The report compares the countries based on 36 criteria in six aspects of social justice: poverty prevention, equitable education, labour market access, social cohesion and non-discrimination, health, as well as intergenerational justice.

The report finds that social justice has improved in the majority of EU member states due primarily to an upward trend on the labour market.

Compared with last year, labour market data have improved in 26 out of 28 EU countries. The average unemployment rate in 2016 dropped to 8.7% from 11% at the height of the social crisis in 2013.

The report finds that Slovenia is in a solid 5th place, but also notes the need for reform of the labour market and for older people in the health system, which is something that the European Commission has been warning for a long time in its annual budget and reform reports.

Slovenia ranks below the leading four Denmark, Sweden, Finland and the Czech Republic, and is followed by the Netherlands, Germany and Austria. Greece trails the list.

Slovenia ranks among the top ten in five of the six social justice dimensions covered and on no dimension among the bottom half.

In terms of labour market access, the country ranks 9th, two spots higher than last year.

Slovenia is also deemed successful in poverty prevention; with 18.4% of the population at risk of poverty or social exclusion it ranks 9th and has shown improvement after stagnation in past years.

With regard to children and youth, the country places second on this subindex with a score of 7.31, behind Finland and Denmark.

However, the problem of poverty and social exclusion is much bigger among the older population. It is also expressed in labour market data: only 38.5% of the Slovenian population aged 55-64 is employed today. The only countries with lower rates are Croatia and Greece.

Its education system with good opportunities for participation places Slovenia 4th in the EU. Especially positive is the low number of those who exit the system early and a low share of people without continuing education.

Slovenia ranks lowest in the dimension of health, ranking 14th with a score of 6.44. Even though few people report the need to get health treatment, life expectancy at 58.1 years is clearly below EU average.