What share of the world works in farming?
Agriculture share of world employment · % of employment · measured 1991–2025 · fitted live from 35 observations by the Many Minded cost-curve engine.
The last measured value is 25.8% (2025, OWID / ILO). Over the fitted window the series falls 1.0% a year (80% interval −1.8% to −0.3%) — a halving every 67.6 years (80%: 39.1–250.9). Carried forward on that fit, 2030: 24.5% (80%: 22.9%–26.1%).
the curve
what this series measures
share of world employment in agriculture — the measured proxy behind the farm-autonomy gate: autonomy shows up as labor leaving the field.
what the fit says
| quantity | value | how it is computed |
|---|---|---|
| fitted rate | −1.0%/yr (80%: −1.8% to −0.3%) | Farmer–Lafond drift over the trailing window · n=11 points, 10 years |
| halving time | 67.6 years (80%: 39.1–250.9) | implied by the fitted drift |
| curve check | steady (−1% → −2%/yr) | first half of the record versus the second, judged against the direction that helps this metric (falling) |
Not shown for this curve, because the machinery returns nothing: Wright's law (no cumulative-deployment series for this technology); a regime break (none clears the sup-F threshold).
the projection, with its interval
Log cost as a random walk with drift: the forecast variance grows with horizon (τ + τ²/m), which is why these bands widen instead of staying parallel. The middle column is the least useful number on this page; the interval is the claim.
| year | central fit | 80% interval | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 25.5% | 24.9% to 26.1% | near horizon |
| 2027 | 25.2% | 24.3% to 26.2% | near horizon |
| 2028 | 25.0% | 23.8% to 26.2% | near horizon |
| 2029 | 24.7% | 23.4% to 26.1% | the band is already wide here |
| 2030 | 24.5% | 22.9% to 26.1% | the band is already wide here |
| 2031 | 24.2% | 22.5% to 26.1% | the band is already wide here |
| 2032 | 24.0% | 22.1% to 26.0% | far horizon — read the interval, not the middle |
| 2033 | 23.7% | 21.7% to 26.0% | far horizon — read the interval, not the middle |
Projected to 2033, the horizon the whole engine uses.
questions this page answers
What share of the world works in farming?
25.8% as of 2025, the latest measured value in the series (OWID / ILO). The fitted trend has it falling 1.0% a year, with an 80% interval of −1.8% to −0.3%.
How fast is the share of the world working in farming falling?
−1.0% a year over the fitted window, an 80% interval of −1.8% to −0.3% — a halving every 67.6 years (80%: 39.1 to 250.9 years). Fitted from 11 observations spanning 10 years.
What will the share of the world working in farming be in 2030?
The central fit says 24.5%, inside an 80% interval of 22.9% to 26.1%. The interval is the forecast; the middle number is only its midpoint. Bands widen with horizon because shocks accumulate — a constant-width band would be overconfident.
Is the decline in the share of the world working in farming accelerating or slowing?
Splitting the record in half, the fitted rate went from −1% to −2% a year — steady. Regime breaks, not window choice, are what dominate this method's errors — which is why every projection here carries an interval.
Where does this data come from?
OWID / ILO. 35 observations spanning 1991–2025. Curated benchmark history, extended by a weekly authoritative fetch and by news figures fact-checked against their source before they may touch a fit. Both the observation ledger and the fitting code are public, and the engine publishes its own calibration score and its misses.
the raw numbers
Every observation behind the fit, unrounded by us and unsmoothed. This table is here on purpose: graphs make people underestimate exponential change, and the raw series beside the curve is the one correction shown to work.
| year | % of employment | change |
|---|---|---|
| 1991 | 42.8% | — |
| 1992 | 42.6% | −0.5% |
| 1993 | 41.9% | −1.6% |
| 1994 | 41.3% | −1.3% |
| 1995 | 40.6% | −1.9% |
| 1996 | 39.9% | −1.7% |
| 1997 | 39.4% | −1.1% |
| 1998 | 39.5% | +0.1% |
| 1999 | 39.5% | +0.1% |
| 2000 | 39.4% | −0.4% |
| 2001 | 39.0% | −0.9% |
| 2002 | 38.8% | −0.6% |
| 2003 | 38.3% | −1.3% |
| 2004 | 37.2% | −2.8% |
| 2005 | 36.3% | −2.4% |
| 2006 | 35.2% | −2.9% |
| 2007 | 34.3% | −2.6% |
| 2008 | 33.7% | −1.7% |
| 2009 | 33.2% | −1.5% |
| 2010 | 32.6% | −2.0% |
| 2011 | 31.7% | −2.7% |
| 2012 | 30.9% | −2.6% |
| 2013 | 30.1% | −2.6% |
| 2014 | 29.2% | −2.9% |
| 2015 | 28.5% | −2.3% |
| 2016 | 28.0% | −1.9% |
| 2017 | 27.4% | −2.0% |
| 2018 | 26.8% | −2.3% |
| 2019 | 26.3% | −2.0% |
| 2020 | 27.2% | +3.5% |
| 2021 | 26.9% | −1.2% |
| 2022 | 26.9% | +0.2% |
| 2023 | 26.6% | −1.3% |
| 2024 | 26.1% | −1.8% |
| 2025 | 25.8% | −1.2% |
where this comes from
- Source: OWID / ILO — refetched weekly by the engine's benchmark cron.
- Basis: measured. Curated benchmark history, refreshed by the weekly authoritative fetch, extended by figures our daily editor extracts from the news — each of which is fact-checked against its source article before it may touch a fit.
- Observations: n=35, spanning 1991–2025. Ledger last updated 2026-09-07.
- Fit: the Farmer–Lafond stochastic model — log cost as a random walk with drift over a 10-year trailing window, Student-t tails, and (for series under 15 points) a volatility floor at their drift-volatility prior. The code is readable source; the observation ledger is public JSON.
- Reuse: this compiled series and the numbers on this page are published under CC BY 4.0 — take them, cite the page. The underlying source keeps its own terms (Our World in Data publishes under CC BY 4.0).
- Accuracy: the engine grades its own intervals in public — every feasible hindcast re-fitted on data as it stood, scored for whether the actual landed inside the 80% band. The calibration score is on the engine page, misses included.
the rest of the graph
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