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Belize — Unemployment
Unemployment Rate for Belize, 1991–2025.
Latest value · 2025
8.86%
Unemployment Rate · % of total labor force · -8.2% since 1991
Unemployment for Belize was 8.86% in 2025, according to the latest World Bank data. The series covers 35 years, from 1991 to 2025. The highest recorded value was 14.31% in 1998. The lowest was 6.60% in 2017 (about 1.3× the low point). Across that span the compound annual growth rate works out to -0.25% per year.
Belize ranks 47 of 187 economies on this measure (1 = highest), putting it in the top 25%. The median for Latin America & Caribbean is 5.99%, so Belize sits above it. It peaked in 1998 and has fallen 38% since. Over the last decade (2015–2025) the figure moved up 17%.
Key figures
Latest (2025)
8.86%
First (1991)
9.65%
Change
-8.2%
Highest
14.31%
in 1998
Lowest
6.60%
in 2017
Average
9.70%
Annual growth (CAGR)
-0.25%
Years of data
35
Recent years
| Year | % of total labor force |
|---|---|
| 2025 | 8.86% |
| 2024 | 8.7% |
| 2023 | 8.28% |
| 2022 | 8.68% |
| 2021 | 10.3% |
| 2020 | 10.76% |
| 2019 | 9.05% |
| 2018 | 9.35% |
| 2017 | 6.6% |
| 2016 | 7% |
| 2015 | 7.58% |
| 2014 | 8.24% |
Reading this correctly. Share of the labor force without work but available for and seeking employment. National definitions differ, so cross-country comparison needs care. Figures are in % of total labor force. Comparing this series with a different measure of the same concept (for example a nominal figure against a purchasing-power-parity figure) will give misleading results.
Related data
Source. World Bank Open Data, indicator
SL.UEM.TOTL.ZS — Unemployment Rate. Data licensed under CC BY 4.0. Values are reproduced as published; this page computes the summary statistics (change, CAGR, extremes) from the underlying annual series. View the original dataset on data.worldbank.org.