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Table 5f. Adult unemployment
Last update: Dec 2007
Country or area			Adult (15+) unemployment rate
	Year		Women	Men	Source
Afghanistan	2005		10	8	HS
Albania	2004		18	12	HS
Algeria	2005	b	18	15	HS
Anguilla	2002	a	10	6	HS
Argentina	2005	e	13	9	HS
Armenia	1997	a,d	34	38	HS
Aruba	1997	w	8	7	HS
Australia	2005	a	5	5	HS
Austria	2005		6	5	MC
Azerbaijan	2005	z	10	8	HS
Bahamas	2005	a	11	9	HS
Bahrain	2001		10	4	PC
Bangladesh	2003		5	4	HS
Barbados	2004	a	11	9	HS
Belgium	2005	dd	9	7	ELFS
Belize	2005	a	17	8	HS
Bolivia	2002		7	4	HS
Botswana	2003	a	26	21	HS
Brazil	2004	o	12	7	HS
British Virgin Islands	1991		3	4	PC
Brunei Darussalam	1991		7	4	PC
Bulgaria	2005		10	10	HS
Burkina Faso	1998	a	3	2	HS
Cambodia	2001		2	1	HS
Cameroon	2001		7	8	HS
Canada	2005	a,j	7	7	HS
Cayman Islands	1997		5	3	HS
Chad	1993		0	1	PC
Chile	2005	a	9	6	HS
China	2005	d	…	…	OE
Colombia	2005	t	12	7	PC
Costa Rica	2005	a	10	5	HS
Côte d'Ivoire	1998	a	…	…	PC
Croatia	2005		14	12	HS
Cuba	2004	ee	2	2	HS
Cyprus	2005	w	7	4	HS
Czech Republic	2005	gg	10	7	HS
Denmark	2005	y	6	4	ELFS
Djibouti	1991		47	42	HS
Dominica	2001		9	12	HS
Dominican Republic	2005		29	11	HS
Ecuador	2005	d	11	6	HS
Egypt	2004	a	24	7	HS
El Salvador	2004	ee	4	9	HS
Estonia	2005		7	9	HS
Ethiopia	2005	a,y	8	3	HS
Fiji	1995		…	…	OE
Finland	2005		9	8	HS
France	2005	p	11	9	HS
French Guiana	2005		30	24	HS
Gabon	1993		16	19	PC
Georgia	2005		13	15	HS
Germany	2005	y	11	11	MC
Ghana	1999		11	9	HS
Greece	2005		15	6	ELFS
Greenland	2005		8	10	OE
Grenada	1998		21	11	HS
Guadeloupe	2005		30	22	HS
Guam	1993	a	…	…	HS
Guatemala	2003	a,x	5	3	HS
Guinea	1994	b	2	5	HS
Guyana	2001		14	6	HS
Haiti	1999		8	6	HS
Honduras	2005	n	6	3	HS
Hong Kong, China	2005	a	4	7	HS
Hungary	2005	dd	8	7	HS
Iceland	2005		3	3	HS
India	2004	i	5	5	HS
Indonesia	2005		14	8	HS
Iran, Islamic Republic of	2005		17	10	HS
Iraq	2004	y	15	29	HS
Ireland	2005		4	5	HS
Isle of Man	2001	w	2	2	PC
Israel	2005	a,c	10	9	HS
Italy	2005	z	10	6	HS
Jamaica	2005	a	15	7	HS
Japan	2005		4	5	HS
Jordan	2004		17	12	HS
Kazakhstan	2004		10	7	HS
Kenya	1999	ee	…	…	PC
Korea, Republic of	2005	a,dd	3	4	HS
Kuwait	2004		…	…	HS
Kyrgyzstan	2004		9	8	HS
Lao People's Democratic Republic	2005		1	1	PC
Latvia	2005		8	9	HS
Lesotho	1997	a,w	47	31	HS
Lithuania	2005	w	8	8	HS
Luxembourg	2005		6	4	ELFS
Macau, China	2005	a,w	4	4	HS
Madagascar	2003	a	6	4	HS
Malawi	1998	w	1	1	PC
Malaysia	2004	a	…	…	HS
Maldives	2000		3	2	PC
Mali	2004		11	7	HS
Malta	2005	y	9	7	HS
Marshall Islands	2005		24	26	HS
Martinique	2005		20	20	HS
Mauritius	2005	ee	17	6	HS
Mexico	2005		4	3	HS
Mongolia	2003	a	14	14	HS
Morocco	2005	w	12	11	HS
Myanmar	1990	b,z	9	5	HS
Namibia	2001		36	27	PC
Nepal	2001	w	11	7	PC
Netherlands	2005		6	5	HS
Netherlands Antilles	2003	f	…	…	HS
New Caledonia	1996		23	16	PC
New Zealand	2005	a,g	4	3	HS
Nicaragua	2003	v	8	8	HS
Norway	2005		4	5	HS
Pakistan	2005	a	13	7	HS
Panama	2005	ee	14	8	HS
Papua New Guinea	2000		1	4	PC
Paraguay	2003	l	10	7	HS
Peru	2005	q	14	10	HS
Philippines	2005		7	7	HS
Poland	2005	cc	19	17	HS
Portugal	2005	z	9	7	HS
Puerto Rico	2005	a,u	10	12	PC
Qatar	2001		13	2	HS
Republic of Moldova	2005		6	9	HS
Réunion	2005	w	36	29	HS
Romania	2005		6	8	HS
Russian Federation	2004		8	8	HS
Rwanda	1996	s	…	1	HS
Saint Lucia	2003		31	20	HS
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines	1991		22	18	PC
Sao Tome and Principe	2000		18	13	HS
Saudi Arabia	2002	z	12	4	HS
Serbia and Montenegro	2003	h, ee	16	14	HS
Seychelles	1992	a,x	41	28	HS
Singapore	2005		5	4	PC
Slovakia	2005	aa	17	15	HS
Slovenia	2005		6	6	HS
South Africa	2005		27	27	HS
Spain	2005	ee	12	7	HS
Sri Lanka	2005	m	12	6	HS
St. Helena	1998		16	21	PC
Suriname	1999		20	10	HS
Swaziland	1997	w	26	20	PC
Sweden	2005		8	8	HS
Switzerland	2005		5	4	HS
Syrian Arab Republic	2003	a	28	9	HS
Taiwan, China	2003	a	4	6	HS
Tanzania, United Republic of	2001	r	6	4	HS
Thailand	2005		1	2	HS
The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia	2005	a	38	37	HS
Trinidad and Tobago	2005		11	6	HS
Tunisia	2005	w	17	13	HS
Turkey	2005	a,ff	10	10	HS
Uganda	2003	bb	4	3	HS
Ukraine	2005	z	7	8	HS
United Arab Emirates	2000	ee	3	2	OE
United Kingdom	2005	ee	4	5	HS
United States	2005	a,k	5	5	HS
Uruguay	2005	d, y	15	10	HS
Venezuela	2004		18	13	HS
Viet Nam	2004		2	2	HS
West Bank and Gaza Strip	2004		20	28	HS
Yemen	1999		8	13	HS
Zambia	1998	x	12	13	HS
Zimbabwe	2002		6	10	PC

Sources:

International Labour Office, Table 8a. Unemployment (LFS), published in Key Indicators of the Labour Market (KILM). Fifth Edition, CD-ROM version (ISBN 978-92-2-020126-8). Also available at: http://www.ilo.org/public/english/employment/strat/kilm/ (accessed Oct 2007).

Footnotes:

The adult unemployment rate refers to the proportion of the adult (aged 15 years and older) labour force that is unemployed, unless otherwise specified. The unemployed are persons who are currently without work, who are currently available for work, and who are seeking or have sought work recently. The base for these statistics is the labour force (that is, the economically active portion of the population), not the total population.

The International Conference of Labour Statisticians adopted the following definition of the unemployed as an international recommendation in 1982: All persons who during the reference period were: (1) "without work", that is, were not in paid employment or self-employment as specified by the international definition of employment; (2) "currently available for work", that is, were available for paid employment or self-employment during the reference period; or (3) "seeking work", that is, had taken specific steps in a specified recent period to seek paid employment or self-employment.

National definitions of unemployment may differ from the recommended international standard definition. The national definitions used vary from one country to another as regards inter alia age limits, reference periods, criteria for seeking work, treatment of persons temporarily laid off and of persons seeking work for the first time. Inter-country comparisons are further hampered by the variety of types of sources used to obtain information on unemployment and the differences in the scope and coverage of such sources.