Ireland
IE desk: Ireland first; euro area, United Kingdom and United States alongside.
−0.38 pp
As of 2025 | % of population ages 15+
| Year | Value |
|---|---|
| 2025 | 61.84% |
| 2024 | 62.22% |
| 2023 | 63.38% |
| 2022 | 61.57% |
| 2021 | 59.51% |
| 2020 | 57.66% |
| 2019 | 59.23% |
| 2018 | 58.58% |
| 2017 | 57.76% |
| 2016 | 56.92% |
| 2015 | 55.66% |
| 2014 | 54.39% |
| 2013 | 53.40% |
| 2012 | 52.07% |
| 2011 | 52.42% |
| 2010 | 53.50% |
| 2009 | 56.00% |
| 2008 | 61.47% |
| 2007 | 63.30% |
| 2006 | 63.21% |
| 2005 | 62.88% |
| 2004 | 61.47% |
| 2003 | 61.43% |
| 2002 | 61.71% |
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: 61.84% in 2025.
It moves with both jobs and demography. From 1991 to 2025 (35 years): mean 57.88%, median 58.45%; low 51.14% (1992), high 63.38% (2023).
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 Ireland desk places Ireland first and shows the euro area, the United Kingdom, the United States, Germany and France alongside it, as far as each source publishes them. It republishes the same World Bank ILO modelled estimates as the all-countries pages, filtered to this desk; the build does not recompute anything. Taiwan is shown only on the headline unemployment page, where the rate is filled from the IMF World Economic Outlook because the World Bank does not publish it.
Move between desks with the Country selector, read the same numbers through the Chart and Table tabs, and shorten the period with the range buttons. Every page prints its indicator, source and licence. Ireland’s figures are national series in the World Bank collection, separate from the euro-area aggregate shown beside them. Where the source does not publish an Irish value, the related economies are shown.