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The record · 16 September 2026

Viet Nam has more than twice the United Kingdom’s share of workers in industry.Nowhere on earth does industry employ half.

Eighteen economies, one year, three shares that add to a hundred. Industry here is mining, manufacturing, construction and utilities together, counted as a share of the people in work and not of output. Everything below is checkable against the live market.

· 7 min read

34.3%of Viet Nam’s workers are in industry, the seventh highest share of 182 economies
16.1%of the United Kingdom’s workers are in industry, 131st of 182, less than half Viet Nam’s share
39.5%is the highest share of workers in industry anywhere, in Oman. No economy reaches half, and the median of the 182 is 19.0%

Nowhere does industry employ half

In 2024, 34.3% of Viet Nam’s workers were in industry, 2.1 times the United Kingdom’s 16.1%: seventh of 182 economies against 131st. The table sets the two among the other economies this desk publishes in, plus Czechia and Oman, the highest shares in Europe and in the world.

Nobody is near half. The highest industry share of the 182 is Oman’s, 39.5%, then Qatar’s 38.2% and Czechia’s 35.3%; seven economies reach a third, and the median is 19.0%. Services are the majority of employment in 120 of the 182 and agriculture in 23. Industry is the majority in none.

The split by sex is as wide as the split by country. In 174 of the 182 economies men are more likely than women to work in industry, by a median factor of 2.5: in the United Kingdom 24.2% of men against 7.3% of women, in Czechia 46.8% against 21.4%, in Oman 43.4% against 14.8%. Viet Nam is the narrowest gap in the table, 37.8% against 30.7%.

Provenance: Source
Share of employment in agriculture, industry and services, 2024, for eighteen economies. Sorted by the industry share, highest first. The three columns are shares of the people in work and add to 100. The rank is by industry share, out of the 182 economies reporting the three series.
EconomyAgricultureIndustryServicesRank of 182, by industry share
Oman6.1%39.5%54.4%1
Czechia2.8%35.3%61.9%3
Viet Nam25.9%34.3%39.8%7
China22.2%31.6%46.2%13
Poland6.5%30.2%63.3%21
Türkiye14.6%27.4%58.1%26
Germany1.1%26.3%72.6%33
India42.4%25.4%32.3%41
Portugal2.9%24.8%72.4%44
South Korea5.2%23.7%71.1%49
Morocco28.3%23.6%48.1%50
Japan2.9%23.3%73.8%51
Indonesia28.0%22.3%49.8%60
Thailand29.0%22.3%48.8%62
Spain3.5%20.1%76.4%76
France2.4%19.5%78.1%82
Philippines21.2%19.5%59.3%85
United Kingdom0.9%16.1%83.0%131

Where industry’s share stops

Sorted into thirds by income per person, the 171 economies with a GDP figure show the shape. The mean industry share is 14.7% in the poorest third, 21.8% in the middle and 22.7% in the richest: it rises between the first two and then stops. Agriculture falls from 44.7% to 18.6% to 3.9%, and services rise from 40.6% to 59.6% to 73.4%.

The correlations say the same thing without the cuts. Across the 171, services move with income at plus 0.81 and agriculture against it at minus 0.85; industry at only plus 0.46. Income sorts countries by farm and service work far more than by industry, which is spread across the whole range: Lesotho and Tunisia sit near Slovakia and Iran at a third.

Viet Nam and the United Kingdom are on that line. One is in the middle third with a large farm sector still beside its factories and building sites, 25.9% of employment; the other is in the richest third with agriculture at 0.9% and services at 83.0%, the highest service share of the eighteen. The gap between them in industry is the gap between where the middle of the world sits and where the top does.

Provenance: SourceWhat each share counts
  1. INDUSTRY is ISIC sections B to F: mining and quarrying, manufacturing, construction, and electricity, gas and water supply. A construction worker and a machinist are both counted here, and the figures do not separate them.
  2. AGRICULTURE is section A, farming, forestry and fishing. SERVICES is everything else, from retail and transport to teaching, health and government.
  3. All three are shares of the people IN WORK, not of output. Industry’s share of GDP is a different number and is not in this piece.

So Oman’s 39.5% does not say that four Omani workers in ten are in factories: mining and construction are inside the same figure. And the income thirds compare different countries in one year, so “industry’s share rises and then stops” describes where countries sit today, not where any one of them is going.

The three shares in this piece share a denominator and not a meaning, and reading “industry” as “factories” is the mistake the piece is about.

What the share does not say

It does not say that industry means factories. Oman’s and Qatar’s shares include construction and oil and gas extraction, and the source does not split them from manufacturing. Czechia’s 35.3% and Viet Nam’s 34.3% look alike in this measure and may be built of very different jobs.

It does not say that anything rose or fell. The income thirds compare different countries in one year. That the richest third has a higher industry share than the poorest is a fact about 2024, not a path any country followed, and “Viet Nam is industrialising” or “Britain has deindustrialised” are claims about time that these figures cannot make.

And it names no cause and no verdict. Policy, wages, trade and resources all shape where a country’s workers are, and none of them is in these figures; nor is pay, hours or security, so nothing here says an industrial job is a better or a worse one.

What the data establishes

  • In 2024, 34.3% of Viet Nam’s workers were in industry and 16.1% of the United Kingdom’s: seventh and 131st of 182 economies, a ratio of 2.1.
  • No economy of the 182 has half its workers in industry. The highest share is Oman’s, 39.5%; seven economies reach a third; the median is 19.0%. Services are the majority in 120 economies, agriculture in 23, industry in none.
  • Across income thirds of the 171 economies with a GDP figure, the mean industry share is 14.7%, 21.8% and 22.7%; agriculture 44.7%, 18.6% and 3.9%; services 40.6%, 59.6% and 73.4%. The correlations with log income are +0.46, -0.85 and +0.81.
  • In 174 of the 182 economies men are more likely than women to work in industry, by a median factor of 2.5.

What it does not

  • That industry means factories. The measure includes mining, construction and utilities, and the source does not split them.
  • That any share rose or fell. One year, different countries: nothing here is a trend.
  • Any cause, including policy, wages, trade or resources. None of them is in these figures.
  • That an industrial job is better or worse than another. Nothing here measures pay, hours or security.
  • Anything about 2025 or 2026, or about the 35 economies in the World Bank list that do not report the three sector series for 2024.

Method

  1. One source, one year, six series. World Bank Open Data SL.AGR.EMPL.ZS, SL.IND.EMPL.ZS and SL.SRV.EMPL.ZS (employment in agriculture, industry and services, % of total employment), SL.IND.EMPL.FE.ZS and SL.IND.EMPL.MA.ZS (industry, % of female and of male employment), all modelled ILO estimates, and NY.GDP.PCAP.PP.KD (GDP per capita, PPP, constant 2021 international dollars). Reference year 2024, read on 16 September 2026, dataset last updated 2026-07-13 by the source’s own stamp.
  2. AGGREGATES ARE NOT COUNTRIES. Regional and income-group totals carry three-letter codes like countries do, and were removed using the World Bank’s own flag for them, leaving 182 economies with the three sector series for 2024 out of the 217 in its country list, and 171 of those with a GDP per capita figure. Every rank and count is out of the 182; the income thirds and the correlations are over the 171.
  3. The three sector shares add to 100 in the source, to within 0.002 of a point on every economy. The income thirds are the 171 economies sorted by GDP per capita and cut at the 57th and 114th; the cuts fall at about 9,700 and 32,000 dollars. Each third’s figure is the unweighted mean of its 57 members, each economy counting once whatever its population.
  4. The correlations are Pearson coefficients between each share and the natural logarithm of GDP per capita across the 171. They describe how the shares move together across countries, not within any country over time. A quadratic in log income fits the industry share with a peak near 35,000 dollars, but explains under a third of its variation, so the piece reports the thirds and not the curve.
  5. Rounding is done once, at display. The Viet Nam to United Kingdom ratio is 2.13 from the unrounded shares 34.320 and 16.124, shown as 2.1. The eighteen economies are the market of each language this desk publishes in, plus Czechia and Oman.

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