More than half of Sri Lankans aged 15 and above outside labour force in 2025

More than 8.6 million Sri Lankans aged 15 and above were outside the labour force in 2025, according to the Sri Lanka Labour Force Survey.

The Department of Census and Statistics recorded 8,625,859 people as not being in the labour force, equivalent to about 50.6 per cent of the population aged 15 and over. The labour-force participation rate stood at 49.4 per cent.

Women accounted for the majority of those outside the labour force. The survey recorded 6,185,730 women and 2,440,129 men in this category.

The participation rate was 69.1 per cent for men, compared with 32.4 per cent for women.

More than seven million people outside the labour force lived in rural areas, compared with about 1.55 million in urban areas.

Sri Lanka’s overall unemployment rate stood at 3.9 per cent in 2025, representing 329,211 people. Female unemployment was 6.1 per cent, more than twice the 2.8 per cent rate among men.

Hambantota recorded the highest district unemployment rate at 6.6 per cent, followed by Kegalle at 6.0 per cent and Matale at 5.9 per cent. Trincomalee recorded the lowest rate at 0.6 per cent.