Workers' rights collapse across the world: ITUC Global Rights Index 2025
Geneva – June 11, 2025 – Workers’ rights are in free fall across every continent, according to the 2025 ITUC Global Rights Index, with Europe and the Americas recording their worst scores since the Index began in 2014.
Just seven countries now have the top rating of 1 for their respect for workers’ rights, compared with 51, or one in three, rated 5 and 5+.
If the current trend continues, no countries will hold a rating of 1 within the next ten years.
Key findings include:
- Three out of five global regions saw conditions worsen; the Americas (3.68) and Europe (2.78) hit their worst scores on record. Europe continued a rapid deterioration from 1.84 in 2014 – the biggest decline seen in any region worldwide over the past 10 years.
- Only seven out of the 151 countries surveyed (fewer than 5%) earned a top-tier rating of 1 – down from 18 a decade ago.
- The 10 worst countries for workers are: Bangladesh, Belarus, Ecuador, Egypt, Eswatini, Myanmar, Nigeria (NEW), the Philippines, Tunisia, and Türkiye.
- The worst region in the world for working people is the Middle East and North Africa, with an average rating of 68.
- Deaths of trade unionists were recorded in Cameroon, Colombia, Guatemala, Peru, and South Africa.
- 87% of countries violated the right to strike; 80% violated the right to collective bargaining.
- Workers’ access to justice was restricted in 72% of countries, the worst level ever recorded.
The ITUC Global Rights Index is a comprehensive review of workers’ rights in law ranking 151 countries against a list of 97 indicators derived from ILO Conventions and jurisprudence, and as such is the only database of its kind. Violations are recorded each year from April to March.
