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India — Unemployment
Unemployment Rate for India, 1991–2025.
Latest value · 2025
4.22%
Unemployment Rate · % of total labor force · -44.8% since 1991
Unemployment for India was 4.22% in 2025, according to the latest World Bank data. The series covers 35 years, from 1991 to 2025. The highest recorded value was 7.86% in 2020. The lowest was 4.17% in 2023 (about 1.0× the low point). Across that span the compound annual growth rate works out to -1.73% per year.
India ranks 117 of 187 economies on this measure (1 = highest), putting it in the top 63%. The median for South Asia is 4.22%, so India sits level with it. It peaked in 2020 and has fallen 46% since. Over the last decade (2015–2025) the figure moved down 45%.
Key figures
Latest (2025)
4.22%
First (1991)
7.64%
Change
-44.8%
Highest
7.86%
in 2020
Lowest
4.17%
in 2023
Average
7.18%
Annual growth (CAGR)
-1.73%
Years of data
35
Recent years
| Year | % of total labor force |
|---|---|
| 2025 | 4.22% |
| 2024 | 4.17% |
| 2023 | 4.17% |
| 2022 | 4.82% |
| 2021 | 6.38% |
| 2020 | 7.86% |
| 2019 | 6.51% |
| 2018 | 7.65% |
| 2017 | 7.63% |
| 2016 | 7.61% |
| 2015 | 7.63% |
| 2014 | 7.66% |
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.