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 2025.
The survey recorded 8,625,859 people outside the labour force, representing approximately 50.6% of the population aged 15 and above. The labour-force participation rate stood at 49.4%, meaning that fewer than half of the population in this age group participated in the labour market.
Women accounted for the majority of those outside the labour force, with 6,185,730 women compared with 2,440,129 men. Women therefore represented around 72% of the total.
The gender gap was also reflected in labour-force participation rates, which stood at 69.1% for men and 32.4% for women.
Rural areas accounted for the largest share of people outside the labour force. The survey recorded 7,076,080 people from rural areas and 1,549,778 from urban areas, meaning that rural residents represented approximately 82% of the total.
Meanwhile, the overall unemployment rate was recorded at 3.9%, with an estimated 329,211 people unemployed. Female unemployment stood at 6.1%, compared with 2.8% among men.
Unemployment was 3.4% in urban areas, 4.0% in rural areas and 4.8% in the estate sector.
Significant differences were also recorded among districts. Hambantota reported the highest unemployment rate at 6.6%, followed by Kegalle at 6.0% and Matale and Kandy at 5.9% each.
Trincomalee recorded the lowest rate at 0.6%, followed by Mullaitivu at 1.7% and Mannar at 1.8%. Colombo recorded an unemployment rate of 3.0%, while Jaffna recorded 3.4%.
The figures indicate that the national unemployment rate of 3.9% conceals considerable variations between districts and demographic groups.
