Europe
High-protection cluster: 43 Europe economies with composite scores, source tags, and the latest reporting year.
Europe sits at the high end of PlainEmploy's four-region EPLex means (0.468), led by Czech Republic at 0.643 on the ILO EPLex scale; Finland anchors the low end at 0.309.
31 EPLex · 29 B-READY · 35 OECD · #2 of 4 regions by inventory. Higher = stronger statutory protection.
ILO EPLex Regional Atlas
Europe posts the firmest ILO EPLex regional average in this vintage (0.468 across 31 reporters); softer peer means: Americas 0.352, Asia-Pacific 0.456, Middle East & Africa 0.401.
Region EPLex year-mean
Up 0.015 from 2009→2019 · peak 0.472 in 2015 (n=30)
Mean ILO EPLex composite across Europe countries with at least five reporters in a year (2009–2019). Latest panel: 0.472 (n=22). Source: ILO EPLex yearly panel via PlainEmploy.
| # | Country | Protection score | Year |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Malta 🇲🇹 | 79.0 (B-READY) | 2025 |
| 2 | Ireland 🇮🇪 | 77.3 (B-READY) | 2025 |
| 3 | Croatia 🇭🇷 | 74.9 (B-READY) | 2025 |
| 4 | Moldova 🇲🇩 | 72.1 (B-READY) | 2025 |
| 5 | Poland 🇵🇱 | 70.3 (B-READY) | 2025 |
| 6 | Bosnia and Herzegovina 🇧🇦 | 69.7 (B-READY) | 2025 |
| 7 | Iceland 🇮🇸 | 65.2 (B-READY) | 2025 |
| 8 | Latvia 🇱🇻 | 64.9 (B-READY) | 2025 |
| 9 | Czech Republic 🇨🇿 | 0.643 (EPLex) | 2025 |
| 10 | Montenegro 🇲🇪 | 0.608 (EPLex) | 2025 |
| 11 | Portugal 🇵🇹 | 0.591 (EPLex) | 2025 |
| 12 | Netherlands 🇳🇱 | 0.573 (EPLex) | 2019 |
| 13 | Slovakia 🇸🇰 | 0.567 (EPLex) | 2025 |
| 14 | North Macedonia 🇲🇰 | 0.542 (EPLex) | 2025 |
| 15 | Slovenia 🇸🇮 | 0.535 (EPLex) | 2025 |
| 16 | Turkey 🇹🇷 | 0.528 (EPLex) | 2025 |
| 17 | Russia 🇷🇺 | 3.06 (OECD) | 2012 |
| 18 | Ukraine 🇺🇦 | 0.506 (EPLex) | 2019 |
| 19 | Germany 🇩🇪 | 0.504 (EPLex) | 2019 |
| 20 | Austria 🇦🇹 | 0.494 (EPLex) | 2019 |
| 21 | Sweden 🇸🇪 | 0.484 (EPLex) | 2025 |
| 22 | Greece 🇬🇷 | 0.476 (EPLex) | 2025 |
| 23 | Estonia 🇪🇪 | 0.465 (EPLex) | 2025 |
| 24 | Luxembourg 🇱🇺 | 0.461 (EPLex) | 2019 |
| 25 | Denmark 🇩🇰 | 0.457 (EPLex) | 2019 |
| 26 | Norway 🇳🇴 | 0.449 (EPLex) | 2019 |
| 27 | Hungary 🇭🇺 | 0.447 (EPLex) | 2025 |
| 28 | Romania 🇷🇴 | 0.446 (EPLex) | 2025 |
| 29 | Serbia 🇷🇸 | 0.443 (EPLex) | 2025 |
| 30 | Georgia 🇬🇪 | 0.442 (EPLex) | 2025 |
| 31 | France 🇫🇷 | 0.434 (EPLex) | 2019 |
| 32 | Armenia 🇦🇲 | 0.428 (EPLex) | 2025 |
| 33 | Spain 🇪🇸 | 0.421 (EPLex) | 2025 |
| 34 | Belgium 🇧🇪 | 0.412 (EPLex) | 2025 |
| 35 | Italy 🇮🇹 | 0.405 (EPLex) | 2025 |
| 36 | Lithuania 🇱🇹 | 2.24 (OECD) | 2019 |
| 37 | Bulgaria 🇧🇬 | 0.372 (EPLex) | 2025 |
| 38 | United Kingdom 🇬🇧 | 0.365 (EPLex) | 2025 |
| 39 | Albania 🇦🇱 | 2.14 (OECD) | 2015 |
| 40 | Cyprus 🇨🇾 | 0.352 (EPLex) | 2025 |
| 41 | Switzerland 🇨🇭 | 0.344 (EPLex) | 2019 |
| 42 | Finland 🇫🇮 | 0.309 (EPLex) | 2019 |
| 43 | Kosovo 🇽🇰 | 1.67 (OECD) | 2014 |
The magnitude bar normalizes each country to a 0–100 protection index for visual comparison; the score column shows the raw value and its source, ILO EPLex (0–1), World Bank B-READY (0–100), or OECD EPL (0–6). Higher = more protective.
Source: ILO EPLex + World Bank B-READY 2025 + OECD Employment Protection Legislation Termination protection composites (EPLex 0-1, B-READY 0-100, OECD 0-6); 43 countries in Europe · 2025 EPLex updated periodically by ILO; B-READY released by World Bank in 2025; OECD EPL maintained as a multi-year panel for member countries.
Read our methodology for how this data is sourced, computed, and verified. ILO EPLex eplex.ilo.org