Income Stability Index

Overview

What is Income Stability?

Income stability refers to the degree to which household income is consistent, predictable, and sufficient to meet ongoing financial obligations over time. Unlike measures of average income or poverty rates, income stability captures the variability and reliability of earnings — factors that are critical determinants of long-term financial well-being.

The Resilvora Income Stability Index (ISI) aggregates multiple sub-indicators including employment tenure rates, income volatility measures, access to social protection systems, and the share of households dependent on informal or precarious income sources.

ISI Rankings

Income Stability Index by Country

The ISI is scored from 0 (very low stability) to 100 (very high stability). Scores reflect composite assessments across employment security, income variability, and social protection coverage.

All ISI scores are estimates based on available data and carry uncertainty ranges. They reflect structural conditions rather than individual outcomes. Scores are updated periodically as new data becomes available.

#	Country	ISI Score	Employment Security	Income Volatility	Social Protection	Trend
1	Denmark	88.4	Very High	Low	Strong	↑ +0.6
2	Norway	87.1	Very High	Low	Strong	↑ +0.3
3	Germany	82.7	High	Low	Strong	↓ −0.4
4	Japan	79.3	High	Moderate	Strong	↓ −1.1
5	Canada	74.8	High	Moderate	Strong	↓ −0.8
6	United States	66.2	Moderate	Moderate	Limited	↓ −1.7
7	Poland	59.4	Moderate	Elevated	Moderate	↑ +1.2
8	Brazil	44.6	Low	Elevated	Limited	↑ +0.5
9	South Africa	36.1	Very Low	High	Limited	↓ −2.3
10	Nigeria	21.8	Very Low	High	Minimal	↓ −1.8

Index Components

Four Dimensions of Income Stability

The ISI is built from four core dimensions, each capturing a distinct aspect of household income resilience.

Employment Security

Measures the prevalence of stable, formal employment contracts; tenure protection regulations; and rates of involuntary part-time or temporary work. Countries with strong labour market institutions typically score higher on this dimension.

Income Volatility

Captures the variability of income over time within households. High volatility — even if average income is adequate — significantly increases household financial stress and reduces the ability to plan for the future.

Social Protection Coverage

Assesses the breadth and adequacy of unemployment insurance, disability support, and other public safety nets that buffer households against income loss. This dimension is heavily influenced by government policy.

Informal Economy Exposure

Quantifies the share of household income derived from informal, unregulated, or self-employment sources lacking standard protections. Higher informal exposure correlates strongly with lower income predictability.

Trends

Key Patterns in Income Stability

Automation Pressure

Countries with high proportions of workers in automation-exposed occupations show accelerating declines in employment security scores. This trend is most pronounced in manufacturing-dependent economies.

Gig Economy Growth

The expansion of platform-based work arrangements has increased income volatility in countries where such work lacks regulatory protection, even where average gig worker earnings are comparable to traditional employment.

Divergence Since 2021

The post-pandemic period has seen a widening divergence in income stability between countries with robust social protection systems and those without, reversing decades of gradual convergence in resilience indicators.

Data & Sources

Methodology Notes

Primary Data Sources

ILO World Employment and Social Outlook; OECD Employment Outlook; World Bank labour market databases; national labour force surveys; social protection expenditure data from IMF Government Finance Statistics.

Index Construction

Each dimension is scored on a 0–100 scale using normalised underlying indicators. Dimension scores are combined using equal weighting as the baseline specification. ISI scores represent the unweighted average of four dimension scores.

Limitations and Caveats

The ISI does not capture within-country regional variation, which can be substantial. Informal economy data quality varies significantly across countries. Social protection adequacy is measured by coverage and expenditure rates rather than subjective effectiveness.

Country Coverage

The ISI currently covers 112 countries where sufficient data is available across all four dimensions. An additional 28 countries are covered in partial form, with dimension-level data provided where composite scores cannot be reliably calculated.