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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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Africa
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Rank		 Region
Rank		 Informal Economy
Revised GDP PPP
($ Billions, 2021)		 Informal Economy
% of GDP
Afghanistan 1 1 114.06 72.0%
Zimbabwe 2 1 63.10 64.1%
Nigeria 3 2 1,115.90 57.7%
Haiti 4 1 32.51 55.1%
Bolivia 5 2 94.00 54.8%
Nicaragua 6 3 30.88 52.5%
India 7 2 8,131.53 52.4%
Panama 8 4 98.85 51.6%
Gabon 9 3 33.13 51.6%
Myanmar 10 3 175.84 49.0%
Benin 11 4 31.19 48.8%
Guatemala 12 5 110.34 48.6%
Congo, Dem. Rep 13 5 92.46 48.3%
Tanzania 14 6 134.92 46.7%
Paraguay 15 6 64.82 46.5%
Thailand 16 4 827.87 46.2%
Georgia 17 1 38.76 46.2%
Honduras 18 7 42.21 45.9%
Gambia 19 7 3.99 44.3%
Ukraine 20 2 340.44 44.2%
Central African Republic 21 8 3.67 44.0%
Liberia 22 9 6.03 42.6%
Peru 23 8 269.85 42.2%
Eswatini 24 10 6.78 40.9%
El Salvador 25 9 34.06 40.9%
Cambodia 26 5 50.48 40.9%
Moldova 27 3 21.01 40.6%
Cote d'Ivoire 28 11 91.03 40.4%
Congo, Rep. 29 12 16.28 40.1%
Angola 30 13 148.27 39.6%
Armenia 31 4 21.49 39.1%
Guinea 32 14 23.42 38.8%
Zambia 33 15 40.16 38.7%
Senegal 34 16 34.34 37.7%
Belarus 35 5 95.59 37.7%
Sierra Leone 36 17 8.71 37.3%
Ecuador 37 10 103.87 37.2%
Tajikistan 38 6 19.37 37.1%
Azerbaijan 39 7 73.69 36.8%
Comoros 40 18 1.33 36.6%
Niger 41 19 18.87 36.5%
Russia 42 6 2,022.18 36.5%
Burundi 43 20 5.65 36.3%
Madagascar 44 21 25.80 36.2%
Ghana 45 22 97.22 35.6%
Pakistan 46 8 542.14 35.6%
Guinea-Bissau 47 23 2.33 35.5%
Sudan 48 24 120.11 35.5%
Libya 49 25 123.45 35.3%
Egypt 50 26 645.63 34.8%
Chad 51 27 14.82 34.7%
Papua New Guinea 52 9 18.76 34.6%
Turkmenistan 53 10 61.49 34.5%
Uganda 54 28 57.82 34.4%
Mozambique 55 29 20.36 34.3%
Philippines 56 11 434.97 34.1%
Dominican Republic 57 11 94.00 33.9%
Ethiopia 58 30 139.00 33.5%
North Macedonia 59 7 15.29 33.4%
Burkina Faso 60 31 29.85 33.3%
Colombia 61 12 335.81 33.3%
Nepal 62 12 62.14 33.2%
Brazil 63 13 1,383.36 33.2%
Mali 64 32 28.68 33.2%
Jamaica 65 14 12.76 33.0%
Bosnia and Herzegovina 66 8 22.10 33.0%
Suriname 67 15 4.23 33.0%
Kenya 68 33 131.69 32.6%
Kazakhstan 69 13 208.15 31.9%
Albania 70 9 17.10 31.9%
Uruguay 71 16 35.49 31.7%
Cabo Verde 72 34 1.50 31.7%
Morocco 73 35 117.25 31.7%
Trinidad and Tobago 74 17 14.33 31.6%
Lebanon 75 1 28.96 31.4%
Mauritania 76 36 13.18 31.3%
Rwanda 77 37 13.88 31.3%
Serbia 78 10 59.39 31.3%
Turkey 79 2 1,088.03 31.2%
Sri Lanka 80 14 130.63 31.1%
Lesotho 81 38 2.39 30.9%
Kyrgyzstan 82 15 14.60 30.8%
Malawi 83 39 14.17 30.6%
Tunisia 84 40 49.57 30.4%
Bahamas, The 85 18 5.25 30.2%
Bangladesh 86 16 350.40 30.2%
Brunei Darussalam 87 17 11.93 30.1%
Cameroon 88 41 50.71 29.9%
Croatia 89 11 46.23 29.5%
Togo 90 42 9.73 29.5%
Mexico 91 19 949.47 29.2%
Guyana 92 20 7.16 29.1%
South Africa 93 43 324.98 28.8%
Bulgaria 94 12 57.16 27.7%
Malta 95 13 7.97 27.7%
Argentina 96 21 374.24 27.3%
Yemen, Rep. 97 3 16.03 27.3%
Laos 98 18 22.20 27.2%
Uzbekistan 99 19 93.28 27.2%
Cyprus 100 14 12.61 27.1%
Greece 101 15 107.13 26.9%
Botswana 102 44 16.85 26.7%
Costa Rica 103 22 36.74 26.6%
Malaysia 104 20 317.08 25.3%
Latvia 105 16 18.62 24.9%
Namibia 106 45 8.43 24.7%
Romania 107 17 173.43 23.8%
Slovenia 108 18 24.82 23.8%
Italy 109 19 726.28 23.7%
Hungary 110 20 93.30 23.3%
Saudi Arabia 111 4 506.15 22.8%
Bhutan 112 21 2.76 22.8%
Korea, Rep. 113 22 635.76 22.7%
Indonesia 114 23 1,025.91 22.7%
Estonia 115 21 14.00 22.5%
Taiwan 116 24 382.39 22.5%
Poland 117 22 355.68 22.4%
Lithuania 118 23 28.59 21.6%
Spain 119 24 466.01 21.3%
Israel 120 5 97.87 20.8%
Vietnam 121 25 229.95 20.5%
United Arab Emirates 122 6 157.31 20.4%
Mauritius 123 46 6.28 20.4%
Portugal 124 25 84.32 20.3%
Kuwait 125 7 53.27 20.1%
Oman 126 8 41.47 19.8%
Chile 127 23 114.69 19.3%
Belgium 128 26 136.90 19.2%
Algeria 129 47 100.02 17.4%
Bahrain 130 9 16.59 17.2%
Jordan 131 10 21.49 16.9%
Qatar 132 11 52.90 16.5%
Norway 133 27 64.51 15.7%
Denmark 134 28 59.38 15.2%
Mongolia 135 26 7.74 15.1%
Slovak Republic 136 29 29.15 14.8%
Finland 137 30 45.06 14.6%
Czech Republic 138 31 70.60 14.5%
Iceland 139 32 3.17 13.9%
Sweden 140 33 86.07 13.7%
Hong Kong 141 27 69.10 13.6%
France 142 34 451.86 13.1%
China 143 28 3,846.83 12.7%
Ireland 144 35 70.98 12.3%
Germany 145 36 547.68 11.2%
Canada 146 24 228.14 11.2%
Singapore 147 29 65.60 10.4%
United Kingdom 148 37 350.27 10.3%
Netherlands 149 38 109.49 10.0%
New Zealand 150 30 25.28 10.0%
Australia 151 31 142.52 9.9%
Luxembourg 152 39 8.25 9.9%
Japan 153 32 541.44 9.6%
Austria 154 40 45.71 8.7%
Switzerland 155 41 49.66 7.5%
United States 156 25 1,644.12 7.3%


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