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Table 5.D -Indicators of economic activity
Sources      Technical notes
									% women in
									the adult
	Adult (15+) economic activity rate (%)								labour force
	1990				1995/2002				1995/2002
Country or area	W		M		W		M
Africa
Algeria	19	a	76	a	7		47		12
Angola	74	a	90	a	73	a	90	a	46
Benin	76	a	84	a	75	a	84	a	49
Botswana	66		84		48		70		45
Burkina Faso	78	a	91	a	77	a	90	a	47
Burundi	91		90		83	a	93	a	50
Cameroon	47	a	87	a	48	a	86	a	37
Cape Verde	41		85		44	a	89	a	39
Central African Rep.	70	a	88	a	69	a	87	a	47
Chad	66	a	89	a	67	a	88	a	44
Comoros	63	a	88	a	63	a	86	a	42
Congo	59	a	84	a	58	a	83	a	43
Côte d'Ivoire	43	a	89	a	44	a	88	a	32
Dem. Rep. of the Congo	62	a	85	a	62	a	85	a	43
Egypt	27		73		20	t	69	t	22	t
Equatorial Guinea	46	a	88	a	45	a	91	a	36
Eritrea	76	a	87	a	75	a	87	a	47
Ethiopia	58	a	86	a	72		90		46
Gabon	64	a	85	a	63	a	84	a	44
Gambia	69	a	91	a	70	a	90	a	44
Ghana	82	a	83	a	81	a	83	a	51
Guinea	79	a	88	a	78	a	87	a	47
Guinea-Bissau	57	a	92	a	57	a	92	a	40
Kenya	75	a	90	a	74	a	89	a	46
Lesotho	47	a	86	a	56		69		37
Liberia	54	a	85	a	54	a	84	a	39
Libyan Arab Jamahiriya	21	a	81	a	23	a	78	a	21
Madagascar	70	a	90	a	69	a	89	a	44
Malawi	80	a	88	a	76		79		50
Mali	73	a	90	a	72	a	90	a	46
Mauritania	65	a	87	a	64	a	86	a	44
Mauritius	35		81		41		80		35
Morocco	39		80		26		78		25
Mozambique	84	a	92	a	83	a	91	a	49
Namibia	54	a	82	a	54	a	81	a	41
Niger	70	a	94	a	70	a	93	a	44
Nigeria	47	a	88	a	48	a	87	a	36
Reunion	44		67		47	a	67	a	43
Rwanda	84	a	94	a	85	b	87	b	56	b
Senegal	25		85		61	a	86	a	42
Sierra Leone	42	a	85	a	44	a	84	a	36
Somalia	64	a	88	a	64	a	87	a	43
South Africa	46	a	80	a	46		79		37
Sudan	24		76		29		75		28
Swaziland	40	a	80	a	36		58		37
Togo	53	a	88	a	53	a	87	a	39
Tunisia	33	a	80	a	24		73		24
Uganda	81	a	92	a	81	a	91	a	48
United Rep. of Tanzania	83	a	89	a	83	a	89	a	49
Zambia	66	a	87	a	66	a	86	a	45
Zimbabwe	67	a	86	a	65		74		48
Latin America/Caribbean
Argentina	29		79		41		76		37
Bahamas	65		79		66		74		49
Barbados	60		76		62		73		49
Belize	23	a	87	a	34		79		31
Bolivia	24		85		60		82		45
Brazil	44		85		54		81		42
Chile	32		75		35		73		33
Colombia	46		80		58		80		47
Costa Rica	33		83		42		80		35
Cuba	42	a	75	a	47	a	77	a	38
Dominican Republic	34	a	86	a	38		86		30
Ecuador	28		82		53		81		41
El Salvador	51		80		44		76		41
Guadeloupe	52		70		56	a	73	a	44
Guatemala	28	a	90	a	23		74		24
Guyana	37	a	83	a	40	a	84	a	33
Haiti	49		80		57	a	82	a	43
Honduras	34	a	87	a	43		85		36
Jamaica	62	d	77	d	69		81		46
Martinique	54		66		55	a	72	a	47
Mexico	22		76		39		82		35
Netherlands Antilles	52	a	74	a	53		67		49
Nicaragua	40		86		22	q	51	q	31	q
Panama	32		77		45		80		36
Paraguay	51		83		35		87		29
Peru	29		80		59	b	80	b	45	b
Puerto Rico	31	e	61	e	36	e	58	e	43	e
Suriname	44		68		33		61		37
Trinidad and Tobago	38		74		47		75		38
Uruguay	43		67		47	b d	65	b d	45	bd
Venezuela	38		82		55		84		39
Asia
Afghanistan	46	a	86	a	43		49		34
Armenia	63	a	76	a	35		41		48
Azerbaijan	52	a	75	a	43	c	49	c	48	c
Bahrain	29	a	88	a	24		65		22
Bangladesh	66	a	88	a	56		87		37
Bhutan	58	a	91	a	58	a	90	a	39
Brunei Darussalam	43	a	82	a	47	a	83	a	34
Cambodia	82	a	84	a	74		81		52
China	73		85		74	a	86	a	45
Cnina,  Hong Kong SAR	47		79		52		73		44
China,  Macao SAR	54	a	83	a	56		73		47
Cyprus	48		82		53		72		44
Dem. People's Rep.of Korea	61	a	79	a	62	a	82	a	44
Georgia	56	a	75	a	56		76		47
India	40	a	86	a	41	a	86	a	31
Indonesia	45		83		52		85		38
Iran (Islamic Rep. of)	21	a	81	a	11		75		12
Iraq	15	a	75	a	17	a	75	a	18
Israel	41		62		48		61		46
Jordan	17	a	76	a	22		76		21
Kazakstan	61	a	78	a	60	a	76	a	46
Kuwait	38	a	85	a	43		83		25
Kyrgyzstan	59	a	74	a	60	a	74	a	47
Lao People's Dem. Rep.	75	a	90	a	75	a	89	a	47
Lebanon	24	a	74	a	27	a	76	a	28
Malaysia	45	g	82	g	44	g	79	g	35	g
Maldives	20	a	77	a	37		71		34
Mongolia	72	a	85	a	36		38		47
Myanmar	66	a	89	a	66	a	88	a	44
Nepal	56	a	88	a	57		86		40
Occupied Palestinian Territory	6	h	66	h	10	r	66	r	14	r
Oman	13	a	82	a	13		59		18
Pakistan	11		85		3		69		3
Philippines	48		82		53		82		39
Qatar	33	a	94	a	34	a	71	a	13
Republic of Korea	47		74		49		74		41
Saudi Arabia	15	a	85	a	18	a	82	a	11
Singapore	50		79		56		81		40
Sri Lanka	45		78		37		76		34
Syrian Arab Republic	24	a	78	a	24		82		21
Tajikistan	52	a	74	a	55	a	74	a	44
Thailand	76		88		65		81		45
Timor-Leste	76	a	89	a	75	a	89	a	44
Turkey	34		80		27		71		28
Turkmenistan	59	a	78	a	61	a	78	a	45
United Arab Emirates	29	a	91	a	31		92		12
Uzbekistan	59	a	75	a	61	a	74	a	46
Viet Nam	76	a	85	a	75	a	84	a	49
Yemen	28	a	81	a	29	a	82	a	27
Oceania
Fiji	27	a	84	a	39		79		33
Papua New Guinea	67	a	88	a	67	a	87	a	42
Solomon Islands	83	a	89	a	83	a	90	a	46
Tonga	36		76		42		75		36
Developed regions
Albania	58	a	83	a	50		75		41
Australia	52		75		55		72		44
Austria	43		70		50		68		44
Belarus	61	a	76	a	46		45		53
Belgium	37		61		43		61		43
Bosnia and Herzegovina	43	a	76	a	44	a	75	a	38
Bulgaria	60	a	68	a	46		55		47
Canada	59	i	76	i	61		73		46
Croatia	48	a	71	a	45		62		44
Czech Republic	61		74		51		60		44
Denmark	62		75		74	s	82	s	47	s
Estonia	63	j	75	j	51	k	69	k	49	k
Finland	65		74		57	k	67	k	48	k
France	46		64		48		62		46
Germany	44	l	72	l	49		66		44
Greece	35		66		38		61		40
Hungary	48		68		46	k	61	k	45	k
Iceland	66		82		79	m	88	m	47	m
Ireland	36		69		48		71		41
Italy	36	d	64	d	36		62		39
Japan	50		77		49		76		41
Latvia	63	a	77	a	51		66		48
Lithuania	60	a	75	a	46		55		49
Luxembourg	34		68		42		65		41
Malta	23	a	73	a	31		69		32
Netherlands	53	g	80	g	54		73		43
New Zealand	54		74		57		72		45
Norway	62		77		70	m	77	m	47	m
Poland	57	a	75	a	49		63		46
Portugal	50		74		54		70		46
Republic of Moldova	61	a	75	a	43		46		50
Romania	55		67		56		69		46
Russian Federation	60	a	76	a	52	n	67	n	48	n
Serbia and Montenegro	50	a	72	a	50		71		42
Slovakia	63	a	75	a	53		68		46
Slovenia	55	a	71	a	52		65		46
Spain	33	e	68	e	42	e	67	e	40	e
Sweden	71	m	78	m	76	o	80	o	48	o
Switzerland	49		79		58		78		45
The FYR of Macedonia	49	a	73	a	42		64		39
Ukraine	57	a	73	a	58		68		49
United Kingdom	53	e	75	e	56	e	71	e	45	e
United States	58	e	76	e	60	e p	74	e p	47	p

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Sources: 

ILO Yearbook of Labour Statistics, 2003 (Geneva, 2003) and Key Indicators of the Labour Market (KILM) Third Edition,(Geneva, 2003), table 1. KILM table 1 was compiled from the following sources: ILO, Yearbook of Labour Statistics,2002(Geneva, 2002); ILO, Economically Active Population, 1950-2010, fourth edition (Geneva, 1996);OECD, Labour Force Statistics Database, http://www.oecd.org and ILO Regional office for Latin America (Panama).

Footnotes:

^a From estimates of economically active population prepared by ILO in 1996 (see sources).
^b Urban areas.
^c Data for female are for aged 16 to 57 years; male for aged 16 to 62 years.
^d For persons aged 14 or over.
^e For persons aged 16 or over.
^f The data relate to the districts of Wanica and Paramaribo.
^g For persons aged 15 to 64.
^h Data for Gaza Strip only.
ⁱ Data exclude territories of Yukon, North West Territories and Nunavut.
^j For persons aged 20 or over.
^k For persons aged 15 to 74.
^l Data for 1990 do not include the former German Democratic Republic.
^m For persons aged 16 to 74.
ⁿ For persons aged 15 to 72.
^o For persons aged 16 to 64.
^p Data are not strictly comparable with 1990 data due to the introduction of revised population controls.
^qFor persons aged 10 or over.
^rData for Gaza Strip and West Bank.
^sFor persons aged 15 to 66.
^tEgyptian population only.

Technical notes:

Table 5.D presents statistics on women and men in the economically active population aged 15 or over.

Indicators concerning the total economically active population aged 15 or over have been compiled mainly from the International Labour Office (ILO). Data shown are for 1990 and the latest year between 1995 and 2002 for which data are available. The first indicator is the economic activity rate, defined as the proportion of the population aged 15 or over who furnish, or are available to furnish, the supply of labour for production of goods and services in accordance with the System of National Accounts. The second indicator on economic activity is the percentage of women among the total labour force.

Issues concerning statistics on economically active women are discussed in the box entitled "Concepts related to the labour force" in chapter 5 of the report The World's Women 2000, and in a box entitled "Counting economically active women" in The World's Women 1970-1990: Trends and Statistics. The definition of the economically active population provided by the ILO comprises all employed and unemployed persons, including those seeking work for the first time, employers operating unincorporated enterprises, persons working on their own account, employees, contributing family workers, members of producers' co-operatives and members of the armed forces. In principle, a person who performs such work for as little as one hour per week is considered economically active. ILO's recommended definition also accounts for production of primary products, such as foodstuffs, fetching/transporting water and collecting firewood for own consumption. Certain other non-monetary activities---e.g. construction, major repair and renovation of owner-occupied dwelling---are considered economic activity and persons engaged in such production are regarded as economically active.

Specific elements of the standard concepts differ substantially from country to country (e.g., the choice of reference period and the determination of minimum hours of work and unpaid family work, including production for own consumption), and these differences may result in underestimation of women's participation in economic activity. Moreover, censuses and surveys are seldom conducted regularly and the results in developing regions become available only after several years. Stereotypes held by census and survey interviewers and respondents' own perceptions about what does or does not constitute economic activity may also lead to errors in the reporting and recording of the economic activity, resulting in underestimation of women's economic activity. In addition, in many countries, women are engaged predominantly in those economic activities that are the most difficult to measure, such as subsistence production and informal sector or home-based work.