Economies by Informal Economy Size

An informal economy (informal sector or shadow economy) is the part of any economy that is neither offically taxed nor monitored. Read more about the World Economic Informal Economy database.

The table below shows the size of each country’s informal economy as a percentage of GDP, ranked by largest to smallest.






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Country Global
Rank
Region
Rank
Informal Economy
(GDP PPP, Billions Int$, 2022)
Informal Economy
% of GDP
World Economics
Informal Economy
Grade: A-E
Afghanistan 1 1 86.31 72.0% E
Zimbabwe 2 1 42.02 64.1% E
Nigeria 3 2 1,167.75 57.7% E
Haiti 4 1 29.12 55.1% E
Bolivia 5 2 97.50 54.8% E
Nicaragua 6 3 32.17 52.5% E
Gabon 7 3 34.67 51.6% E
Panama 8 4 108.73 51.6% E
Myanmar 9 2 171.23 49.0% E
Benin 10 4 33.25 48.8% E
Guatemala 11 5 114.70 48.6% E
Congo, Dem. Rep 12 5 100.28 48.3% E
Tanzania 13 6 123.60 46.7% E
Paraguay 14 6 65.03 46.5% E
Thailand 15 3 847.57 46.2% E
Georgia 16 1 42.72 46.2% E
Honduras 17 7 44.11 45.9% E
Gambia 18 7 4.21 44.3% E
Ukraine 19 2 238.03 44.2% E
Central African Republic 20 8 3.73 44.0% E
India 21 4 6,842.16 43.1% E
Liberia 22 9 5.18 42.6% E
Peru 23 8 279.26 42.2% E
Cambodia 24 5 53.96 40.9% E
El Salvador 25 9 35.34 40.9% E
Eswatini 26 10 7.26 40.9% E
Moldova 27 3 19.75 40.6% E
Cote d'Ivoire 28 11 99.16 40.4% E
Congo, Rep. 29 12 14.08 40.1% E
Angola 30 13 155.78 39.6% E
Armenia 31 4 24.26 39.1% E
Guinea 32 14 24.22 38.8% E
Zambia 33 15 42.27 38.7% D
Russia 34 6 2,093.79 38.0% D
Senegal 35 16 36.53 37.7% D
Belarus 36 5 91.24 37.7% D
Sierra Leone 37 17 9.16 37.3% D
Ecuador 38 10 107.49 37.2% D
Tajikistan 39 7 20.90 37.1% D
Azerbaijan 40 8 77.10 36.8% D
Comoros 41 18 1.36 36.6% D
Morocco 42 19 152.82 36.6% D
Niger 43 20 18.63 36.5% D
Burundi 44 21 5.79 36.3% D
Madagascar 45 22 27.50 36.2% D
Ghana 46 23 103.10 35.6% D
Pakistan 47 9 507.06 35.6% D
Guinea-Bissau 48 24 2.11 35.5% D
Sudan 49 25 115.75 35.5% D
Libya 50 26 71.45 35.3% D
Egypt 51 27 700.16 34.8% D
Chad 52 28 15.28 34.7% D
Papua New Guinea 53 10 19.60 34.6% D
Turkmenistan 54 11 50.71 34.5% D
Uganda 55 29 55.31 34.4% D
Mozambique 56 30 21.58 34.3% D
Philippines 57 12 473.85 34.1% D
Dominican Republic 58 11 98.66 33.9% D
Ethiopia 59 31 149.35 33.5% D
North Macedonia 60 6 15.49 33.4% D
Burkina Faso 61 32 24.67 33.3% D
Colombia 62 12 360.04 33.3% D
Brazil 63 13 1,423.48 33.2% D
Mali 64 33 30.13 33.2% C
Nepal 65 13 67.20 33.2% C
Jamaica 66 14 13.37 33.0% C
Suriname 67 15 4.17 33.0% C
Bosnia and Herzegovina 68 7 23.34 33.0% C
Kenya 69 34 127.00 32.6% C
Albania 70 8 17.82 31.9% C
Kazakhstan 71 14 215.64 31.9% C
Cabo Verde 72 35 1.66 31.7% C
Uruguay 73 16 35.29 31.7% C
Trinidad and Tobago 74 17 15.78 31.6% C
Lebanon 75 1 28.33 31.4% C
Rwanda 76 36 14.43 31.3% C
Mauritania 77 37 12.11 31.3% C
Serbia 78 9 61.51 31.3% C
Turkey 79 2 1,153.21 31.2% C
Sri Lanka 80 15 119.28 31.1% C
Lesotho 81 38 2.56 30.9% C
Kyrgyzstan 82 16 13.89 30.8% C
Malawi 83 39 13.04 30.6% C
Tunisia 84 40 51.84 30.4% C
Bangladesh 85 17 451.40 30.2% C
Bahamas, The 86 18 5.67 30.2% C
Brunei Darussalam 87 18 11.76 30.1% C
Cameroon 88 41 44.89 29.9% C
Croatia 89 10 50.09 29.5% C
Togo 90 42 8.22 29.5% C
Mexico 91 19 985.53 29.2% C
Guyana 92 20 11.33 29.1% C
South Africa 93 43 338.25 28.8% C
Malta 94 11 8.75 27.7% C
Bulgaria 95 12 61.33 27.7% B
Argentina 96 21 395.53 27.3% B
Yemen, Rep. 97 3 16.43 27.3% B
Uzbekistan 98 19 98.73 27.2% B
Laos 99 20 23.05 27.2% B
Cyprus 100 13 13.66 27.1% B
Greece 101 14 113.68 26.9% B
Botswana 102 44 15.41 26.7% B
Costa Rica 103 22 38.39 26.6% B
Malaysia 104 21 330.26 25.3% B
Latvia 105 15 19.17 24.9% B
Namibia 106 45 8.39 24.7% B
Romania 107 16 181.67 23.8% B
Slovenia 108 17 26.21 23.8% B
Italy 109 18 753.58 23.7% B
Hungary 110 19 98.29 23.3% B
Bhutan 111 22 3.14 22.8% B
Saudi Arabia 112 4 521.57 22.8% B
Indonesia 113 23 1,091.99 22.7% B
Korea, Rep. 114 24 654.01 22.7% B
Taiwan 115 25 349.03 22.5% B
Estonia 116 20 14.02 22.5% B
Poland 117 21 379.71 22.4% B
Lithuania 118 22 29.46 21.6% B
Spain 119 23 490.17 21.3% B
Israel 120 5 105.36 20.8% B
Vietnam 121 26 314.71 20.5% B
Mauritius 122 46 7.06 20.4% B
United Arab Emirates 123 6 172.35 20.4% B
Portugal 124 24 90.65 20.3% B
Kuwait 125 7 58.26 20.1% B
Oman 126 8 40.27 19.8% A
Chile 127 23 117.04 19.3% A
Belgium 128 25 141.48 19.2% A
Algeria 129 47 102.56 17.4% A
Bahrain 130 9 17.51 17.2% A
Jordan 131 10 22.48 16.9% A
Qatar 132 11 52.61 16.5% A
Norway 133 26 66.60 15.7% A
Denmark 134 27 61.62 15.2% A
Mongolia 135 27 7.77 15.1% A
Slovak Republic 136 28 29.98 14.8% A
Finland 137 29 46.14 14.6% A
Czech Republic 138 30 72.77 14.5% A
Iceland 139 31 3.36 13.9% A
Sweden 140 32 89.29 13.7% A
Hong Kong 141 28 66.31 13.6% A
France 142 33 462.81 13.1% A
China 143 29 4,007.97 12.7% A
Ireland 144 34 79.82 12.3% A
Germany 145 35 561.18 11.2% A
Canada 146 24 235.85 11.2% A
Singapore 147 30 68.80 10.4% A
United Kingdom 148 36 358.29 10.3% A
New Zealand 149 31 24.78 10.0% A
Netherlands 150 37 114.12 10.0% A
Australia 151 32 144.26 9.9% A
Luxembourg 152 38 8.18 9.9% A
Japan 153 33 544.84 9.6% A
Austria 154 39 47.55 8.7% A
Switzerland 155 40 50.91 7.5% A
United States 156 25 1,689.88 7.3% A


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Category definitions:
         A: Very good
         B: Good
         C: Average
         D: Poor
         E: Very poor