Trade union density by country
The database on Institutional Characteristics of Trade Unions, Wage Setting, State Intervention and Social Pacts (ICTWSS) was developed by Prof. Jelle Visser at the University of Amsterdam. It was first released in May 2007. In its initial form, the ICTWSS database combined data from various sources and projects...
What the numbers show
Trade union density is currently reported for 31 countries. The highest value is 90.6 Percentage of employees in Iceland; the lowest is 4.7 Percentage of employees in Colombia.
The median across all reporting countries is 16.2 Percentage of employees, and the mean is 25.04 Percentage of employees.
The gap between the highest and lowest reporting country is a factor of about 19.
Over the past decade 7 countries rose and 24 fell. The largest increase was in Costa Rica (up 80.6%), and the largest decrease in Indonesia (down 70.4%).
Trade union density: full country ranking
| # | Country | Latest | Year | 10-year change | Trend |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Iceland | 90.6 Percentage of employees | 2023 | up 2.3% | rising |
| 2 | Sweden | 65.9 Percentage of employees | 2024 | down 2.5% | flat |
| 3 | Denmark | 60.4 Percentage of employees | 2024 | down 5.8% | rising |
| 4 | Norway | 52.1 Percentage of employees | 2024 | up 3.8% | falling |
| 5 | Finland | 51.4 Percentage of employees | 2024 | down 24.0% | rising |
| 6 | Belgium | 47.5 Percentage of employees | 2023 | down 12.8% | rising |
| 7 | Italy | 30.2 Percentage of employees | 2024 | down 9.9% | falling |
| 8 | Luxembourg | 29.7 Percentage of employees | 2020 | down 20.4% | falling |
| 9 | Canada | 28.3 Percentage of employees | 2024 | up 0.7% | falling |
| 10 | Israel | 27.2 Percentage of employees | 2023 | up 9.7% | falling |
| 11 | Costa Rica | 22.4 Percentage of employees | 2024 | up 80.6% | rising |
| 12 | Ireland | 22.2 Percentage of employees | 2024 | down 15.3% | falling |
| 13 | United Kingdom | 22 Percentage of employees | 2024 | down 12.0% | falling |
| 14 | New Zealand | 20.3 Percentage of employees | 2024 | up 9.7% | volatile |
| 15 | Austria | 20.2 Percentage of employees | 2024 | down 12.9% | falling |
| 16 | Japan | 16.2 Percentage of employees | 2024 | down 7.4% | falling |
| 17 | Chile | 16 Percentage of employees | 2023 | up 18.5% | falling |
| 18 | OECD | 15.16 Percentage of employees | 2024 | down 8.1% | falling |
| 19 | Germany | 14.1 Percentage of employees | 2024 | down 14.0% | falling |
| 20 | Portugal | 13.9 Percentage of employees | 2020 | down 23.6% | volatile |
| 21 | Greece | 13.4 Percentage of employees | 2020 | down 33.0% | falling |
| 22 | Mexico | 12.8 Percentage of employees | 2024 | down 5.9% | falling |
| 23 | Switzerland | 12.7 Percentage of employees | 2023 | down 23.5% | falling |
| 24 | Spain | 12.5 Percentage of employees | 2023 | down 22.4% | falling |
| 25 | Australia | 12.2 Percentage of employees | 2024 | down 19.7% | falling |
| 26 | France | 10.1 Percentage of employees | 2019 | down 5.6% | volatile |
| 27 | United States of America | 9.9 Percentage of employees | 2024 | down 10.8% | falling |
| 28 | Czechia | 9.4 Percentage of employees | 2023 | down 26.6% | volatile |
| 29 | Hungary | 7.4 Percentage of employees | 2020 | down 37.8% | volatile |
| 30 | Indonesia | 5.3 Percentage of employees | 2024 | down 70.4% | falling |
| 31 | Colombia | 4.7 Percentage of employees | 2024 | down 20.3% | rising |
Regions and income groups
Aggregates are excluded from the country ranking above so that a region can never outrank a country.
- Slovenia 15.3 Percentage of employees
- Netherlands 13.8 Percentage of employees
- Korea 12.5 Percentage of employees
- Slovak Republic 11.8 Percentage of employees
- Poland 9.4 Percentage of employees
- Lithuania 8.3 Percentage of employees
About this data
The database on Institutional Characteristics of Trade Unions, Wage Setting, State Intervention and Social Pacts (ICTWSS) was developed by Prof. Jelle Visser at the University of Amsterdam. It was first released in May 2007. In its initial form, the ICTWSS database combined data from various sources and projects with a main focus on trade union in EU and OECD countries, collective bargaining and employment relations in Europe, and social pacts. In 2021, the ICTWSS database was rebranded as the OECD/AIAS ICTWSS database to reflect the joint effort by the OECD and AIAS-HSI to ensure the continuation of the database following Prof. Visser’s retirement. The OECD/AIAS ICTWSS database is publicly available at: http://www.oecd.org/employment/ictwss-database.htm