Social contributions compared: SE, NO, DE, NL and UK

How employee social contributions work in Sweden, Norway, Germany, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom, with the 2026 rates and ceilings.

Denne siden er skrevet på engelsk.

Oppdatert 17 October 2026

Why contributions matter for take-home pay

Income tax gets most attention, but social contributions can be a large share of what leaves your pay. In Germany they take roughly a fifth of salary for most employees. In the Netherlands they are hidden in the first tax bracket, and in Sweden the pension fee is returned as a credit. The five systems look different on a payslip while doing the same job: paying for pensions, health care and unemployment benefits.

Germany: four separate contributions

The employee share in 2026 is 9.3 % for pension insurance and 1.3 % for unemployment insurance, both on salary up to 101,400 EUR a year. Health insurance is 7.3 % plus half of the fund's additional contribution, which averages 2.9 %, so about 8.75 %, up to 69,750 EUR. Long-term care insurance is 1.8 % plus a surcharge of 0.6 % if you have no children, which is reduced by 0.25 % for each child from the second, again up to 69,750 EUR. Because the ceilings stop contributions, the effective rate falls for very high earners.

Norway and Sweden: one contribution, different forms

Norway charges a national insurance contribution of 7.6 % of salary. It starts at 99,650 NOK a year and is phased in so that it never exceeds a quarter of the income above that limit. It is separate from tax in the payslip, but it funds the same system.

Sweden charges a general pension fee of 7 % on income between 25,042 SEK and 673,038 SEK, which is then returned as a tax credit of the same size. For the employee it has no net cost, and Netpay shows both lines so that the effect is visible. The real cost of the Swedish pension system is carried by employer contributions, which do not appear in net pay.

The Netherlands: contributions inside box 1

The first Dutch bracket has a rate of 35.75 % on income up to 38,883 EUR. It is the sum of income tax and the national insurance premiums for the state pension (AOW), survivors (Anw) and long-term care (Wlz). The second bracket, 37.56 % up to 78,426 EUR, contains only income tax, so the premiums stop in effect at the first bracket limit. The health insurance premium is paid directly to an insurer and is not part of payroll.

The United Kingdom: National Insurance

Employees pay Class 1 National Insurance at 8 % between the primary threshold of 12,570 GBP and the upper earnings limit of 50,270 GBP, and 2 % above. A salary of 30,000 GBP pays 1,394.40 GBP in a year. National Insurance applies to employment income only and is charged on each pay period, with no allowance for other income.

What to look at when you compare countries

Compare the total of tax and contributions, not each line, because countries move costs between them. Also compare what the contributions buy: pensions, unemployment cover and health care differ between countries. Netpay shows total deductions as a percentage of gross pay for exactly this reason, and the share bar in the breakdown splits the total into tax, social contributions and fees.

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