Colombia's rural sector recorded 4.8 million occupied people in 2025, the highest figure since 2021, according to DANE. The rural unemployment rate dropped to 6.7%, the lowest in seven years, driven by 103,000 new jobs in agriculture. Agriculture Minister Martha Carvajalino credited these advances to policies under President Gustavo Petro's government.
The National Administrative Department of Statistics (DANE) reported that rural employment in Colombia reached 4.8 million occupied people in 2025, marking the highest level since 2021, when systematic comparisons began. This figure reflects significant strengthening in the agricultural sector, with 3.38 million workers in agriculture, livestock, hunting, forestry, and fishing, an increase of 103,000 jobs from 2024 (3.283 million) and surpassing the 3.28 million in 2023.
The rural unemployment rate fell to 6.7%, the lowest in seven years, indicating greater opportunities for rural workers and a boost to agricultural and livestock activities. Nationally, unemployment was 8.9% in 2025, a 1.3 percentage point drop from 10.2% in 2024, with 23.8 million occupied, an increase of 791,000 people.
Agriculture Minister Martha Carvajalino highlighted: “The results of 2025 show that when the countryside advances, the popular economy advances and food security is strengthened. DANE's figures, showing the drop in rural unemployment, reaffirm that the Colombian countryside is not the past; on the contrary, it is the productive present and the future of the country, made possible by the change policies implemented in President Gustavo Petro's government.”
The Ministry attributed these achievements to the Revolution for Life and advances in Agrarian Reform, consolidating agriculture as an engine of economic growth and social cohesion. However, informality remains a challenge, with 55.5% of the 24.2 million occupied at the end of December 2025 in informal conditions.
These data encourage continued efforts to boost rural productivity to maintain the trend into 2026.
