Bangladesh youth unemployment rate for 2024 was 11.46%, a 0.57% increase from 2023.

<ul style='margin-top:20px;'>

<li>Bangladesh youth unemployment rate for 2023 was <strong>10.90%</strong>, a <strong>0.09% decline</strong> from 2022.</li>
<li>Bangladesh youth unemployment rate for 2022 was <strong>10.99%</strong>, a <strong>1.46% decline</strong> from 2021.</li>
<li>Bangladesh youth unemployment rate for 2021 was <strong>12.44%</strong>, a <strong>0.85% decline</strong> from 2020.</li>
</ul>Youth unemployment refers to the share of the labor force ages 15-24 without work but available for and seeking employment.

The youth unemployment rate in Bangladesh stood at 11.46 percent in 2024. Between 1991 and 2024, the youth unemployment rate rose by 5.42 percentage points, though the increase followed an uneven trajectory rather than a consistent upward trend.

Graph and download economic data for Youth Unemployment Rate for Bangladesh (SLUEM1524ZSBGD) from 1991 to 2024 about Bangladesh, 15 to 24 years, unemployment, and rate.

bangladesh - Youth Unemployment Rate for Bangladesh was 11.46% in January of 2024, according to the United States Federal Reserve. Historically, bangladesh - Youth Unemployment Rate for Bangladesh reached a record high of 13.29 in January of 2020 and a record low of 10.90 in January of 2023. Trading Economics provides the current actual value, an historical data chart and related indicators for bangladesh - Youth Unemployment Rate for Bangladesh - last updated from the United States Federal Reserve on July of 2025.

In 2017, approximately **** percent of the labor force aged 15 to 24 years in Bangladesh were unemployed. This was an increase from 2008, in which *** percent of the labor force aged 15 to 24 years old were unemployed in Bangladesh.

Bangladesh BD: Share of Youth Not in Education, Employment or Training: Female: % of Female Youth Population data was reported at 19.131 % in 2022. This records a decrease from the previous number of 44.550 % for 2017. Bangladesh BD: Share of Youth Not in Education, Employment or Training: Female: % of Female Youth Population data is updated yearly, averaging 44.911 % from Dec 2005 (Median) to 2022, with 7 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 58.930 % in 2006 and a record low of 19.131 % in 2022. Bangladesh BD: Share of Youth Not in Education, Employment or Training: Female: % of Female Youth Population data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by World Bank. The data is categorized under Global Database’s Bangladesh – Table BD.World Bank.WDI: Employment and Unemployment. Share of youth not in education, employment or training (NEET) is the proportion of young people who are not in education, employment, or training to the population of the corresponding age group: youth (ages 15 to 24); persons ages 15 to 29; or both age groups.;International Labour Organization. “Labour Force Statistics database (LFS)” ILOSTAT. Accessed January 07, 2025. https://ilostat.ilo.org/data/.;Weighted average;

Unemployment, youth male (% of male labor force ages 15-24) (modeled ILO estimate) in Bangladesh was reported at 13.68 % in 2024, according to the World Bank collection of development indicators, compiled from officially recognized sources. Bangladesh - Unemployment, youth male (% of male labor force ages 15-24) - actual values, historical data, forecasts and projections were sourced from the World Bank on June of 2025.

In 2024, the youth unemployment rate in Bangladesh increased by 0.6 percentage points (+5.51 percent) compared to 2023. In total, the youth unemployment rate amounted to 11.46 percent in 2024. This increase was preceded by a declining youth unemployment rate.The youth unemployment rate refers to the share of the economically active population aged 15 to 24 currently without work but in search of employment. The youth unemployment rate does not include economically inactive persons such as the long-term unemployed or full-time students.Find more key insights for the youth unemployment rate in countries like Bhutan and Pakistan.

Unemployment, youth female (% of female labor force ages 15-24) (modeled ILO estimate) in Bangladesh was reported at 9.218 % in 2024, according to the World Bank collection of development indicators, compiled from officially recognized sources. Bangladesh - Unemployment, youth female (% of female labor force ages 15-24) - actual values, historical data, forecasts and projections were sourced from the World Bank on June of 2025.

Bangladesh BD: Unemployment: Modeled ILO Estimate: Youth: % of Total Labour Force Aged 15-24 data was reported at 11.462 % in 2024. This records an increase from the previous number of 10.895 % for 2023. Bangladesh BD: Unemployment: Modeled ILO Estimate: Youth: % of Total Labour Force Aged 15-24 data is updated yearly, averaging 8.793 % from Dec 1991 (Median) to 2024, with 34 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 13.290 % in 2020 and a record low of 6.038 % in 1991. Bangladesh BD: Unemployment: Modeled ILO Estimate: Youth: % of Total Labour Force Aged 15-24 data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by World Bank. The data is categorized under Global Database’s Bangladesh – Table BD.World Bank.WDI: Employment and Unemployment. Youth unemployment refers to the share of the labor force ages 15-24 without work but available for and seeking employment.;International Labour Organization. “ILO Modelled Estimates and Projections database (ILOEST)” ILOSTAT. Accessed January 07, 2025. https://ilostat.ilo.org/data/.;Weighted average;National estimates are also available in the WDI database. Caution should be used when comparing ILO estimates with national estimates.

The youth unemployment rate in Sri Lanka declined to 22.32 percent in 2024. Nevertheless, the last two years recorded a significantly higher youth unemployment rate than the preceding years.The youth unemployment rate of a country or region refers to the share of the total workforce aged 15 to 24 that is currently without work, but actively searching for employment. It does not include economically inactive persons such as full-time students or the long-term unemployed.Find more key insights for the youth unemployment rate in countries like Bangladesh and Afghanistan.

Abstract

Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) has initiated the labor force survey on a quarterly basis, to measure the levels and trends of employment, unemployment and labor force in the country on a continuous basis. In the past, labor force surveys conducted at four-five yearly time intervals since 1980.

Detailed information on labor force characteristics has been collected from representative sample of 123 thousand households to produce gender disaggregated national and divisional level estimates with urban/rural/city corporation breakdown. The survey also provides quarterly representative results and sample size for each quarter was 30,816 households. The survey, along with the quantification of core variables, also estimates important attributes of literacy, migration, own use production of goods and own use provision of services, volunteer work, occupational safety and health etc. The estimates are profiled according to latest classifications viz Bangladesh Standard Industrial Classification (BSIC 2009 based on ISIC rev-4) and Bangladesh Standard Classification of Occupations (BSCO- 2012 in line with ISCO-2008).

The primary objective of the survey was to collect comprehensive data on the Labor Force, employment and unemployment of the population aged 15 or older for use by the Government, international organizations, NGOs, researchers and others to efficiently provide targeted interventions. Specific objectives of the survey: - Provide relevant information regarding the characteristics of the population and household that relate to housing, household size, female-headed households; - Provide detailed information on education and training, such as literacy, educational attainment and vocational training; - Provide relevant information on economic activities and the labor force regarding the working-age population, economic activity status and Labor Force participation; - Provide detailed information on employment and informal employment by occupation and industry, education level and status in employment; - Provide relevant information on unemployment, the youth labor force participation, youth employment, and youth unemployment; - Provide other information on decent work regarding earnings from employment, working hours and time-related underemployment, quality and stability of employment, social security coverage, and safety at work, equal opportunities; - Provide relevant information on non-economic activities, volunteer activities etc.

Geographic coverage

National coverage

Analysis unit

• Individual
• Household

Kind of data

Sample survey data [ssd]

Mode of data collection

Face-to-face [f2f]

Research instrument

The quarterly Labor Force Survey questionnaire comprised of 14 sections:

Section 1. Household basic information Section 2. Household roster (members' basic information) Section 3. General education (for persons aged 5 years or older) & vocational training (for persons aged 15 years or older) Section 4. Working status (for persons aged 15 years or older) Section 5. Main activities (for persons aged 15 years or older) Section 6. Secondary activities (for employed persons aged 15 years or older) Section 7. Occupational safety and health within the previous 12 months (for persons aged 15 years or older) Section 8. Time-related underemployment (for employed persons aged 15 years or older) Section 9. Unemployment (for not employed persons aged 15 years or older) Section 10. Own use production of goods (for persons aged 15 years or older) Section 11. Own use provision of services (for persons aged 15 years or older) Section 12. Unpaid trainee/apprentice work (for persons aged 15 years or older) Section 13. Volunteer work (for persons aged 15 years or older) Section 14. Migration (for persons aged 15 years or older)

Cleaning operations

Editing and processing errors, several consistency checks were done, both manually and computerized program using CSPro; batch editing was done using Stata, to ensure the quality and acceptability of the data produced. The non-sampling error is to ensure high quality data, several steps were taken to minimize non-sampling errors. Unlike sampling errors, these errors cannot be measured and can only be overcome through several administrative procedures. These errors can arise as a result of incomplete survey coverage, frame defect, response error, non-response and processing errors such as during editing, coding and data capture.

Sampling error estimates

Sampling error is a result of estimating data based on a probability sampling, not on census. Such error in statistics is termed as relative standard error and often denoted as RSE which is given in percentage. This error is an indication to the precision of the parameter under study. In other words, it reflects the extent of variation with other sample-based estimates. Sampling errors of estimates on a few important variables at national levels are calculated separately as shown in the annex. For example, the labor force participation rate at the national level was 67.0 per cent with an RSE of 0.23 per cent and standard error (SE) of 0.16 per cent. At 95 per cent confidence interval (a = 0.05), the labor force participation rate was in the range of 66.69-67.31 per cent.

Bangladesh BD: Employment To Population Ratio: National Estimate: Aged 15-24: Male data was reported at 47.214 % in 2022. This records a decrease from the previous number of 49.000 % for 2017. Bangladesh BD: Employment To Population Ratio: National Estimate: Aged 15-24: Male data is updated yearly, averaging 51.060 % from Dec 2006 (Median) to 2022, with 6 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 65.320 % in 2006 and a record low of 47.214 % in 2022. Bangladesh BD: Employment To Population Ratio: National Estimate: Aged 15-24: Male data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by World Bank. The data is categorized under Global Database’s Bangladesh – Table BD.World Bank.WDI: Employment and Unemployment. Employment to population ratio is the proportion of a country's population that is employed. Employment is defined as persons of working age who, during a short reference period, were engaged in any activity to produce goods or provide services for pay or profit, whether at work during the reference period (i.e. who worked in a job for at least one hour) or not at work due to temporary absence from a job, or to working-time arrangements. Ages 15-24 are generally considered the youth population.;International Labour Organization. “Labour Force Statistics database (LFS)” ILOSTAT. Accessed January 07, 2025. https://ilostat.ilo.org/data/.;Weighted average;The series for ILO estimates is also available in the WDI database. Caution should be used when comparing ILO estimates with national estimates.

Unemployment, youth total (% of total labor force ages 15-24) (modeled ILO estimate) in Bangladesh was reported at 11.46 % in 2024, according to the World Bank collection of development indicators, compiled from officially recognized sources. Bangladesh - Unemployment, youth total (% of total labor force ages 15-24) - actual values, historical data, forecasts and projections were sourced from the World Bank on July of 2025.

Bangladesh BD: Share of Youth Not in Education, Employment or Training: Male: % of Male Youth Population data was reported at 10.472 % in 2022. This records an increase from the previous number of 9.811 % for 2017. Bangladesh BD: Share of Youth Not in Education, Employment or Training: Male: % of Male Youth Population data is updated yearly, averaging 9.970 % from Dec 2005 (Median) to 2022, with 7 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 21.136 % in 2013 and a record low of 6.710 % in 2005. Bangladesh BD: Share of Youth Not in Education, Employment or Training: Male: % of Male Youth Population data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by World Bank. The data is categorized under Global Database’s Bangladesh – Table BD.World Bank.WDI: Employment and Unemployment. Share of youth not in education, employment or training (NEET) is the proportion of young people who are not in education, employment, or training to the population of the corresponding age group: youth (ages 15 to 24); persons ages 15 to 29; or both age groups.;International Labour Organization. “Labour Force Statistics database (LFS)” ILOSTAT. Accessed January 07, 2025. https://ilostat.ilo.org/data/.;Weighted average;

The youth unemployment rate in Bhutan decreased to 13.77 percent compared to the previous year. Nevertheless, the last two years recorded a significantly higher youth unemployment rate than the preceding years.The youth unemployment rate refers to the share of the economically active population aged 15 to 24 currently without work but in search of employment. The youth unemployment rate does not include economically inactive persons such as the long-term unemployed or full-time students.Find more key insights for the youth unemployment rate in countries like Pakistan and Bangladesh.

Abstract

Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS), the National Statistical Organization of the country, has been conducting Labour Force Survey (LFS) since 1980 and repeated it every three/four year until 2013. The surveys could not be held at uniform time intervals due to resource constraint and other reasons. Finally, from July 2015, BBS has undertaken a development project and started implementation of quarterly labour force survey to provide labour market indicators. Gender disaggregated data on labour force, employment, unemployment, underemployment, not in labour force, hours worked, earnings, informal employment. Non-economic activities, volunteer activities are available in this report. The survey found that around half (51.2 per cent) of the 30.5 million employed persons worked more than 48 hours per week. By sex, the proportion of male workers working more than 48 hours (60.9 per cent) was higher than that of female workers (28.4 per cent). By industry, the highest rates of persons in excessive hours were in the Accommodation and food service activities (78.4 per cent), wholesale and retail trade sector (72.9 per cent), manufacturing (69.3 per cent), and households (61.5 per cent).

The primary objective of the survey was to collect comprehensive data on the Labour Force, employment and unemployment of the population aged 15 or older for use by the Government, international organizations, NGOs, researchers and others to efficiently provide targeted interventions. Specific objectives of the survey:

• Provide relevant information regarding the characteristics of the population and household that relate to housing, household size, female-headed households;

• Provide detailed information on education and training, such as literacy, educational attainment and vocational training;

• Provide relevant information on economic activities and the labour force regarding the working-age population, economic activity status and Labour Force participation;

• Provide detailed information on employment and informal employment by occupation and industry, education level and status in employment;

• Provide relevant information on unemployment, the youth labour force participation, youth employment, and youth unemployment;

• Provide other information on decent work regarding earnings from employment, working hours and time-related underemployment, quality and stability of employment, social security coverage, and safety at work, equal opportunities;

• Provide relevant information on non-economic activities, volunteer activities etc.

Geographic coverage

National coverage.

Analysis unit

• Individuals

• Household

Universe

Age is a strong determinant of labour market so a common age cut-off and categories are important. The labour related questions of the survey refer to the population of 15 years old and over. The following age ranges is used in presenting the statistics: 15–24; 25–34; 35–44; 45–54; 55–64; and 65 and over. Besides, LMI is provided separately for youths as the youths are more prone to unstable transition to labour market. However, in setting the minimum LFS coverage age is the fact that the Government of Bangladesh, being aware that many young people, who are unable to continue with higher schooling, enter the labour market instead, has set the legal age for admission to employment at 14 completed years. Given that, inclusion of persons aged 15 years and over may result in the undercount of persons employed or unemployed in the country.

Kind of data

Sample survey data [ssd]

Sampling procedure

The frame used for the selection of sample for the survey was based on the Population and Housing Census 2011. Sampling Frame which was made up of preparing of PSUs that is consists of collapsing one or more Enumeration Area (EAs) that was created for the Population and Housing Census 2011. EAs is geographical contiguous areas of land with identifiable boundaries. On average, each PSUs has 225 households. All the Enumeration areas of the country was identified into three segments viz. Strong, Semi-strong and not-strong based on the housing materials. The frame has 1284 PSUs/EAs spread all over the country, and covers all socio-economic classes and hence able to get a suitable and representative sample of the population. The survey was distributed into twenty-one domains viz. Rural, Urban and City corporations of seven administrative divisions.

From each selected PSUs/EAs, an equal number of 24 households were selected systematically, with a random start. The systematic sampling method was adopted as it enables the distribution of the sample across the cluster evenly and yields good estimates for the population parameters. Selection of the households was done at the HQ and assigned to the Enumerators, with strictly no allowance for replacement of non-responding households. The Bangladesh Quarterly Labor Force Survey (QLFS) sample will be selected in two stages, with small area units called Primary Sampling Units (PSUs) in the first stage and a cluster of 24 households per PSU in the second stage. Both stages are random selections. The survey will implement a rotational panel strategy, in which some of the households in each cluster will be replaced by new households each quarter. The survey launched in July 2015, with a total sample size of about 30,800 households (1,284 PSUs) in each quarter and 123634 in the year 2015-16, intended to deliver reliable quarterly estimates of unemployment and other relevant labor force indicators for of the country's seven divisions and locality viz. national level estimates with disaggregation by City Corporations, Rural and Urban.

The survey involved a sample of 30816 households from 1284 PSUs/sample enumeration areas distributed across all the 64 Districts for each quarter and the ultimate sample households for the year 2015-16 was 126000 in total. The survey covered both urban and rural areas and dwelling households, including one person households. The institutional households, that is, those living in hostels, hotels, hospitals, old homes, military and police barracks, prisons, welfare homes and other institutions were excluded from the coverage of the survey.

Sampling deviation

Most BBS household surveys use a two-stage sampling strategy similar to that of the QLFS, and most of them share a common set of PSUs – the Integrated Multi-Purpose Sample (IMPS) – as a basis for their first sampling stage. However, the QLFS, given the specificities of its rotational strategy, has opted for choosing an independent set of PSUs for this purpose. The first stage sample frame of the QLFS was developed on the basis of the list of Enumeration Areas (EAs) generated by the 2011 Census. Some of the original 293,093 EAs were deemed too small to support the adopted rotational panel strategy, and were joined to neighboring EAs in order to create 146,576 PSUs of more adequate size: most of the resulting PSUs have between 150 and 300 households, with an average of 217. Whenever possible, the EAs with less than 150 households were appended to EAs from the same village, although in the most sparsely populated areas it was sometimes necessary to append entire villages to neighboring villages within the same mauza or mahalla (the lower level administrative division of the country.)2 Entire mauzas or mahallas were never appended to neighboring areas, even if they were too small – they remained as individual PSUs in the sample frame. The second stage sample frame will be a full listing of all households in the selected PSUs. The listings were completed between February and March 2015. If the survey indeed becomes a regular exercise, they should be permanently updated so that they are never older than two years.

Mode of data collection

Face-to-face [f2f]

Research instrument

The Quarterly Labour Force Survey 2015-16 questionnaire comprised 14 sections, as follows:

• Section 1. Household basic information

• Section 2. Household roster (members’ basic information)

• Section 3. General education (for persons aged 5 years or older) & vocational training (for persons aged 15 years or older)

• Section 4. Working status (for persons aged 15 years or older)

• Section 5. Main activities (for persons aged 15 years or older)

• Section 6. Secondary activities (for employed persons aged 15 years or older)

• Section 7. Occupational safety and health within the previous 12 months (for persons aged 15 years or older)

• Section 8. Underemployment (for employed persons aged 15 years or older)

• Section 9. Unemployment (for not employed persons aged 15 years or older)

• Section 10. Own use production of goods (for persons aged 15 years or older)

• Section 11. Own use provision of services (for persons aged 15 years or older)

• Section 12. Unpaid trainee/apprentice work (for persons aged 15 years or older)

• Section 13. Volunteer work (for persons aged 15 years or older)

• Section 14. Migration (for persons aged 15 years or older)

Cleaning operations

With regard to editing and processing errors, several consistency checks were done, both manually and computerized programme using CSPro; batch editing was done using Stata, to ensure the quality and acceptability of the data produced. The Non-sampling error is to ensure high quality data, several steps were taken to minimize non-sampling errors. Unlike sampling errors, these errors cannot be measured and can only be overcome through several administrative procedures. These errors can arise as a result of incomplete survey coverage, frame defect, response error, non-response and

Bangladesh BD: Unemployment: Modeled ILO Estimate: Youth Male: % of Male Labour Force Aged 15-24 data was reported at 13.681 % in 2024. This records a decrease from the previous number of 14.088 % for 2023. Bangladesh BD: Unemployment: Modeled ILO Estimate: Youth Male: % of Male Labour Force Aged 15-24 data is updated yearly, averaging 8.282 % from Dec 1991 (Median) to 2024, with 34 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 14.931 % in 2021 and a record low of 5.763 % in 2006. Bangladesh BD: Unemployment: Modeled ILO Estimate: Youth Male: % of Male Labour Force Aged 15-24 data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by World Bank. The data is categorized under Global Database’s Bangladesh – Table BD.World Bank.WDI: Employment and Unemployment. Youth unemployment refers to the share of the labor force ages 15-24 without work but available for and seeking employment.;International Labour Organization. “ILO Modelled Estimates and Projections database (ILOEST)” ILOSTAT. Accessed January 07, 2025. https://ilostat.ilo.org/data/.;Weighted average;National estimates are also available in the WDI database. Caution should be used when comparing ILO estimates with national estimates.

Bangladesh BD: Unemployment: Modeled ILO Estimate: Youth Female: % of Female Labour Force Aged 15-24 data was reported at 9.218 % in 2024. This records an increase from the previous number of 7.687 % for 2023. Bangladesh BD: Unemployment: Modeled ILO Estimate: Youth Female: % of Female Labour Force Aged 15-24 data is updated yearly, averaging 9.098 % from Dec 1991 (Median) to 2024, with 34 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 16.225 % in 2017 and a record low of 5.601 % in 1996. Bangladesh BD: Unemployment: Modeled ILO Estimate: Youth Female: % of Female Labour Force Aged 15-24 data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by World Bank. The data is categorized under Global Database’s Bangladesh – Table BD.World Bank.WDI: Employment and Unemployment. Youth unemployment refers to the share of the labor force ages 15-24 without work but available for and seeking employment.;International Labour Organization. “ILO Modelled Estimates and Projections database (ILOEST)” ILOSTAT. Accessed January 07, 2025. https://ilostat.ilo.org/data/.;Weighted average;National estimates are also available in the WDI database. Caution should be used when comparing ILO estimates with national estimates.

The youth unemployment rate in Nepal saw no significant changes in 2024 in comparison to the previous year 2023 and remained at around 20.82 percent. The youth unemployment rate of a country or region refers to the share of the total workforce aged 15 to 24 that is currently without work, but actively searching for employment. It does not include economically inactive persons such as full-time students or the long-term unemployed.Find more key insights for the youth unemployment rate in countries like Afghanistan and Bangladesh.