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Labor force participation rate, female (% of female population ages 15+)

Indicator id: flfp_rate · Unit: % · Coverage: 1990-2024

Share of the female population ages 15 and older that is economically active: supplying labour for the production of goods and services during a specified period (modelled ILO estimate).

Sources

Reconciliation note: ILOSTAT's EAP_DWAP_SEX_AGE_RT is the direct labour force survey estimate for women 15+, reported only in NLFS survey years; the World Bank's SL.TLF.CACT.FE.ZS is a smoothed modelled annual series. The two converge closely in 2017 (verified live: 27.9% ILOSTAT vs 27.5% WB) but diverge sharply before it -- ILOSTAT ran as high as 94% in 2003 and 78-80% through 2008-2015. This is the same real Nepal survey-methodology break noted on unemployment_rate: the pre-2017/18 NLFS rounds used an extended activity definition that counted most unpaid subsistence and household farm work by women as labour force participation, while the standard ICLS-19 definition used from 2017/18 onward does not. Expect ILOSTAT's pre-2017 values to run far above the WB series for that reason, not because women's actual participation collapsed.

Caveats

Modelled ILO estimate; Nepal's figure is elevated relative to South Asian peers partly because unpaid subsistence farm work by women is counted as labour force participation.

Taxonomy

SDG: SDG 5.5 -- Ensure women's full participation and equal leadership opportunities, SDG 8.5 -- Achieve full and productive employment and decent work for all
Topic: Gender, Social Protection & Labor
Themes: gender

Also known as

"female labour force participation", "FLFP", "women working", "how many women work"

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