Countries With the Fastest Growth in Female labour force participation (5-Year Change)

Name: Countries With the Fastest Growth in Female labour force participation (5-Year Change)
Creator: The World Bank
License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Change in Female labour force participation over the five years to each country's latest year, in points (a share or rate is not shown as a % of itself). Only countries that rose are listed. Source: The World Bank (CC BY 4.0).

Summary

St. Lucia rose the most: by 12.7 pts, from 49.3% of female population 15+ to 62% of female population 15+ in the five years to 2025. Niger is second (+9.11 pts), followed by Montenegro (+7.9 pts). 137 countries rose over that period; the median change among them was +1.95 pts.

#1: St. Lucia · +12.7 pts
Median: +1.95 pts
Coverage: 137 countries
Data year: 2025
Last updated: 2026-11-14

Top 10: 5-year change (points). Bar chart of the top 10: 1. St. Lucia 12.7; 2. Niger 9.11; 3. Montenegro 7.9; 4. Bolivia 7.85; 5. Philippines 7.81; 6. Botswana 7.57; 7. Chile 7.45; 8. Guyana 7.05; 9. Serbia 6.47; 10. India 6.43.

Full ranking

Countries With the Fastest Growth in Female labour force participation (5-Year Change), 2025
Rank	Country	From	To	5-year change (points)
1	St. Lucia	49.3	62	+12.7 pts
2	Niger	63.7	72.8	+9.11 pts
3	Montenegro	43.3	51.2	+7.9 pts
4	Bolivia	65	72.9	+7.85 pts
5	Philippines	42.7	50.5	+7.81 pts
6	Botswana	56.1	63.7	+7.57 pts
7	Chile	45.4	52.9	+7.45 pts
8	Guyana	40.3	47.4	+7.05 pts
9	Serbia	46.2	52.6	+6.47 pts
10	India	26	32.4	+6.43 pts
11	Türkiye	30.8	37.1	+6.32 pts
12	Albania	52.3	58.6	+6.31 pts
13	Dominican Republic	47.4	53.7	+6.24 pts
14	Argentina	46.5	52.5	+5.98 pts
15	El Salvador	43.2	49.1	+5.84 pts
16	Nigeria	74.9	80.7	+5.81 pts
17	Mexico	41.7	47.5	+5.75 pts
18	South Africa	44.1	49.9	+5.73 pts
19	Bahamas, The	65.2	70.7	+5.56 pts
20	Jamaica	57.6	63	+5.45 pts
21	Peru	59.9	65	+5.18 pts
22	Belize	41.5	46.5	+4.99 pts
23	Ireland	55.1	59.8	+4.7 pts
24	Malta	51.3	55.8	+4.55 pts
25	Mauritius	43.1	47.5	+4.35 pts
26	Saudi Arabia	29.3	33.6	+4.27 pts
27	Moldova	68.1	72.3	+4.25 pts
28	Ecuador	48.2	52.4	+4.15 pts
29	Estonia	57.1	61	+3.85 pts
30	Egypt, Arab Rep.	14.6	18.5	+3.85 pts
31	Cabo Verde	46.8	50.5	+3.71 pts
32	Korea, Rep.	53.1	56.8	+3.64 pts
33	Maldives	37.1	40.7	+3.63 pts
34	Guinea-Bissau	56.8	60.3	+3.52 pts
35	Slovak Republic	51.8	55.1	+3.33 pts
36	Nicaragua	48.1	51.3	+3.13 pts
37	St. Vincent and the Grenadines	56.1	59.2	+3.11 pts
38	Brazil	50.3	53.4	+3.07 pts
39	Puerto Rico (US)	33.8	36.9	+3.06 pts
40	Uruguay	54.2	57.3	+3.02 pts
41	Hungary	51.3	54.3	+2.97 pts
42	Côte d'Ivoire	56.5	59.5	+2.97 pts
43	Guam	53.6	56.5	+2.94 pts
44	Croatia	44.4	47.4	+2.93 pts
45	Denmark	57.9	60.8	+2.91 pts
46	Lao PDR	58.7	61.6	+2.88 pts
47	Israel	59.4	62.3	+2.88 pts
48	Japan	53.1	55.9	+2.81 pts
49	Comoros	44.9	47.6	+2.76 pts
50	Zimbabwe	59.4	62.2	+2.73 pts
51	Gabon	39.1	41.6	+2.57 pts
52	Equatorial Guinea	50.1	52.6	+2.47 pts
53	Namibia	52.5	54.9	+2.47 pts
54	Qatar	59.5	61.9	+2.4 pts
55	Australia	60.1	62.5	+2.38 pts
56	Congo, Rep.	63.3	65.6	+2.3 pts
57	Poland	49.3	51.6	+2.28 pts
58	Fiji	36.2	38.5	+2.27 pts
59	Mali	50.6	52.8	+2.21 pts
60	Cyprus	59.1	61.2	+2.16 pts
61	Virgin Islands (US)	50.6	52.8	+2.15 pts
62	Bosnia and Herzegovina	37.1	39.2	+2.13 pts
63	Uzbekistan	39.1	41.2	+2.08 pts
64	Eswatini	46.5	48.5	+2.07 pts
65	Zambia	54.4	56.4	+2.02 pts
66	Czechia	51.5	53.5	+1.99 pts
67	Libya	31	33	+1.99 pts
68	Suriname	42.9	44.9	+1.98 pts
69	Greece	42.7	44.7	+1.95 pts
70	Paraguay	57.1	59	+1.91 pts
71	Spain	50.9	52.8	+1.9 pts
72	Singapore	61.7	63.6	+1.85 pts
73	Uganda	74	75.6	+1.62 pts
74	Congo, Dem. Rep.	60.3	61.8	+1.59 pts
75	Benin	73.6	75.2	+1.58 pts
76	Luxembourg	55.9	57.5	+1.55 pts
77	Georgia	55.2	56.7	+1.49 pts
78	Portugal	53.2	54.6	+1.47 pts
79	France	50.1	51.5	+1.43 pts
80	Tajikistan	20.5	21.9	+1.41 pts
81	Korea, Dem. People's Rep.	76.3	77.7	+1.41 pts
82	New Zealand	64.7	66.1	+1.38 pts
83	Barbados	59.7	61	+1.34 pts
84	Finland	55.2	56.5	+1.32 pts
85	Italy	39.5	40.8	+1.3 pts
86	Togo	55.3	56.6	+1.3 pts
87	West Bank and Gaza	17.7	18.9	+1.27 pts
88	Bahrain	41	42.3	+1.25 pts
89	Timor-Leste	60.5	61.7	+1.22 pts
90	Senegal	37.1	38.2	+1.14 pts
91	Belgium	48.7	49.8	+1.12 pts
92	Djibouti	18.3	19.4	+1.1 pts
93	Jordan	15	16	+1.05 pts
94	Papua New Guinea	49.8	50.8	+1.01 pts
95	Sweden	60.6	61.5	+0.95 pts
96	Burundi	78.6	79.5	+0.94 pts
97	Tanzania	79.3	80.3	+0.938 pts
98	Algeria	13.2	14.1	+0.936 pts
99	Netherlands	61.8	62.7	+0.934 pts
100	Oman	29.1	30	+0.884 pts

Showing the top 100 of 137. Premium downloads the full list as CSV or JSON.

About the top 10

#1 St. Lucia

St. Lucia ranks #1 on this list with +12.7 pts.

Capital: Castries
Continent: North America
Income group: Upper middle income
Population: 180,150 people (2025)
GDP: US$2.66 billion (2025)
GDP per person: US$14,746 (2025)
Life expectancy: 72.8 years (2024)
Urban population: 29.1% of population (2025)

Also ranks #9 in homicide rate · #9 in immunisation (dpt) rate · #13 in population ages 15-64 share.

Full country profile

#2 Niger

Niger ranks #2 on this list with +9.11 pts.

Capital: Niamey
Continent: Africa
Income group: Low income
Population: 27.92 million people (2025)
GDP: US$21.65 billion (2025)
GDP per person: US$775.4 (2025)
Life expectancy: 61.4 years (2024)
Urban population: 18.4% of population (2025)

Largest cities: Niamey.

Also ranks #1 in agriculture value added share of gdp · #2 in under-5 mortality rate · #3 in population ages 0-14 share.

Full country profile

#3 Montenegro

Montenegro ranks #3 on this list with +7.9 pts.

Capital: Podgorica
Continent: Europe
Income group: Upper middle income
Population: 623,130 people (2025)
GDP: US$9.23 billion (2025)
GDP per person: US$14,817 (2025)
Life expectancy: 77.9 years (2024)
Urban population: 65.6% of population (2025)

Also ranks #3 in mobile subscriptions per 100 · #9 in bank branches per 100,000 adults · #10 in smoking prevalence.

Full country profile

#4 Bolivia

Bolivia ranks #4 on this list with +7.85 pts.

Capital: La Paz, Sucre
Continent: South America
Income group: Lower middle income
Population: 12.58 million people (2025)
GDP: US$64.77 billion (2025)
GDP per person: US$5,148 (2025)
Life expectancy: 68.7 years (2024)
Urban population: 71.6% of population (2025)

Largest cities: Santa Cruz de la Sierra.

Also ranks #2 in real effective exchange rate index · #3 in bank branches per 100,000 adults · #4 in women in parliament share.

Full country profile

#5 Philippines

Philippines ranks #5 on this list with +7.81 pts.

Capital: Manila
Continent: Asia
Income group: Upper middle income
Population: 116.79 million people (2025)
GDP: US$487.09 billion (2025)
GDP per person: US$4,171 (2025)
Life expectancy: 69.9 years (2024)
Urban population: 55.8% of population (2025)

Largest cities: Metro Manila, Quezon City, Manila.

Also ranks #4 in remittances received · #4 in low-birthweight babies share · #7 in annual freshwater withdrawals.

Full country profile

#6 Botswana

Botswana ranks #6 on this list with +7.57 pts.

Capital: Gaborone
Continent: Africa
Income group: Upper middle income
Population: 2.56 million people (2025)
GDP: US$19.93 billion (2025)
GDP per person: US$7,778 (2025)
Life expectancy: 69.3 years (2024)
Urban population: 68% of population (2025)

Also ranks #4 in unemployment rate · #4 in hiv prevalence · #5 in youth unemployment rate.

Full country profile

#7 Chile

Chile ranks #7 on this list with +7.45 pts.

Capital: Santiago
Continent: South America
Income group: High income
Population: 19.86 million people (2025)
GDP: US$357.37 billion (2025)
GDP per person: US$17,995 (2025)
Life expectancy: 81.4 years (2024)
Urban population: 89.2% of population (2025)

Largest cities: Santiago, Santo Domingo.

Also ranks #5 in mineral rents share of gdp · #7 in school enrolment (tertiary) · #10 in fish production.

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#8 Guyana

Guyana ranks #8 on this list with +7.05 pts.

Capital: Georgetown
Continent: South America
Income group: High income
Population: 835,990 people (2025)
GDP: US$27.1 billion (2025)
GDP per person: US$32,414 (2025)
Life expectancy: 70.3 years (2024)
Urban population: 26.5% of population (2025)

Also ranks #1 in gdp growth rate · #1 in industry value added share of gdp · #1 in livestock production index.

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#9 Serbia

Serbia ranks #9 on this list with +6.47 pts.

Capital: Belgrade
Continent: Europe
Income group: Upper middle income
Population: 6.55 million people (2025)
GDP: US$99.95 billion (2025)
GDP per person: US$15,262 (2025)
Life expectancy: 76 years (2024)
Urban population: 62.6% of population (2025)

Largest cities: City of Belgrade, Belgrade.

Also ranks #3 in death rate · #4 in smoking prevalence · #13 in age dependency ratio (old).

Full country profile Weather in Belgrade (Purr Weather)

#10 India

India ranks #10 on this list with +6.43 pts.

Capital: New Delhi
Continent: Asia
Income group: Lower middle income
Population: 1.46 billion people (2025)
GDP: US$3.96 trillion (2025)
GDP per person: US$2,703 (2025)
Life expectancy: 72.2 years (2024)
Urban population: 35.7% of population (2025)

Largest cities: Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru.

Also ranks #1 in population · #1 in rural population · #1 in remittances received.

Full country profile

Profile facts: World Bank (CC BY 4.0) and Wikidata (CC0); weather links go to Purr Weather, another ChowChow Labs site.

Source and method

Change in Female labour force participation over the five years to each country's latest year, in points (a share or rate is not shown as a % of itself). Only countries that rose are listed.

Source: The World Bank, indicator SL.TLF.CACT.FE.ZS. Licence: CC BY 4.0. Retrieved: 2026-11-14.

The World Bank: Labor force participation rate, female (% of female population ages 15+) (modeled ILO estimate): ILO Modelled Estimates database (ILOEST), International Labour Organization (ILO) (via World Development Indicators)

Original data provider, as recorded by the World Bank: ILO Modelled Estimates database (ILOEST), International Labour Organization (ILO).

Values are shown as published (changes are computed from the published values). Provider terms: The World Bank. All licences: Sources & licences.

Summary

Full ranking

About the top 10

#1 St. Lucia

#2 Niger

#3 Montenegro

#4 Bolivia

#5 Philippines

#6 Botswana

#7 Chile

#8 Guyana

#9 Serbia

#10 India

Related rankings

Source and method