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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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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 1,164.36 57.7% E
Haiti 4 1 29.12 55.1% E
Bolivia 5 2 97.96 54.8% E
Nicaragua 6 3 32.12 52.5% E
Panama 7 4 106.29 51.6% E
Gabon 8 3 34.44 51.6% E
Myanmar 9 2 171.17 49.0% E
Benin 10 4 32.97 48.8% E
Guatemala 11 5 114.10 48.6% E
Congo, Dem. Rep 12 5 99.39 48.3% E
Tanzania 13 6 124.08 46.7% E
Paraguay 14 6 65.25 46.5% E
Thailand 15 3 854.36 46.2% E
Georgia 16 1 42.24 46.2% E
Honduras 17 7 43.84 45.9% E
Gambia 18 7 4.25 44.3% E
Ukraine 19 2 221.45 44.2% E
Central African Republic 20 8 3.77 44.0% E
India 21 4 6,810.31 43.1% E
Liberia 22 9 5.09 42.6% E
Peru 23 8 278.42 42.2% E
Eswatini 24 10 7.05 40.9% E
Cambodia 25 5 53.52 40.9% E
El Salvador 26 9 35.13 40.9% E
Moldova 27 3 21.01 40.6% E
Cote d'Ivoire 28 11 97.53 40.4% E
Congo, Rep. 29 12 14.32 40.1% E
Angola 30 13 154.49 39.6% E
Armenia 31 4 22.99 39.1% E
Guinea 32 14 24.86 38.8% E
Zambia 33 15 41.93 38.7% D
Belarus 34 5 88.88 37.7% D
Senegal 35 16 36.53 37.7% D
Sierra Leone 36 17 9.05 37.3% D
Ecuador 37 10 107.35 37.2% D
Tajikistan 38 6 20.44 37.1% D
Azerbaijan 39 7 76.40 36.8% D
Morocco 40 18 152.82 36.6% D
Comoros 41 19 1.37 36.6% D
Niger 42 20 17.90 36.5% D
Russia 43 6 1,977.69 36.5% D
Burundi 44 21 5.91 36.3% D
Madagascar 45 22 27.27 36.2% D
Ghana 46 23 102.27 35.6% D
Pakistan 47 8 660.81 35.6% D
Guinea-Bissau 48 24 2.12 35.5% D
Sudan 49 25 121.22 35.5% D
Libya 50 26 66.76 35.3% D
Egypt 51 27 699.50 34.8% D
Chad 52 28 15.52 34.7% D
Papua New Guinea 53 9 19.68 34.6% D
Turkmenistan 54 10 50.41 34.5% D
Uganda 55 29 55.86 34.4% D
Mozambique 56 30 21.45 34.3% D
Philippines 57 11 470.46 34.1% D
Dominican Republic 58 11 98.94 33.9% D
Ethiopia 59 31 146.68 33.5% D
North Macedonia 60 7 15.71 33.4% D
Burkina Faso 61 32 24.95 33.3% D
Colombia 62 12 361.20 33.3% D
Brazil 64 13 1,426.24 33.2% D
Mali 63 33 29.79 33.2% C
Nepal 65 12 65.36 33.2% C
Suriname 66 14 4.14 33.0% C
Jamaica 68 15 13.18 33.0% C
Bosnia and Herzegovina 67 8 22.64 33.0% C
Kenya 69 34 126.36 32.6% C
Albania 70 9 17.79 31.9% C
Kazakhstan 71 13 213.35 31.9% C
Uruguay 72 16 35.53 31.7% C
Cabo Verde 73 35 1.56 31.7% C
Trinidad and Tobago 74 17 14.98 31.6% C
Lebanon 75 1 27.39 31.4% C
Serbia 76 10 62.13 31.3% C
Rwanda 77 36 14.24 31.3% C
Mauritania 78 37 11.99 31.3% C
Turkey 79 2 1,147.87 31.2% C
Sri Lanka 80 14 114.44 31.1% C
Lesotho 81 38 2.48 30.9% C
Kyrgyzstan 82 15 13.46 30.8% C
Malawi 83 39 12.99 30.6% C
Tunisia 84 40 50.66 30.4% C
Bangladesh 85 16 451.40 30.2% C
Bahamas, The 86 18 5.73 30.2% C
Brunei Darussalam 87 17 12.20 30.1% C
Cameroon 88 41 45.15 29.9% C
Togo 89 42 8.21 29.5% C
Croatia 90 11 48.96 29.5% C
Mexico 91 19 983.99 29.2% C
Guyana 92 20 11.01 29.1% C
South Africa 93 43 339.02 28.8% C
Malta 95 13 8.47 27.7% C
Bulgaria 94 12 59.42 27.7% B
Argentina 96 21 391.30 27.3% B
Yemen, Rep. 97 3 16.52 27.3% B
Uzbekistan 98 18 98.13 27.2% B
Laos 99 19 22.93 27.2% B
Cyprus 100 14 13.05 27.1% B
Greece 101 15 112.70 26.9% B
Botswana 102 44 15.21 26.7% B
Costa Rica 103 22 38.14 26.6% B
Malaysia 104 20 324.01 25.3% B
Latvia 105 16 19.09 24.9% B
Namibia 106 45 8.14 24.7% B
Slovenia 107 17 26.23 23.8% B
Romania 108 18 181.75 23.8% B
Italy 109 19 754.60 23.7% B
Hungary 110 20 98.62 23.3% B
Bhutan 111 21 2.90 22.8% B
Saudi Arabia 112 4 556.11 22.8% B
Indonesia 113 22 1,091.92 22.7% B
Korea, Rep. 114 23 652.29 22.7% B
Estonia 115 21 14.14 22.5% B
Taiwan 116 24 351.95 22.5% B
Poland 117 22 374.88 22.4% B
Lithuania 118 23 29.09 21.6% B
Spain 119 24 490.24 21.3% B
Israel 120 5 103.87 20.8% B
Vietnam 121 25 314.71 20.5% B
United Arab Emirates 122 6 165.26 20.4% B
Mauritius 123 46 6.67 20.4% B
Portugal 124 25 89.58 20.3% B
Kuwait 125 7 58.52 20.1% B
Oman 126 8 39.94 19.8% A
Chile 127 23 117.02 19.3% A
Belgium 128 26 140.19 19.2% A
Algeria 129 47 104.68 17.4% A
Bahrain 130 9 17.34 17.2% A
Jordan 131 10 22.27 16.9% A
Qatar 132 11 52.12 16.5% A
Norway 133 27 66.87 15.7% A
Denmark 134 28 60.92 15.2% A
Mongolia 135 26 7.58 15.1% A
Slovak Republic 136 29 29.68 14.8% A
Finland 137 30 46.03 14.6% A
Czech Republic 138 31 71.92 14.5% A
Iceland 139 32 3.33 13.9% A
Sweden 140 33 88.31 13.7% A
Hong Kong 141 27 68.51 13.6% A
France 142 34 463.61 13.1% A
China 143 28 4,011.06 12.7% A
Ireland 144 35 77.37 12.3% A
Canada 145 24 236.12 11.2% A
Germany 146 36 558.08 11.2% A
Singapore 147 29 67.58 10.4% A
United Kingdom 148 37 364.63 10.3% A
Netherlands 149 38 114.08 10.0% A
New Zealand 150 30 25.87 10.0% A
Australia 151 31 147.65 9.9% A
Luxembourg 152 39 8.38 9.9% A
Japan 153 32 549.02 9.6% A
Austria 154 40 47.85 8.7% A
Switzerland 155 41 50.76 7.5% A
United States 156 25 1,677.00 7.3% A


See: Data for individual countries and underlying data click on the country name
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Category definitions:
         A: Very good
         B: Good
         C: Average
         D: Poor
         E: Very poor