New Zealand
NZ desk: New Zealand first; Australia, United States, United Kingdom, euro area, Korea and Taiwan alongside.
−0.44 pp
As of 2025 | % of population ages 15+
| Year | Value |
|---|---|
| 2025 | 66.78% |
| 2024 | 67.22% |
| 2023 | 68.83% |
| 2022 | 68.59% |
| 2021 | 67.74% |
| 2020 | 66.65% |
| 2019 | 67.29% |
| 2018 | 67.45% |
| 2017 | 67.14% |
| 2016 | 65.97% |
| 2015 | 64.69% |
| 2014 | 64.60% |
| 2013 | 63.47% |
| 2012 | 62.95% |
| 2011 | 63.49% |
| 2010 | 63.11% |
| 2009 | 63.60% |
| 2008 | 65.14% |
| 2007 | 65.52% |
| 2006 | 65.13% |
| 2005 | 64.64% |
| 2004 | 63.77% |
| 2003 | 62.71% |
| 2002 | 62.56% |
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: 66.78% in 2025.
It moves with both jobs and demography. From 1991 to 2025 (35 years): mean 63.46%, median 63.60%; low 56.23% (1992), high 68.83% (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 New Zealand desk places New Zealand first and shows Australia, the United States, the United Kingdom, the euro area, Korea, Taiwan and Singapore alongside it, where the source covers them. It republishes the same World Bank ILO modelled estimates as the all-countries pages, filtered to this set, and does not recalculate the values. Taiwan carries a value only on the headline unemployment page, from the IMF World Economic Outlook, because the World Bank does not publish a Taiwanese rate.
Use the Country selector to switch desks, the Chart and Table tabs for the same values in two forms, and the range buttons to change the period. Each page names its indicator, source and licence. Australia and New Zealand publish separate national series in the World Bank collection, so their paths can diverge even though the two economies are neighbours. No value is estimated beyond what the source publishes.