Nigeria has been ranked among the 10 worst countries in the world for workers in 2026, according to the latest Global Rights Index released by the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC).
The report placed Nigeria alongside Argentina, Belarus, Ecuador, Egypt, Eswatini, Myanmar, Panama, Tunisia, and Türkiye among the countries where workers face the most severe violations of labour rights.
The ITUC, the world’s largest trade union organisation, publishes the annual index to assess countries’ compliance with collective labour rights and document violations of internationally recognised workers’ rights by governments and employers.
According to the 2026 report, repression of workers’ rights has intensified globally, with labour protections deteriorating even in countries traditionally regarded as stable democracies, including France and the United States.
Presenting the report, ITUC General Secretary Luc Triangle said the erosion of labour rights had become a growing concern across both developed and developing economies.
“The crisis for workers’ rights is no longer confined to the margins – it is now at the heart of democracies,” Triangle said.
The index assessed 151 countries using dozens of indicators derived from conventions of the International Labour Organization (ILO).
Its findings revealed that 72 per cent of surveyed countries denied workers access to justice, while authorities in nearly half of all countries arrested or detained workers during 2025.
The report further showed that the right to strike was violated in 87 per cent of countries, unchanged from the previous two years, while the right to collective bargaining was restricted in 80 per cent of countries.
Argentina and Panama were newly added to the list of the world’s worst countries for workers, joining Belarus, Ecuador, Egypt, Eswatini, Myanmar, Nigeria, Tunisia, and Türkiye.
Beyond the countries categorised as the worst performers, the ITUC reported a broader deterioration in labour rights protections across multiple regions.
The United States was placed on the organisation’s watch list with a rating of four for what it described as “systemic violations of rights”, while France’s rating declined from two to three despite its long-established trade union movement.
According to the report, both Europe and the Americas recorded their poorest average ratings since the index was first introduced in 2014.
The confederation attributed part of the decline to the growing use of digital surveillance technologies to monitor and intimidate workers, as well as reduced consultation with labour organisations before the introduction of new employment laws.
The report also criticised what it described as an increasingly close alignment between powerful corporate interests and authoritarian political movements seeking to weaken labour protections.
“Governments are failing to protect working people, and in many cases are actively undermining them,” Triangle said, warning that the trend amounted to “a coordinated attack on democracy”.
The ITUC has published the Global Rights Index annually since 2014, tracking the state of workers’ rights worldwide and measuring countries’ compliance with international labour standards. The 2026 findings underscore growing concerns among labour advocates about the shrinking space for collective bargaining, workplace representation, and fundamental employment rights across the globe.
