Home / Labor participation / India
India — Labor participation
Labor Force Participation Rate for India, 1990–2025.
Latest value · 2025
55.66%
Labor Force Participation Rate · % of population ages 15+ · -3.9% since 1990
Labor participation for India was 55.66% in 2025, according to the latest World Bank data. The series covers 36 years, from 1990 to 2025. The highest recorded value was 60.08% in 2000. The lowest was 51.55% in 2020 (about 1.1× the low point). Across that span the compound annual growth rate works out to -0.11% per year.
India ranks 136 of 187 economies on this measure (1 = highest), putting it in the top 73%. The median for South Asia is 58.80%, so India sits below it. It peaked in 2000 and has fallen 7% since. Over the last decade (2015–2025) the figure moved up 5%.
Key figures
Latest (2025)
55.66%
First (1990)
57.94%
Change
-3.9%
Highest
60.08%
in 2000
Lowest
51.55%
in 2020
Average
56.31%
Annual growth (CAGR)
-0.11%
Years of data
36
Recent years
| Year | % of population ages 15+ |
|---|---|
| 2025 | 55.66% |
| 2024 | 55.64% |
| 2023 | 54.7% |
| 2022 | 53.59% |
| 2021 | 52.52% |
| 2020 | 51.55% |
| 2019 | 52.28% |
| 2018 | 52.48% |
| 2017 | 52.67% |
| 2016 | 52.85% |
| 2015 | 53.03% |
| 2014 | 53.21% |
Reading this correctly. Proportion of the population aged 15 and above that is economically active: supplying labor for the production of goods and services. Figures are in % of population ages 15+. 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.TLF.CACT.ZS — Labor Force Participation 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.