Germany
DE desk: Germany first; euro area, France, Italy, United Kingdom and United States alongside.
−0.53 pp
As of 2025 | % of population ages 15+
| Year | Value |
|---|---|
| 2025 | 58.32% |
| 2024 | 58.85% |
| 2023 | 59.17% |
| 2022 | 58.93% |
| 2021 | 58.22% |
| 2020 | 58.13% |
| 2019 | 59.37% |
| 2018 | 58.80% |
| 2017 | 58.37% |
| 2016 | 57.93% |
| 2015 | 57.44% |
| 2014 | 57.37% |
| 2013 | 57.07% |
| 2012 | 56.74% |
| 2011 | 56.28% |
| 2010 | 55.13% |
| 2009 | 54.55% |
| 2008 | 54.65% |
| 2007 | 53.91% |
| 2006 | 52.93% |
| 2005 | 51.80% |
| 2004 | 51.29% |
| 2003 | 52.19% |
| 2002 | 52.89% |
The employment-to-population ratio is employed people as a percent of the population ages 15+ (SL.EMP.TOTL.SP.ZS). It does not condition on being in the labour force. Latest: 58.32% in 2025.
It moves with both jobs and demography. From 1991 to 2025 (35 years): mean 55.46%, median 55.13%; low 51.29% (2004), high 59.37% (2019).
Source: World Bank Open Data. Licence: CC BY 4.0 (terms).
This series is the employment-to-population ratio for people aged 15 and over: the share of that population who are employed. The source is World Bank Open Data indicator SL.EMP.TOTL.SP.ZS, an ILO modelled estimate. It is not the unemployment rate. Students, retirees, people looking after a household and others outside the labour force are all in the denominator, so the ratio can fall even when unemployment is unchanged. The ratio also treats each employed person alike, whether they work an hour a week or a full year.
The indicator is modelled from national labour-force surveys and censuses and is revised when those inputs change. Population age structure and retirement ages differ between economies, so levels are not directly equivalent. The chart shows selected economies over the years you choose, and the ranked ledger shows each economy’s latest published year. Read the direction of travel and the broad level; small differences between neighbouring economies sit within the uncertainty of the estimates. Read it with the participation rate for context.
The Germany desk places Germany first and shows the euro area, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, the United Kingdom and the United States alongside, plus other euro-area members where a series covers them. The figures are the same World Bank ILO modelled estimates as the all-countries pages, filtered to this desk; the build does not recompute them. Taiwan appears only on the headline unemployment page, from the IMF World Economic Outlook, because the World Bank does not publish it.
Move between desks with the Country selector, read the same values through the Chart and Table tabs, and use the range buttons to change the period. Each page prints its indicator code, source and licence. Euro-area and national figures are separate series, so a gap between them reflects both the members included and the underlying data. Nothing is estimated for Germany beyond the published source values.