Skip to content
Argos Sourcing

Social & Inequality

Self-employment

SL.EMP.SELF.ZS ยท %

Annual series published by the World Bank, compared across United Kingdom, Italy, Spain, Netherlands, United States, China, Zimbabwe, Lithuania. The chart carries the trajectory, the table carries the year by year figures, and the definition at the foot of the page is the World Bank's own, quoted as it stands.

Latest value, United Kingdom
13.15%2025
Period covered
1991 - 202535 annual values
Highest of the compared countries
70.78%Zimbabwe, 2025
Lowest of the compared countries
6.07%United States, 2025

8 countries compared, that is the maximum. Remove one to add another.

025507519912000200820172025

Latest known valuesorted by value

  • Zimbabwe70.78%2025
  • China37.67%2025
  • Italy21.12%2025
  • Netherlands16.79%2025
  • Spain14.54%2025
  • United Kingdom13.15%2025
  • Lithuania11.5%2025
  • United States6.07%2025

Year by year values

Click the Year header to reverse the order. An empty cell means the World Bank publishes nothing for that country that year.

Annual values by country
United KingdomItalySpainNetherlandsUnited StatesChinaZimbabweLithuania
202513.15%21.12%14.54%16.79%6.07%37.67%70.78%11.5%
202413.22%21.25%14.7%16.83%6.19%38.05%70.9%11.68%
202313.42%21.3%14.84%16.79%6.08%38.45%70.99%11.92%
202213.31%21.42%15.37%16.65%6.28%38.86%71.76%11.93%
202113.58%21.83%16.13%15.81%6.58%39.27%71.33%11.63%
202014.52%22.57%16.13%15.89%6.31%39.54%71.35%11.76%
201915.01%22.81%15.74%14.62%6.54%39.56%70.92%11.66%
201815.09%22.99%16.1%14.78%6.73%40.03%70.98%11.67%
201715.35%23.2%16.69%14.75%6.7%40.51%71.1%12.01%
201615.25%23.93%16.68%14.92%6.83%41%71.33%12.33%
201514.98%24.38%17.4%14.98%6.89%41.51%71.46%12.27%
201415.25%24.68%17.94%14.85%6.89%42.04%71.67%12.1%
201314.42%24.82%17.48%14.64%7.04%42.6%71.31%11.77%
201214.66%24.91%17.06%13.75%7.2%43.19%71.02%11.05%
201114.19%25.04%16.46%13.58%7.27%43.83%70.78%10.59%
201014%25.28%16.86%13.38%7.49%44.52%70.98%10.88%
200913.6%24.97%16.9%13.75%7.54%45.24%70.95%11.98%
200813.34%25.45%17.79%13.26%7.47%45.99%70.55%11.68%
200713.37%26.13%17.6%13.05%7.67%46.77%69.99%14.57%
200613.21%26.41%17.86%12.89%7.85%47.59%69.59%16.99%

World Bank definition

Self-employed, total (% of total employment) (modeled ILO estimate)

Self-employed workers are those workers who, working on their own account or with one or a few partners or in cooperative, hold the type of jobs defined as a "self-employment jobs." i.e. jobs where the remuneration is directly dependent upon the profits derived from the goods and services produced. Self-employed workers include sub-categories of employers, own-account workers and members of producers' cooperatives and contributing family workers.

Text published by the World Bank for indicator SL.EMP.SELF.ZS, reproduced unchanged.

The same indicator across Europe & Central Asia

Source: World Bank, World Bank Open Data Annual series, fetched server side and cached for 24 hours. The World Bank is never called from your browser.