Social security contributions vary enormously by country. Of the 31 jurisdictions we have surveyed this year, the highest employer payments were 40% of a worker’s salary, in France.
We found that several of the more socially-minded western democracies had relatively high employer contributions, somewhat in contrast to the anglo-saxon model espoused in the UK and US, involving lower contributions. Some former Soviet countries also had high levels (though not all) and the same is true of certain South American jurisdictions.
In terms of employee contributions, the picture is also very varied. The highest contributions were in Romania, at some 35% and the highest in western Europe was the Netherlands, at 27.65%. It is worth saying that not all countries provide services by means of social security contributions: some do it via taxation instead. Therefore, for a fuller picture, make sure to look at our parameters for the chart and also click on the chart to see text for any countries you are interested in.
