Public Sector Size by Country 2024

Understanding the role of the government in a country's employment picture is critical to understanding its overall economy. And data shows it can vary quite a bit around the world.

The Middle Eastern nation of Oman has the highest percentage of its workforce in the public sector, 78.7%, according to the International Labour Organization. Cuba is the only other nation close to this significant percentage, sitting at 77%. Liberia and Belarus are neck-and-neck for third and fourth place, at 40.3% and 39.3%, respectively. Six out of the top 10 countries for public sector employment are in Europe - Belarus, Norway (32.2%), Hungary (30.4%), Denmark (30.2%), Croatia (29.8%), and Slovakia (27.3%.) Israel also holds a spot in the top 10 with 31.4%. Countries with the highest public sector size are a key sign of governments that take a more active and aggressive role in supporting their economies.

Other countries have a much smaller public sector, with Mali's 2.38% as the world's lowest. Singapore (2.6%) and Bangladesh (3.1%) are nearly as low. Africa holds a disproportionate amount of spots on the bottom ten list, with five of the world's lowest - Mali, Madagascar (4%), Uganda (4.1%), Tanzania (4.6%), and Rwanda (5.9%.) This can, unfortunately, reflect a lack of funds to hire workers or a lack of leadership to organize public projects or services. India's spot at fourth-lowest (3.8%) likely has to do with the country's extremely large population, though similarly large China employs 28% of its workforce in the public sector. The United States sits below the global average at 13.6% public sector employment as of 2021.

It's vital to note that these measurements can be somewhat imprecise and, in some cases, are only as recent as 2009. However, it can be difficult in some cases to firmly identify whether a person or company is part of the public sector due to the nature of the economy.