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South Africa
Unemployment, total (% of total labor force) (modeled ILO estimate)

Unemployment refers to the share of the labor force that is without work but available for and seeking employment.

Global rank#2out of 182 countries
Go to rankingOpenglobal ranking and map

Historical trend

34.031.128.125.222.3199120082025South Africa · 2025: 32.39%South Africa

Analytical takeaways

  • South Africa records 32.39% for Unemployment, total (% of total labor force) (modeled ILO estimate) in 2025, ranking #2 globally out of 182 countries.
  • Unemployment, total (% of total labor force) (modeled ILO estimate) increased from 23.14% in 1991 to 32.39% in 2025, a gain of 9.25%.
  • The country sits in the top quartile of the global distribution for this metric, making the page useful for leader-oriented high-intent searches.

Comparison

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