
5. Netherlands
The women workforce participation rate in the Netherlands is also 82%. Pictured are two female members of the Campos Racing team working on tires in the paddock during previews ahead of F1 Academy Round 4 at Circuit Zandvoort in Zandvoort.
4. Iceland
In Iceland, the women workforce participation rate is 84%. Pictured are female employees working at the Thorbjorn fish factory in Grindavík.
3. Madagascar
And 84% is also the women workforce participation rate in Madagascar. Here, a tea harvester is seen busily working on the Sahambavy estate near Fianarantsoa. Sahambavy is the only tea planation in the country.
2. Solomon Islands
Likewise, the Solomon Islands, an island country in the Oceania geographical region, has a women workforce participation rate of 84%. Here, a woman weaves a coconut palm leaf into a basket for market shopping.
1. North Korea
And the country with the highest women workforce participation rate in the world is North Korea, at 87%. Pictured is a young police woman conducting traffic in Pyongyang, the country’s capital.
