Which country has the highest dismissal costs in the world?

At the other end of the spectrum, only the United States and New Zealand have no statutory minimum notice period or mandatory severance pay for individual redundancies.

The US, which operates under an at-will employment default, ranks 111th out of 190 scored countries. That makes it a statistical outlier: the median scored country owes more than 15 weeks of salary to exit a single employee, meaning the at-will default is the exception rather than the rule.

Median statutory termination cost

Meanwhile, the global median statutory termination cost stands at 15.3 weeks of salary, or roughly 3.5 months of pay, before any contractual negotiation begins.

Asia recorded the highest regional average, with 47 scored countries averaging 19.7 weeks of salary. Oceania posted the lowest regional average at 10.8 weeks across nine scored countries. The Americas ranked second globally at 18.0 weeks, followed by Africa at 17.9 weeks and Europe at 13.1 weeks.