Home / Unemployment / Botswana
Botswana — Unemployment
Unemployment Rate for Botswana, 1991–2025.
Latest value · 2025
24.48%
Unemployment Rate · % of total labor force · +77.1% since 1991
Unemployment for Botswana was 24.48% in 2025, according to the latest World Bank data. The series covers 35 years, from 1991 to 2025. The latest year is also the highest value on record for this series. The lowest was 13.82% in 1991 (about 1.8× the low point). Across that span the compound annual growth rate works out to 1.70% per year.
Botswana ranks 4 of 187 economies on this measure (1 = highest), putting it in the top 2%. The median for Sub-Saharan Africa is 5.45%, so Botswana sits above it. Over the last decade (2015–2025) the figure moved up 29%.
Key figures
Latest (2025)
24.48%
First (1991)
13.82%
Change
+77.1%
Highest
24.48%
in 2025
Lowest
13.82%
in 1991
Average
19.69%
Annual growth (CAGR)
1.70%
Years of data
35
Recent years
| Year | % of total labor force |
|---|---|
| 2025 | 24.48% |
| 2024 | 23.81% |
| 2023 | 23.38% |
| 2022 | 23.62% |
| 2021 | 23.11% |
| 2020 | 21.02% |
| 2019 | 20.09% |
| 2018 | 19.67% |
| 2017 | 19.67% |
| 2016 | 19.33% |
| 2015 | 18.92% |
| 2014 | 18.48% |
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.