Shafaq News- Baghdad

Iraq recorded an unemployment rate of 15.5% in 2025, ranking seventh among Arab countries, Trading Economics said on Tuesday.

According to the data, Palestine topped the list with an unemployment rate of 28.6, followed by Djibouti at 25.9% and Jordan at 21.4%, while Sudan ranked fourth with 20.8%, Libya fifth at 18.6%, and Yemen sixth at 17.1%.

Globally, Qatar recorded the lowest unemployment rate at 0.1%, followed by Cambodia, which posted an unemployment rate of 0.27%, while Niger ranked third with a rate of 0.4%.

A Ministry of Labor spokesperson, Hassan Khawam, told Shafaq News that Iraq registered 47,000 legal foreign workers, while more than one million Iraqis remain unemployed. He added that inspection teams continue monitoring workplaces and referring employers who use illegal foreign workers to the courts, with penalties ranging from fines to business closures.

Read more: Iraq tightens labor rules as unemployment tops 1M