More than 80% of domestic workers worldwide remain in informal employment – ILO

More than four in five domestic workers worldwide remain in informal employment, often without effective labour and social protection, despite progress in many countries, a new report by the International Labour Organisation (ILO) has found. The report, The State of Domestic Work in 2025: 15 Years After Convention No. 189, estimates that 66. 5 million domestic workers, representing 83. 1 per cent of the global workforce in the sector, are informally employed. The figure is 5. 1 million higher than in 2019, reflecting the growing concentration of domestic workers in countries where informality remains persistently high. The report, released 15 years after the adoption of the ILO Domestic Workers Convention, 2011 (No. 189), estimates that 80 million people aged 15 and above were employed as domestic workers worldwide in 2025, up from 75. 6 million in 2019. Domestic work accounts for 2.

2 per cent of total global employment and 4. 4 per cent of employees. Africa records highest informality rate The ILO found that informality in domestic work declined or remained stable in 91 of the 140 countries with comparable data between 2019 and 2025. These countries account for nearly 70 per cent of domestic workers worldwide. However, informality increased in the remaining 49 countries, which represent about 30 per cent of the global domestic workforce. Africa recorded the largest increase in the number of domestic workers during the period, adding 4. 2 million workers between 2019 and 2025. The report estimates that 93. 3 per cent of domestic workers in Africa are informally employed, while informality is nearly universal in the Arab States. Asia and the Pacific has the largest domestic workforce, with 40. 2 million workers, accounting for about half of the global total. Europe and Central…