Labour force participation in Iceland

The ILO estimates that 74.9% of people aged 15 and over in Iceland were in the labour force in 2025.

Measure: Labour force participation rate (ILO modelled estimates) Unit: % of working-age population aged 15 and over Data: 1991 to 2025 Source: ILOSTAT
Iceland, 2025 74.9% % of working-age population aged 15 and over
Change from 2024 −0.2percentage points 2024: 75.2%
World, 2025 60.8% Official aggregate
Median of OECD (38 countries), 2025 61.6% Middle value of 38 countries
Position in 2025 17th of 181 See the full ranking

Labour force participation in Iceland over time

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Iceland World ×

% of working-age population 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.

Labour force participation rate (ILO modelled estimates) (% of working-age population aged 15 and over), 2003 to 2027 – the last ten estimates and projections every five years; the CSV has every year
Period IcelandWorld
2025 74.9% 60.8%
2024 75.2% 61.0%
2023 74.7% 61.0%
2022 74.5% 60.7%
2021 73.4% 60.4%
2020 73.6% 59.7%
2019 75.7% 61.0%
2018 76.0% 61.2%
2017 76.9% 61.3%
2016 77.4% 61.5%

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

In short

  • That is a change of −0.2 percentage points from 75.2% in 2024.
  • Since 2015, when it was 76.7%, the figure has changed by −1.8 percentage points.
  • Among the 181 countries with data for 2025, Iceland has the 17th highest value.
  • The figure for the world in 2025 was 60.8%.

Source and dates

Original producer
International Labour Organization, ILO Modelled Estimates
Distributed by
International Labour Organization, ILOSTAT
Dataset or series code
ILO,DF_EAP_2WAP_SEX_AGE_RT,1.0 · dataset details · view at source
Selection
.A..SEX_T.AGE_YTHADULT_YGE15
Observation period
1991 to 2025 for Iceland
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