Portraits of informality

Many of us may think we know what informality really is. Yet, the reality it captures is often less obvious than it seems. This chapter presents the informality profile of individuals and households across countries and regions. It relies on International Labour Organization (ILO) individual-based data on informal employment for 119 developing and developed countries, and the new Organisation for Economic Co‑operation and Development (OECD) Key Indicators of Informality based on Individuals and their Household (KIIbIH) database, available for 27 developing and emerging countries. Both refer to the ILO definition of informal employment, which includes employment in the informal sector, informal employment in the formal sector and informal employment in households. The resulting comprehensive portrait of informally employed individuals and their dependents shows distinct patterns that policy makers must take into account to effectively tackle the challenge of vulnerability in the informal economy.