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Brazil — Unemployment
Unemployment Rate for Brazil, 1991–2025.
Latest value · 2025
5.97%
Unemployment Rate · % of total labor force · -13.3% since 1991
Unemployment for Brazil was 5.97% in 2025, according to the latest World Bank data. The series covers 35 years, from 1991 to 2025. The highest recorded value was 13.70% in 2020. Across that span the compound annual growth rate works out to -0.42% per year.
Brazil ranks 79 of 187 economies on this measure (1 = highest), putting it in the top 42%. The median for Latin America & Caribbean is 5.99%, so Brazil sits below it. It peaked in 2020 and has fallen 56% since. Over the last decade (2015–2025) the figure moved down 30%.
Key figures
Latest (2025)
5.97%
First (1991)
6.89%
Change
-13.3%
Highest
13.70%
in 2020
Lowest
5.97%
in 2025
Average
9.25%
Annual growth (CAGR)
-0.42%
Years of data
35
Recent years
| Year | % of total labor force |
|---|---|
| 2025 | 5.97% |
| 2024 | 6.8% |
| 2023 | 7.95% |
| 2022 | 9.23% |
| 2021 | 13.16% |
| 2020 | 13.7% |
| 2019 | 11.94% |
| 2018 | 12.33% |
| 2017 | 12.79% |
| 2016 | 11.58% |
| 2015 | 8.54% |
| 2014 | 6.76% |
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.