How agriculture’s share of employment changed in Central Africa
In the ILO’s estimates, agriculture’s share of employment fell by 22 percentage points in Cameroon between 2000 and 2025. The share in the Central African Republic was close to 66% in both years.
Sources checked
Central Africa Record Editorial Team
2000 and 2025Agriculture share of employment by country
2000
Shared scale · 0% to 80.76%
Cameroon64.07%
Central African Republic65.59%
Chad80.76%
Gabon39.65%
DR Congo67.01%
Republic of the Congo42.28%
2025
Shared scale · 0% to 80.76%
Cameroon41.85%
Central African Republic66.06%
Chad71.74%
Gabon28.87%
DR Congo58.52%
Republic of the Congo36.35%
Both years show the percentage of employed people working in agriculture and related activities.
Cameroon’s estimated share fell from 64.07% in 2000 to 55.10% in 2010 and 41.85% in 2025. Gabon also recorded a lower share in 2025, at 28.87% versus 39.65% in 2000. Source 1
Chad and DR Congo saw smaller falls
Chad moved from 80.76% to 71.74% between 2000 and 2025. DR Congo moved from 67.01% to 58.52%. In both countries, the 2020 estimate was higher than the 2019 estimate, within a longer downward pattern. Source 1
A share can fall while employment grows
If employment grows faster in services or industry than in agriculture, agriculture’s share falls even if the number of agricultural workers rises. For changes in headcounts, use total employment and sector counts for the same year. Source 2
Some observations rely on modelling
The ILO combines national data with statistical modelling and may impute missing observations. For a decision about a specific labour market, pair the long series with the country’s survey records and their sector definitions. Source 2