Decommodification Index

Data as of 2024

How well can people maintain a decent life without depending on the market?

Replacement rate based: measures how much of your income social benefits replace. Covers 38 OECD member countries with detailed benefit data.

Unemployment month:

This changes only the unemployment pillar. Sickness and pension pillars are not duration-dependent and remain fixed.

Map boundaries are from Natural Earth and may not reflect current political realities or disputed territories.

Unemployment Insurance

Top 5

1.Portugal87%10.0
2.Luxembourg86%9.9
3.Bulgaria77%8.8
4.Switzerland72%8.3
5.Netherlands69%7.9

Sickness & Disability Protection

Top 5

1.Denmark4.735% GDP10.0
2.Norway4.04% GDP8.4
3.Belgium3.385% GDP6.9
4.Iceland3.358% GDP6.8
5.Sweden3.249% GDP6.6

Pension Adequacy

Top 5

1.Spain80.4%10.0
2.Greece79.6%9.9
3.Luxembourg75.6%9.2
4.Netherlands74.7%9.1
5.Austria74.1%9.0

All Countries

#
1	Denmark	50%5.8	4.735%10.0	72.7%8.8	8.2
2	Luxembourg	86%9.9	2.698%5.3	75.6%9.2	8.1
3	Netherlands	69%7.9	2.777%5.5	74.7%9.1	7.5
4	Portugal	87%10.0	1.96%3.6	72.4%8.7	7.4
5	Spain	52%6.0	2.9%5.8	80.4%10.0	7.3
6	Norway	63%7.2	4.04%8.4	46.1%4.6	6.7
7	Bulgaria	77%8.8	2.144%4.0	58.5%6.5	6.5
8	Sweden	44%5.1	3.249%6.6	63.7%7.3	6.3
9	Austria	55%6.3	1.983%3.6	74.1%9.0	6.3
10	Italy	60%6.9	1.863%3.4	70.6%8.4	6.2
11	Slovakia	66%7.6	2.063%3.8	58%6.4	6.0
12	Belgium	58%6.7	3.385%6.9	43.5%4.1	5.9
13	Finland	43%4.9	3.143%6.3	57.8%6.4	5.9
14	France	68%7.8	1.838%3.3	56.6%6.2	5.8
15	Switzerland	72%8.3	2.425%4.7	42.4%4.0	5.6
16	Israel	59%6.8	3.179%6.4	39.7%3.5	5.6
17	Iceland	43%4.9	3.358%6.8	43.9%4.2	5.3
18	Greece	35%4.0	1.239%1.9	79.6%9.9	5.3
19	Germany	60%6.9	1.955%3.6	42.1%3.9	4.8
20	Croatia	42%4.8	3.099%6.2	35.7%2.9	4.7
21	Latvia	40%4.6	2.844%5.6	38.7%3.4	4.5
22	Slovenia	42%4.8	2.225%4.2	45.9%4.5	4.5
23	New Zealand	29%3.3	3.201%6.5	39.5%3.5	4.4
24	Turkey	42%4.8	0.408%0.0	67.8%8.0	4.3
25	Australia	25%2.9	3.135%6.3	39.7%3.5	4.2
26	Estonia	50%5.8	2.42%4.7	29.3%1.9	4.1
27	Lithuania	67%7.7	2.165%4.1	17.4%0.0	3.9
28	Japan	59%6.8	1.23%1.9	36.5%3.0	3.9
29	Romania	28%3.2	1.094%1.6	53%5.7	3.5
30	Chile	37%4.3	0.545%0.3	49.7%5.1	3.2
31	South Korea	50%5.8	0.888%1.1	33.4%2.5	3.1
32	Canada	46%5.3	0.627%0.5	37.1%3.1	3.0
33	United States	38%4.4	0.813%0.9	39.7%3.5	3.0
34	United Kingdom	11%1.3	1.683%3.0	44.7%4.3	2.9
35	Czech Republic	0%0.0	2.03%3.8	44.2%4.3	2.7
36	Hungary	0%0.0	1.478%2.5	50.2%5.2	2.6
37	Poland	23%2.6	1.958%3.6	25.5%1.3	2.5
38	Ireland	28%3.2	1.163%1.7	24.3%1.1	2.0

▶Methodology

Our position

The decommodification index, as originally conceived by Esping-Andersen, answers one fundamental question: can a person maintain a dignified life without being forced to sell their labor on the market? Some modern reinterpretations have shifted the concept toward measuring 'market efficiency' or 'competitiveness of welfare systems' — we explicitly reject this framing. Our index measures the degree to which a society guarantees its members the right to live, not just survive, regardless of their participation in the labor market or any other form of 'usefulness'.

The Decommodification Index measures the degree to which social services are granted as a matter of right, allowing people to maintain a livelihood without reliance on the market. The concept was developed by Gosta Esping-Andersen in 'The Three Worlds of Welfare Capitalism' (1990).

How is it calculated?

Three pillars are measured for each country, each normalized to a 0-10 scale using min-max normalization across all countries. The composite score is the average of the three pillar scores.

OECD

Unemployment Insurance

Net replacement rate for a single person with no children, earning the average wage, in the 2nd month of unemployment. Source: OECD Tax-Benefit Models.

Sickness & Disability Protection

Public expenditure on sickness and disability benefits as a percentage of GDP. Source: OECD Social Expenditure Database (SOCX).

Pension Adequacy

Gross pension replacement rate at average earnings for mandatory schemes, averaged across men and women. Source: OECD Pensions at a Glance.

Global (ILO)

Unemployment Benefit Coverage

Share of unemployed persons receiving unemployment cash benefits. Source: ILO SDG 1.3.1.

Disability Benefit Coverage

Share of persons with severe disabilities receiving disability cash benefits. Source: ILO SDG 1.3.1.

Pension Coverage

Share of population above pensionable age receiving a pension. Source: ILO SDG 1.3.1.

Specifics of our methodology

OECD tier: We use the initial replacement rate (2nd month of unemployment), not long-term — this matters because many countries have high initial rates that drop sharply. We measure a single person with no children at average wage — the baseline case, not the most favorable. We exclude social assistance and housing benefits to measure pure insurance, not welfare. The sickness pillar uses spending as % of GDP rather than replacement rates, because the OECD does not publish sickness replacement rates via API. ILO tier: Coverage-based data measures reach, not quality. A country can show 100% pension coverage while pensions amount to $10/month. Many countries report 100% disability coverage because a statutory entitlement exists on paper, regardless of actual benefit adequacy. Coverage rates and replacement rates are fundamentally different lenses on the same problem.

Limitations

This index uses publicly available OECD data as a proxy. It does not capture all dimensions of Esping-Andersen's original measure, such as qualifying periods, coverage universality, or benefit duration nuances. The sickness pillar uses spending data rather than replacement rates.

Data Sources

OECD Tax-Benefit Models - Net Replacement Rates
OECD Social Expenditure Database (SOCX) - Public Disability & Sickness Spending
OECD Pensions at a Glance - Pension Replacement Rates
ILO Social Protection (SDG 1.3.1) - Coverage Rates