by Tyler Durden

Agriculture has long been the backbone of human civilization, providing sustenance and livelihood to billions of people across the globe.

As of 2021, an estimated 27% of the global workforce was employed in agriculture, though the sector represents only 4% of global GDP.

Using employment and population data from the World Bank, Visual Capitalist's Bruno Venditti and Eiri Ryu created the following graphic to rank the distribution of agricultural workers in the world's most populated countries.

Asia and Africa Have the Most Agricultural Workers

Being the most populous countries, India and China lead the ranking with 272 million and 229 million people employed in agriculture, respectively:

Though countries in Africa have fewer agricultural workers, they have a far greater share of agriculture in employment. Ethiopia (66%) and Tanzania (65%) had the highest share of agricultural workers amongst the most populated countries, with other low income and lower-middle income African countries close behind.