Tunisia was ranked 8th among the countries with the highest unemployment rates in the Arab world, with an unemployment rate of 15.4% in the third quarter of 2025.
This places the country within the regional average, between those most affected and those where unemployment remains relatively low.
To conduct a comparative analysis of the unemployment rate in Arab countries, a recent ranking based on regional economic data and cited by Trading Economics helps distinguish between countries with the highest and lowest unemployment rates, thus situating each economy within its regional context.
Trading Economics provides detailed indicators for each country, including historical series, charts, and the latest labor market updates. This data allows for an analysis of unemployment rate trends over time and enables comparative analysis between countries.
Among the countries with the highest unemployment rates in the Arab world, Palestine leads with 28.6%, a figure explained in part by war, economic tensions, and structural constraints on the labor market.
It is followed by Djibouti (25.9%), Jordan (21.4%), Sudan (20.8%), while Libya rounds out the top 5 with 18.6%.
These countries face a combination of socio-economic challenges that heavily impact employment, such as political crises, undiversified economies, and limited access to opportunities for youth.
Next are Yemen, in 6th place with 17.1%, and Iraq, in 7th place with 15.5%. After Tunisia, Morocco ranks 9th with 13.1%, while Syria closes the top 10 with an unemployment rate of 13%.
In contrast, the countries least affected by unemployment are primarily in the Gulf. At the bottom of the list, Qatar records an extremely low rate of just 0.1%, largely due to an economy heavily reliant on energy sectors and a high proportion of expatriate labor, which structures the labor market differently from countries with high national unemployment.
Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates, each with 2.1%, as well as Saudi Arabia (3.1%) and the Sultanate of Oman (3.2%), confirm this trend. These countries benefit from highly regulated labor markets, diversified economies thanks to oil and gas, and public programs that promote local employment, explaining their unemployment rates being significantly lower than the regional average.
It is therefore clear that Gulf countries combine high wealth and specific labor market management, enabling them to maintain very low unemployment despite demographic pressure.
For the remaining Arab countries, Lebanon ranks 11th with an unemployment rate of 11.5%, followed by Algeria at 11.4% and Mauritania at 10.4%.
Egypt, despite facing strong demographic pressure, manages to maintain a relatively moderate unemployment rate of 6.4%, placing it 14th in the ranking. Next come Bahrain (6.3%) and Comoros (3.9%).
