Top Countries by ILO EPLex Protection
PlainEmploy ranks 95 countries with ILO EPLex composite scores by dismissal-protection strength (2020 edition; most country tip years are 2019).
Research period:
Research question
Among countries with current ILO EPLex coverage, which have the strongest composite employment-protection scores, and how does the regional distribution of strong-protection regimes look?
Methodology
This ranking is generated live from PlainEmploy's own database of ILO EPLex composite scores, sorted by protection strength. No figure here is hardcoded, every number reflects the current state of PlainEmploy's database and updates when the ILO publishes a new release.
Countries with no scored value are excluded from this ranking rather than shown with a placeholder value. See the methodology page for the full source registry and update history.
Top 10 Countries by ILO EPLex Employment Protection Score
Live data, refreshed as the ILO publishes new releases
The ranked top 10
These 10 rows update automatically as PlainEmploy's underlying data refreshes.
| # | Country | Region | EPLex composite | Year |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Tajikistan | Asia-Pacific | 0.661 | 2019 |
| 2 | Czech Republic | Europe | 0.643 | 2019 |
| 3 | Indonesia | Asia-Pacific | 0.638 | 2019 |
| 4 | Turkmenistan | Asia-Pacific | 0.619 | 2019 |
| 5 | Montenegro | Europe | 0.608 | 2020 |
| 6 | Philippines | Asia-Pacific | 0.606 | 2019 |
| 7 | Uzbekistan | Asia-Pacific | 0.599 | 2019 |
| 8 | Portugal | Europe | 0.591 | 2019 |
| 9 | Netherlands | Europe | 0.573 | 2019 |
| 10 | Slovakia | Europe | 0.567 | 2019 |
Source: International Labour Organization ILO EPLex Employment Protection Legislation Database Updated automatically when the source publishes a new vintage.
Findings
Top entity in the ranking
The top-ranked country in this dataset is Tajikistan, with a value of 0.661 on the EPLex composite. The full top-10 set is shown in the table above. No number here is hardcoded; when the source agency publishes a revision, the ranking updates on the next page load.
Distribution shape
The gap between the top-ranked record (0.661) and the 10th-ranked record (0.567) characterizes how concentrated the top of the distribution is. Where the top value is many multiples of the median value of the visible set, the population is highly concentrated, a small number of entities accumulate the bulk of the measured quantity. Where the top and bottom of the visible set are close together, the distribution is relatively flat across the top end. The full distribution beyond this top-10 cut is summarized in the aggregate context section below and explored in the linked entity profiles.
Aggregate context
Across the full eplex_scores population, the aggregate query returns the following summary statistics. These anchors situate the top-10 ranking against the underlying population: how many records exist in total, what the sum of the ranking column is across all qualifying rows, and what the mean per-record value looks like. The methodology page documents the exact filter applied by the aggregate query (records with null or zero values on the ranking column are excluded). The aggregate row is computed by the same database engine that renders the ranking above, against the same snapshot.
Source provenance
The records in this ranking originate from International Labour Organization, specifically the ILO EPLex Employment Protection Legislation Database. PlainEmploy ingests the vintage published by the agency and keeps this ranking current automatically, there is no static export carrying stale numbers. The methodology page documents the source URL, the vintage date, and how the data is processed.
Why this ranking matters
Rankings like this one let a reader scan a population quickly and identify outliers, concentrations, and patterns that warrant deeper investigation. The detail pages linked from each entity in the table above give the full per-entity context: time-series history where available, related metrics from adjacent tables, and links onward to the underlying source records. The methodology page explains how an entity earns inclusion in the dataset and how the ranking column is computed at the source.
What this analysis cannot tell us
ILO EPLex captures statutory employment-protection law, the rules on the books, not enforcement intensity or labor-court outcomes. A country with strong statutory protection may have weak enforcement, and vice versa; the composite score does not measure the gap. EPLex coverage extends to most ILO member states but updates on a slow cadence as countries publish or amend labor codes. Composite scoring weights eight sub-dimensions (notice periods, severance, procedural requirements, prohibited dismissal grounds, redress, probation, redundancy pay, trial-period limits) but the sub-scores can move in opposing directions, so composite-ranking ties at the top should be inspected at the sub-score level. The score reflects the statutory framework for individual dismissal of a regular indefinite-contract employee, protections for collective dismissal, temporary contracts, and gig-economy workers operate under separate frameworks not all captured in the composite.
Secondary cut from the same source
Regional averages on the ILO EPLex composite, multiplied by 100 to render in integer form
Sources
- International Labour Organization, EPLex Employment Protection Legislation Database - https://eplex.ilo.org/
- ILOSTAT, ILO Statistical Database - https://ilostat.ilo.org/
- World Bank Doing Business, Labor Market Regulation - https://archive.doingbusiness.org/