Employment and Unemployment in Northern Cyprus in 2024: Key Figures and Conclusions

In 2024, according to the household survey conducted by the Statistical Institute of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, the unemployment rate was 4.9%, and the employment rate was 50.5%.

There were a total of 9,552 unemployed people in the country. Among men, the unemployment rate was 3.3%, while among women it reached 7.8%. In the 15–24 age group, unemployment was 16.9%.

The total number of employed persons was 185,607. The highest employment rate was recorded in the Girne district — 59.2%, and the lowest in the Lefke district, where it was only 34.6%.

Among the employed, 34.8% were women (approximately 64,611 people). Of these, 89.3% worked in the service sector, 87.3% were wage earners, 11.2% were self-employed or employers, and 1.5% were unpaid family workers. Among men, 65.2% were employed (120,996 people), with 73.2% working in the service sector, 82.2% as wage earners, 17.3% self-employed or employers, and 0.6% unpaid family workers.

Of the total employed, 19.4% (36,086 people) worked in the public sector. Meanwhile, 8% (14,805 people) of all employed individuals were not registered in any social security system. Among them, 72.2% were men.

Employment by economic sector was distributed as follows: 4.9% in agriculture (9,046 people), 7.1% in industry, 9.2% in construction, and 78.8% in services. In agriculture, 12.2% (1,101 people) were unpaid family workers.

Regarding the education level among the employed:

35.7% had not completed secondary education or had no education,

34.3% completed secondary school or an equivalent institution,

3.8% had short-cycle tertiary education,

23% held a university degree,

2.7% had a master’s degree,

0.5% held a doctorate.

Additionally, 46.9% of the working-age population (172,290 people) were outside the labor force. Of these, 29.1% were students (50,123 people), 28.6% were housewives (49,261), 23.8% were retirees (41,035), and 5.4% were people with disabilities (13,978).

The head of the Statistical Institute of Northern Cyprus, Sövüda Besimler, thanked all citizens who participated in the survey and noted that starting this year, the data will be published quarterly and broken down by six regions in line with EU standards.