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The World Factbook 2002

  Field Listing - Labor force


This entry contains the total labor force figure.
Country
Labor force
Afghanistan 10 million (2000 est.)
Albania 1.283 million (not including 352,000 emigrant workers and 261,000 domestically unemployed) (2000 est.)
Algeria 9.4 million (2001 est.)
American Samoa 14,000 (1996)
Andorra 33,000 (2001 est.)
Angola 5 million (1997 est.)
Anguilla 6,735 (1999)
Antigua and Barbuda 30,000
Argentina 15 million (1999)
Armenia 1.4 million (2001)
Aruba 41,501 (1997 est.)
Australia 9.2 million (December 2001)
Austria 4.3 million (2001)
Azerbaijan 2.9 million (1997)
Bahamas, The 156,000 (1999)
Bahrain 295,000 (1998 est.)
note: 44% of the population in the 15-64 age group is non-national (July 1998 est.)
Bangladesh 64.1 million (1998)
note: extensive export of labor to Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, UAE, Oman, Qatar, and Malaysia; workers' remittances estimated at $1.71 billion in 1998-99
Barbados 128,500 (2001 est.)
Belarus 4.8 million (2000)
Belgium 4.44 million (2001)
Belize 90,000
note: shortage of skilled labor and all types of technical personnel (1997 est.)
Benin NA
Bermuda 37,472 (2000)
Bhutan NA
note: massive lack of skilled labor
Bolivia 2.5 million
Bosnia and Herzegovina 1.026 million
Botswana 264,000 formal sector employees (2000)
Brazil 79 million (1999 est.)
British Virgin Islands 4,911 (1980)
Brunei 143,400 (1999 est.); note - includes foreign workers and military personnel
note: temporary residents make up 41% of labor force (1991)
Bulgaria 3.83 million (2000 est.)
Burkina Faso 5 million (1999)
note: a large part of the male labor force migrates annually to neighboring countries for seasonal employment
Burma 23.7 million (1999 est.)
Burundi 1.9 million
Cambodia 6 million (1998 est.)
Cameroon NA
Canada 16.4 million (2001 est.)
Cape Verde NA
Cayman Islands 19,820 (1995)
Central African Republic NA
Chad NA
Chile 5.9 million (2000 est.)
China 706 million (2000 est.)
Christmas Island NA
Cocos (Keeling) Islands NA
Colombia 18.3 million (1999 est.)
Comoros 144,500 (1996 est.)
Congo, Democratic Republic of the 14.51 million (1993 est.)
Congo, Republic of the NA
Cook Islands 8,000 (1996)
Costa Rica 1.9 million (1999)
Cote d'Ivoire 68% agricultural (2000 est.)
Croatia 1.7 million (2001)
Cuba 4.3 million (2000 est.)
note: state sector 78%, non-state sector 22% (1999)
Cyprus Greek Cypriot area: 291,000; Turkish Cypriot area: 86,300 (2000)
Czech Republic 5.203 million (1999 est.)
Denmark 2.856 million (2000 est.)
Djibouti 282,000
Dominica 25,000
Dominican Republic 2.3 million - 2.6 million
East Timor NA
Ecuador 3.7 million (urban)
Egypt 20.6 million (2001 est.)
El Salvador 2.35 million (1999)
Equatorial Guinea NA
Eritrea NA
Estonia 608,600 (2001 est.)
Ethiopia NA
Falkland Islands (Islas Malvinas) 1,100 (est.)
Faroe Islands 24,250 (October 2000)
Fiji 137,000 (1999)
Finland 2.6 million (2000 est.)
France 26.6 million (2001 est.)
French Guiana 58,800 (1997)
French Polynesia 70,000 (1996)
Gabon 600,000
Gambia, The 400,000
Gaza Strip NA
Georgia 2.1 million (2001 est.)
Germany 41.9 million (2001)
Ghana 9 million (2000 est.)
Gibraltar 14,800 (including non-Gibraltar laborers)
Greece 4.32 million (1999 est.)
Greenland 24,500 (1999 est.)
Grenada 42,300 (1996)
Guadeloupe 125,900 (1997)
Guam 60,000 (2000 est.)
Guatemala 4.2 million (1999 est.)
Guernsey 31,322 (2000)
Guinea 3 million (1999)
Guinea-Bissau 480,000
Guyana 418,000 (2001 est.)
Haiti 3.6 million (1995)
note: shortage of skilled labor, unskilled labor abundant (2001)
Holy See (Vatican City) NA
Honduras 2.3 million (1997 est.)
Hong Kong 3.44 million (2001 est.)
Hungary 4.2 million (1997)
Iceland 159,000 (2000)
India 406 million (1999)
Indonesia 99 million (1999)
Iran 18 million
note: shortage of skilled labor (1998)
Iraq 4.4 million (1989)
Ireland 1.8 million (2001)
Israel 2.4 million (2000 est.)
Italy 23.6 million (2001 est.)
Jamaica 1.13 million (1998)
Japan 67.7 million (December 2000)
Jersey 57,050 (1996)
Jordan 1.26 million
note: in addition, at least 300,000 workers are employed abroad (2001)
Kazakhstan 8.4 million (1999)
Kenya 10 million (2001 est.)
Kiribati 7,870 economically active, not including subsistence farmers (1985 est.)
Korea, North 9.6 million
Korea, South 22 million (2001)
Kuwait 1.3 million (1998 est.)
note: 68% of the population in the 15-64 age group is non-national (July 1998 est.)
Kyrgyzstan 2.7 million (2000)
Laos 2.4 million (1999)
Latvia 1.1 million (2001 est.)
Lebanon 1.5 million (2001 est.)
note: in addition, there are as many as 1 million foreign workers (1999 est.)
Lesotho 700,000 economically active
Libya 1.5 million (2000 est.)
Liechtenstein 22,891 of which 13,847 are foreigners; 8,231 commute from Austria and Switzerland to work each day
Lithuania 1.5 million (2001 est.)
Luxembourg 262,300 (of whom 87,400 are foreign cross-border workers primarily from France, Belgium, and Germany) (2000)
Macau 218,000 (2001)
Macedonia, The Former Yugoslav Republic of 1.1 million (2000 est.)
Madagascar 7 million (1999)
Malawi 4.5 million (2001 est.)
Malaysia 9.9 million (2001 est.)
Maldives 67,000 (1995)
Mali 3.93 million (2001 est.)
Malta 147,700 (2000)
Man, Isle of 36,610 (1998)
Marshall Islands 28,698
Martinique 170,000 (1997)
Mauritania 786,000 (2001)
Mauritius 514,000 (1995)
Mayotte NA
Mexico 39.8 million (2000)
Micronesia, Federated States of NA
Moldova 1.7 million (1998)
Monaco 30,540 (January 1994)
Mongolia 1.4 million (2000)
Montserrat 4,521 (1992); note - lowered by flight of people from volcanic activity
Morocco 11 million (1999)
Mozambique 7.4 million (1997 est.)
Namibia 500,000
Nepal 10 million (1996 est.)
note: severe lack of skilled labor
Netherlands 7.2 million (2000)
Netherlands Antilles 89,000
New Caledonia 79,395 (including 15,018 unemployed, 1996)
New Zealand 1.92 million (2001 est.)
Nicaragua 1.7 million (1999)
Niger 70,000 receive regular wages or salaries
Nigeria 66 million (1999 est.)
Niue NA
Norfolk Island NA
Northern Mariana Islands 6,006 total indigenous labor force; 2,699 unemployed; 28,717 foreign workers (1995)
Norway 2.4 million (2000 est.)
Oman 920,000 (2002 est.)
Pakistan 40.4 million
note: extensive export of labor, mostly to the Middle East, and use of child labor (2000)
Palau 8,300 (1999)
Panama 1.1 million (2000 est.)
note: shortage of skilled labor, but an oversupply of unskilled labor
Papua New Guinea 2.3 million (1999)
Paraguay 2 million (2000 est.)
Peru 7.5 million (2000 est.)
Philippines 32 million (2000)
Pitcairn Islands 12 able-bodied men (1997)
Poland 17.6 million (2000 est.)
Portugal 5.1 million (2000)
Puerto Rico 1.3 million (2000)
Qatar 280,122 (1997 est.)
Reunion 261,000 (1995)
Romania 9.9 million (1999 est.)
Russia 71.3 million (2001 est.)
Rwanda 3.6 million
Saint Helena 3,500 (1998 est.)
note: 1,200 work offshore
Saint Kitts and Nevis 18,172 (June 1995)
Saint Lucia 43,800
Saint Pierre and Miquelon 3,000 (1997)
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines 67,000 (1984 est.)
Samoa 90,000 (2000 est.)
San Marino 18,500 (1999)
Sao Tome and Principe NA
Saudi Arabia 7 million
note: 35% of the population in the 15-64 age group is non-national (July 1998 est.)
Senegal NA
Seychelles 30,900 (1996)
Sierra Leone 1.369 million (1981 est.)
note: only about 65,000 wage earners (1985)
Singapore 2.19 million (2000)
Slovakia 3 million (1999)
Slovenia 857,400
Solomon Islands 26,842
Somalia 3.7 million (very few are skilled laborers) (1993 est.)
South Africa 17 million economically active (2000)
Spain 17.1 million (2001)
Sri Lanka 6.6 million (1998)
Sudan 11 million (1996 est.)
Suriname 100,000
Svalbard NA
Swaziland NA
Sweden 4.4 million (2000 est.)
Switzerland 4 million (2001)
Syria 4.7 million (1998 est.)
Taiwan 9.8 million (2001 est.)
Tajikistan 3.187 million (2000)
Tanzania 13.495 million
Thailand 33.4 million (2001 est.)
Togo 1.74 million (1996)
Tokelau NA
Tonga 33,908 (1996)
Trinidad and Tobago 564,000 (2000)
Tunisia 2.69 million (2001 est.)
note: shortage of skilled labor
Turkey 23.8 million (2001 3rd quarter)
note: about 1.2 million Turks work abroad (1999)
Turkmenistan 2.34 million (1996)
Turks and Caicos Islands 4,848 (1990 est.)
Tuvalu 7,000 (2001 est.)
Uganda 12 million (2001 est.)
Ukraine 22.8 million (yearend 1997)
United Arab Emirates 1.6 million (2000 est.)
note: 73.9% of the population in the 15-64 age group is non-national (July 2002 est.)
United Kingdom 29.7 million (2001)
United States 141.8 million (includes unemployed) (2001)
Uruguay 1.2 million (2001)
Uzbekistan 11.9 million (1998 est.)
Vanuatu NA
Venezuela 9.9 million (1999)
Vietnam 38.2 million (1998 est.)
Virgin Islands 48,356 (2002 est.)
Wallis and Futuna NA
West Bank NA
Western Sahara 12,000
World NA
Yemen NA
Yugoslavia 3 million (2001 est.)
Zambia 3.4 million
Zimbabwe 5.5 million (2000 est.)

This page was last updated on 1 January 2002

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