ILO estimate of the unemployment rate in China

The ILO estimates the unemployment rate in China at 4.6% in 2025.

Measure: Unemployment rate (ILO modelled estimates) Unit: % of the labour force aged 15 and over Data: 1991 to 2025 Source: ILOSTAT
China, 2025 4.6% % of the labour force aged 15 and over
Change from 2024 0percentage points 2024: 4.6%
World, 2025 4.9% Official aggregate
Median of G20 countries, 2025 4.2% Middle value of 19 countries
Position in 2025 106th of 181 See the full ranking

ILO estimate of the unemployment rate in China over time

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China World ×

% of the labour force aged 15 and over. Source: ILO, ILOSTAT (ILO Modelled Estimates). Gaps mean no published value; points are not joined across missing years. Dashed lines are projections.

Unemployment rate (ILO modelled estimates) (% of the labour force aged 15 and over), 2003 to 2027 – the last ten estimates and projections every five years; the CSV has every year
Period ChinaWorld
2025 4.6% 4.9%
2024 4.6% 4.9%
2023 4.7% 4.9%
2022 5.0% 5.3%
2021 4.6% 6.0%
2020 5.0% 6.6%
2019 4.6% 5.6%
2018 4.3% 5.8%
2017 4.5% 5.9%
2016 4.6% 6.0%

Flags: f Projection . A dash means no value was published.

In short

  • That is a change of 0 percentage points from 4.6% in 2024.
  • Since 2015, when it was 4.7%, the figure has changed by 0 percentage points.
  • Among the 181 countries with data for 2025, China has the 106th highest value.
  • The figure for the world in 2025 was 4.9%.

Source and dates

Original producer
International Labour Organization, ILO Modelled Estimates
Distributed by
International Labour Organization, ILOSTAT
Dataset or series code
ILO,DF_UNE_2EAP_SEX_AGE_RT,1.0 · dataset details · view at source
Selection
.A..SEX_T.AGE_YTHADULT_YGE15
Observation period
1991 to 2025 for China
Provider update
Not stated by the provider
Retrieved
9 November 2026
Published here
9 November 2026
Licence
CC BY 4.0
Attribution
Source: ILO, ILOSTAT (ILO Modelled Estimates), original data: International Labour Organization, ILO Modelled Estimates