Social & Inequality
Self-employment
SL.EMP.SELF.ZS ยท %
Annual series published by the World Bank. 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.
Countries compared
8 countries compared out of 142 available.
Latest known value: 21.12% for Italy in 2025, over a series running from 1991 to 2025 and 8 countries compared, from the highest (South Sudan, 82.55%) to the lowest (United States, 6.07%).
Compare with the other social & inequality indicatorsLatest known valueclick to hide
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.
| Italy | Spain | Netherlands | United States | China | South Sudan | Sudan | Austria | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 21.12% | 14.54% | 16.79% | 6.07% | 37.67% | 12.2% | ||
| 2024 | 21.25% | 14.7% | 16.83% | 6.19% | 38.05% | 12.21% | ||
| 2023 | 21.3% | 14.84% | 16.79% | 6.08% | 38.45% | 82.55% | 12.24% | |
| 2022 | 21.42% | 15.37% | 16.65% | 6.28% | 38.86% | 82.97% | 46.52% | 12.53% |
| 2021 | 21.83% | 16.13% | 15.81% | 6.58% | 39.27% | 83.42% | 47% | 12.73% |
| 2020 | 22.57% | 16.13% | 15.89% | 6.31% | 39.54% | 83.97% | 47.78% | 12.87% |
| 2019 | 22.81% | 15.74% | 14.62% | 6.54% | 39.56% | 83.55% | 47.96% | 12.78% |
| 2018 | 22.99% | 16.1% | 14.78% | 6.73% | 40.03% | 84.22% | 47.78% | 12.78% |
| 2017 | 23.2% | 16.69% | 14.75% | 6.7% | 40.51% | 84.79% | 47.53% | 13.13% |
| 2016 | 23.93% | 16.68% | 14.92% | 6.83% | 41% | 85.1% | 47.25% | 13.48% |
| 2015 | 24.38% | 17.4% | 14.98% | 6.89% | 41.51% | 85% | 47.14% | 13.81% |
| 2014 | 24.68% | 17.94% | 14.85% | 6.89% | 42.04% | 85.06% | 46.89% | 14.2% |
| 2013 | 24.82% | 17.48% | 14.64% | 7.04% | 42.6% | 85.2% | 46.97% | 14.11% |
| 2012 | 24.91% | 17.06% | 13.75% | 7.2% | 43.19% | 84.69% | 46.69% | 14.11% |
| 2011 | 25.04% | 16.46% | 13.58% | 7.27% | 43.83% | 83.26% | 46.47% | 14.47% |
| 2010 | 25.28% | 16.86% | 13.38% | 7.49% | 44.52% | 82.86% | 46.3% | 15.2% |
| 2009 | 24.97% | 16.9% | 13.75% | 7.54% | 45.24% | 82.7% | 46.14% | 15.02% |
| 2008 | 25.45% | 17.79% | 13.26% | 7.47% | 45.99% | 82.41% | 45.88% | 15.06% |
| 2007 | 26.13% | 17.6% | 13.05% | 7.67% | 46.77% | 82.47% | 46.03% | 15.31% |
| 2006 | 26.41% | 17.86% | 12.89% | 7.85% | 47.59% | 82.55% | 46.59% | 15.42% |
| 2005 | 26.69% | 18.13% | 12.52% | 7.92% | 48.35% | 82.6% | 46.8% | 15.09% |
| 2004 | 27.93% | 18.13% | 10.92% | 8.02% | 49.08% | 82.61% | 47.02% | 14.41% |
| 2003 | 27.29% | 18.2% | 10.23% | 8.01% | 49.79% | 82.64% | 47.2% | 14.51% |
| 2002 | 27.44% | 18.98% | 10.52% | 7.81% | 50.47% | 82.74% | 47.42% | 14.97% |
| 2001 | 27.88% | 20.03% | 10.38% | 7.93% | 51.12% | 82.85% | 47.76% | 15.03% |
| 2000 | 28.16% | 20.19% | 10.27% | 8.01% | 51.73% | 83.01% | 48.12% | 15.22% |
| 1999 | 28.3% | 21.52% | 10.32% | 8.1% | 52.31% | 83.22% | 48.41% | 15.38% |
| 1998 | 28.7% | 22.84% | 10.48% | 8.39% | 52.89% | 83.52% | 48.75% | 15.47% |
| 1997 | 28.82% | 23.82% | 11.21% | 8.72% | 53.5% | 83.99% | 49.28% | 15.73% |
| 1996 | 29.05% | 24.93% | 11.09% | 8.89% | 54.14% | 84.56% | 49.99% | 16.32% |
| 1995 | 29.08% | 25.32% | 11.52% | 9% | 54.82% | 84.57% | 50.18% | 16.17% |
| 1994 | 28.63% | 26.13% | 11.21% | 9.25% | 55.52% | 84.61% | 50.23% | 16.02% |
| 1993 | 28.53% | 26.26% | 10.57% | 9.36% | 56.21% | 84.71% | 50.06% | 16.23% |
| 1992 | 28.87% | 26.2% | 10.2% | 9.24% | 56.85% | 85.36% | 50.19% | 15.33% |
| 1991 | 28.38% | 25.65% | 10.26% | 9.55% | 57.42% | 86.06% | 50.33% | 15.15% |
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.
