Right to work

According to international law, everyone is entitled to the opportunity to gain a living by work that is freely chosen and 'the right to the enjoyment of just and favourable conditions of work'. This includes 'equal pay for equal work, the chance to earn a decent living for [ourselves] and [our] families, just and safe working conditions, and a reasonable limitation of working hours' (ICESCR, Articles 6 and 7).

Not relatively poor

% population NOT relatively poor (income > 50% median income)

Source(s): Luxembourg Income Study, Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD)

Assessment standard(s): High income

Not absolutely poor

% population NOT absolutely poor (income > $3.20 2011 PPP$ per day)

Source(s): World Bank PovcalNet

Assessment standard(s): Low and middle income

Not long-term unemployed

% unemployed NOT long-term (>12 months) unemployed

Source(s): Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), Unemployment data

Assessment standard(s): High income

For each economic and social right, the SERF Index methodology, which HRMI uses, selects a small number of high-level ‘bellwether’ indicators to give an overview of people’s experiences in each country. The scores produced can be tracked and compared over time, and across countries. The choice of indicators is also influenced by what data are available in international databases for enough countries in the world.

All HRMI measures of economic and social rights are produced using official statistics collected by national governments and harmonised by international organisations. For each indicator, our methodology compares how well a country is doing to what other countries have shown can be achieved at that per-capita income level. HRMI economic and social rights metrics show how well the State is using its currently available resources to ensure that people enjoy these rights to the maximum extent possible.

1. HRMI scores measure how well governments use their resources for good rights outcomes, not the number of people who are enjoying their rights. A score of 100% does NOT imply that everyone in the country enjoys the right. Rather, it tells us that the country is doing as well as any other country has done at the same per-capita income level.
2. A score of 100% does NOT mean there is no room for improvement. Countries with high HRMI scores are still obliged under international law to keep improving. These countries may need to innovate to deepen and extend human rights enjoyment further than has been done in the past.
3. HRMI scores are based on statistics across whole country populations. If a high income country earns a high HRMI score on a right, there might still be population subgroups (like women or indigenous people) in that country who do not enjoy the right equally. HRMI uses the SERF Index methodology to produce these scores. Visit the SERF Index website.

For the Quality of Life rights (economic and social rights), HRMI measures countries against 2 different benchmarks. You can change benchmarks by clicking the 'Switch view' button

For the Quality of Life rights (economic and social rights) we have two assessment standards - two collections of indicators we use to measure the rights.