List of countries by public sector size

This is a list of countries by public sector size, calculated as the number of public sector employees as a percentage of the total workforce. Information is based mainly on data from the OECD  and the ILO. If a source has figures for more than one year, only the most recent figure is used (with notes for exceptional circumstances).

In the former Eastern Bloc countries, the public sector in 1989 accounted for between 70% and over 90% of total employment. In China a full 78.3% of the urban labor force were employed in the public sector by 1978, the year the Chinese economic reform was launched, after which the rates dropped. Jin Zeng estimates the numbers were 56.4% in 1995 and 32.8% in 2003, while other estimates are higher.

In OECD countries, the average public sector employment rate was 21.3% in 2013.