Social contributions by country

How to read the social contributions ranking

This list adds up the employee-side social contributions in each country's salary model and shows the total as a share of gross pay. Only what is withheld from the employee counts; the employer's share is a separate ranking. Romania is highest at 35%, made up of a 25% pension contribution and 10% health, followed by North Macedonia at 28%, Poland at 22.7%, Slovenia at 22.1% and France at 22%. Germany's 21.75% is the sum of four items: pension 9.3%, health 8.75%, long-term care 2.4% and unemployment 1.3%. At the low end, Estonia withholds only 3.6% (1.6% unemployment and 2% funded pension), because Estonian social tax is paid entirely by the employer.

Nine countries show 0%, and they fall into different groups. The Gulf states (the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait and Oman) genuinely levy nothing on most private-sector employees, and Pakistan and Bangladesh have no employee contribution in the model. The Netherlands and Sweden, however, show 0% because their national insurance is collected through the income tax brackets, and the model folds it into the tax rate rather than listing it separately. Their real burden appears in the take-home ranking, not here. Denmark's 8% is the labour market contribution taken before tax.

The rates are flat percentages applied to the whole salary. In practice many countries cap contributions above a ceiling (Germany, the United States and Israel among them), so at high salaries the effective rate is lower than shown. Whether the contribution reduces the income tax base also varies: in most of Europe it does, in the United States, the United Kingdom and Hungary it does not, and the calculator handles this per country even though the ranking cannot show it.

For what these contributions buy and how the employee and employer halves fit together, see social contributions.