COUNTRY / INDICATOR
Sri Lanka Youth Unemployment
Sri Lanka youth unemployment: latest available value for 2025, historical series from 2016, ranking context and source documentation.
Series overview
SL.UEM.1524.ZS| Year | Value | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 18,58 | -0,48 |
| 2024 | 19,06 | -1,28 |
| 2023 | 20,34 | -1,39 |
| 2022 | 21,73 | -3,64 |
| 2021 | 25,37 | -0,08 |
| 2020 | 25,45 | 5,02 |
| 2019 | 20,43 | -0,07 |
| 2018 | 20,50 | 3,11 |
| 2017 | 17,39 | -2,68 |
| 2016 | 20,07 | — |
Source methodology
World Development IndicatorsIndicator note: Youth unemployment refers to the share of the labor force ages 15-24 without work but available for and seeking employment.
Source organization: ILO Modelled Estimates database (ILOEST), International Labour Organization (ILO), uri: https://ilostat.ilo.org/data/bulk/, publisher: ILOSTAT, type: external database, date accessed: January 17, 2026
Metadata fetched: 2026-07-31 04:56:25. Open original metadata response.
Country-specific interpretation
Automatically derived from the displayed seriesSri Lanka recorded 18,58 percent in 2025, the latest year available in this series.
Compared with 2024, the youth unemployment decreased by 0,48.
Across the latest five-year comparison window, the series shows an downward direction.
Across 10 observations from 2016 to 2025, the average was 20,89; the minimum was 17,39 in 2017 and the maximum was 25,45 in 2020.
Sri Lanka ranks 130 out of 187 countries with a current value in the portal ranking.
The latest value is above the available average for South Asia.
It is also below the available average for the Upper middle income group.
Labor-market access for young people.