Analyze how self-employment has changed in Bahrain and compare the shares of women and men working in self-employed jobs.
Self-employed workers represented 2.4% of total employment in Bahrain in 2025. The self-employment rate was 3.2% among employed women and 2.2% among employed men, producing a 0.9-percentage-point gap favoring women. The total self-employment share changed by -0.3 percentage points over five years and by -0.2 percentage points over ten years.
In the common comparison year 2025, Bahrain ranked 186th of 187 economies by the share of self-employed workers in total employment.
Bahrain Self-Employment by Gender by Year
Data source: World Bank, World Development Indicators — Self-employed, total, % of total employment, modeled ILO estimate (SL.EMP.SELF.ZS); Self-employed, female, % of female employment, modeled ILO estimate (SL.EMP.SELF.FE.ZS); Self-employed, male, % of male employment, modeled ILO estimate (SL.EMP.SELF.MA.ZS); Employers, total, % of total employment, modeled ILO estimate (SL.EMP.MPYR.ZS); Contributing family workers, total, % of total employment, modeled ILO estimate (SL.FAM.WORK.ZS); Vulnerable employment, total, % of total employment, modeled ILO estimate (SL.EMP.VULN.ZS); Wage and salaried workers, total, % of total employment, modeled ILO estimate (SL.EMP.WORK.ZS).
License: CC BY-4.0. Retrieved 2026-07-12.
About the Indicators
Self-employed, total, modeled ILO estimate. Workers who are sole or joint owners of the businesses in which they work, including own-account workers, employers and cooperative members, as a share of total employment.
Self-employed, female, modeled ILO estimate. The self-employment rate among employed women, using the same definition as the total self-employment indicator.
Self-employed, male, modeled ILO estimate. The self-employment rate among employed men, using the same definition as the total self-employment indicator.
Employers, modeled ILO estimate. Self-employed workers who employ one or more employees, as a share of total employment.
Contributing family workers, modeled ILO estimate. Workers who help run a family business or farm without a formal wage, as a share of total employment.
Vulnerable employment, modeled ILO estimate. The combined share of own-account workers and contributing family workers in total employment; a group that generally lacks formal work arrangements and social protection.
Wage and salaried workers, modeled ILO estimate. Employees holding paid employment jobs, as a share of total employment.