# Rwanda unemployment rate rose to 15.6% in the third quarter

> The national statistics office reported unemployment was 2.2 percentage points higher than a year earlier, with higher rates among women and young people.

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- Publisher: Newsverum
- Section: Economy
- Country: Rwanda
- Published: 2026-10-21T00:44:03+00:00
- Updated: 2026-10-21T00:44:03+00:00
- Event / data period: 2026-08
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The August 2026 survey estimated Rwanda’s working-age population at 8.8 million. About 4.8 million people were employed, 878,000 were unemployed and 3.2 million were outside the labour force. The unemployment rate was 15.6%.

The rate was 18.3% for women and 13.3% for men, and 18.8% for people aged 16–30 versus 13.1% for adults. Unemployment measures jobseekers as a share of the labour force; it is different from the employment-to-population ratio.

## Data

### Unemployment rate by group

August 2026 labour-force survey.

Methodology: Rates are transcribed; subgroup definitions follow the source.

| Group | Unemployment (%) |
|---|---|
| Overall | 15.6 |
| Women | 18.3 |
| Men | 13.3 |
| Age 16–30 | 18.8 |
| Urban | 14.8 |
| Rural | 16.0 |

Sources: <https://statistics.gov.rw/data-sources/surveys/Labour-Force-Survey/labour-force-survey-2026/labour-force-survey-2026-q3> · Download data: [JSON](https://newsverum.com/api/v1/articles/rwanda-unemployment-rate-rises-to-15-6-percent-q3-2026/data/official-source-data?lang=en&format=json) · [CSV](https://newsverum.com/api/v1/articles/rwanda-unemployment-rate-rises-to-15-6-percent-q3-2026/data/official-source-data?lang=en&format=csv)

## Sources

- [National Institute of Statistics of Rwanda](<https://statistics.gov.rw/data-sources/surveys/Labour-Force-Survey/labour-force-survey-2026/labour-force-survey-2026-q3>) (Source checked: 2026-10-21; Published: 2026-10-20)

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