Economy · Africa ranking
Female Labor Force Participation by African country
Madagascar has the highest female labor force participation rate of any African country, at 82.9%, ahead of Nigeria and Tanzania.
Share of women ages 15+ that is economically active (ILO modelled estimate). 53 of 54 countries, ranked · World Bank — World Development Indicators, 2025.
Latest available year varies by country (2022–2025); each row shows its year, and values more than 5 years behind the most recent are marked ⚠.
Madagascar
Nigeria
TanzaniaBy region
Full ranking
| # | Country | Female Labor Force Participation | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Madagascar | 82.9% | |
| 2 | Nigeria | 80.7% | |
| 3 | Tanzania | 80.3% | |
| 4 | Burundi | 79.5% | |
| 5 | Mozambique | 77.1% | |
| 6 | Uganda | 75.6% | |
| 7 | Benin | 75.2% | |
| 8 | Eritrea | 72.8% | |
| 9 | Niger | 72.8% | |
| 10 | Angola | 72.2% | |
| 11 | Liberia | 72% | |
| 12 | South Sudan | 70.4% | |
| 13 | Republic of the Congo | 65.6% | |
| 14 | Central African Republic | 65.5% | |
| 15 | Burkina Faso | 64.1% | |
| 16 | Botswana | 63.7% | |
| 17 | Kenya | 63% | |
| 18 | Zimbabwe | 62.2% | |
| 19 | Democratic Republic of the Congo | 61.8% | |
| 20 | Guinea-Bissau | 60.3% | |
| 21 | Cote d'Ivoire | 59.5% | |
| 22 | Ethiopia | 58.5% | |
| 23 | Malawi | 58.2% | |
| 24 | Rwanda | 57.3% | |
| 25 | Togo | 56.6% | |
| 26 | Cameroon | 56.6% | |
| 27 | Zambia | 56.4% | |
| 28 | Ghana | 55.3% | |
| 29 | Namibia | 54.9% | |
| 30 | Mali | 52.8% | |
| 31 | Equatorial Guinea | 52.6% | |
| 32 | Sierra Leone | 51.6% | |
| 33 | Cabo Verde | 50.5% | |
| 34 | South Africa | 49.9% | |
| 35 | Eswatini | 48.5% | |
| 36 | Lesotho | 48.1% | |
| 37 | Comoros | 47.6% | |
| 38 | Mauritius | 47.5% | |
| 39 | Chad | 47.3% | |
| 40 | Gambia | 45.5% | |
| 41 | Guinea | 42.6% | |
| 42 | Gabon | 41.6% | |
| 43 | Senegal | 38.2% | |
| 44 | Libya | 33% | |
| 45 | Tunisia | 26.5% | |
| 46 | Mauritania | 26.2% | |
| 47 | Sao Tome and Principe | 22.7% | |
| 48 | Somalia | 20.7% | |
| 49 | Morocco | 19.7% | |
| 50 | Djibouti | 19.4% | |
| 51 | Egypt | 18.5% | |
| 52 | Sudan | 14.5% | |
| 53 | Algeria | 14.1% |
Burundi
Mozambique
Uganda
Benin
Eritrea
Niger
Angola
Liberia
South Sudan
Republic of the Congo
Central African Republic
Burkina Faso
Botswana
Kenya
Zimbabwe
Democratic Republic of the Congo
Guinea-Bissau
Cote d'Ivoire
Ethiopia
Malawi
Rwanda
Togo
Cameroon
Zambia
Ghana
Namibia
Mali
Equatorial Guinea
Sierra Leone
Cabo Verde
South Africa
Eswatini
Lesotho
Comoros
Mauritius
Chad
Gambia
Guinea
Gabon
Senegal
Libya
Tunisia
Mauritania
Sao Tome and Principe
Somalia
Morocco
Djibouti
Egypt
Sudan
AlgeriaGet this ranking via API
One call to /v1/data returns the latest Female Labor Force Participation figure for every country you pass — JSON, with source metadata on each observation.
curl "https://api.africa-api.com/v1/data?metric_key=female_labor_force_participation_pct&latest=true&country_codes=NG,KE,ZA,EG" \
-H "Authorization: Bearer $AFRICA_API_KEY"Cite or republish this ranking
Data: Africa API — World Bank — World Development Indicators, 2025. Free to republish with a link to this page. Pull the live figures via the API above so your version never goes stale.
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Drop this chart into your article or site — it stays live as the data updates. Paste the snippet anywhere HTML is allowed (a citation link is included).
Frequently asked questions
Which African country has the highest female labor force participation rate?
Madagascar has the highest female labor force participation rate in Africa at 82.9% (2025), followed by Nigeria and Tanzania.
Which African country has the lowest female labor force participation rate?
Algeria has the lowest female labor force participation rate of the 53 African countries with data, at 14.1% (2025).
How many African countries report Female Labor Force Participation data?
53 of 54 African countries have a Female Labor Force Participation figure in the Africa API, each from the latest year available for that country (which can differ between countries, here 2022–2025). Every value links to its full series with source and history.
How do I get this ranking via API?
Call GET /v1/data?metric_key=female_labor_force_participation_pct&latest=true with the country codes you need and a free Africa API key — the response returns the latest value per country as JSON.
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