Countries by Gender Pay Gap (%)
Complete ranking of 38 countries • Percentage of wages of men in the same decile • Updated 2026
About Gender Wage Gap Rankings
South Korea leads all 38 countries in Gender Wage Gap with a value of 28.954, while Luxembourg ranks last at 0.44. This represents a 66-fold difference between the highest and lowest values.
What Gender Wage Gap Measures
Gender Wage Gap is a comparative indicator tracked across countries by the OECD. It provides a quantitative basis for cross-national comparison, enabling researchers and policymakers to benchmark national performance on this dimension against global peers.
Why This Ranking Matters
Examining Gender Wage Gap across all countries reveals patterns that might not be obvious at the national level. Regional clusters, outlier nations, and historical trajectories all become clearer when the full global picture is assembled in a single ranking.
Global Range
Values range from 0.44 (Luxembourg) to 28.954 (South Korea) — a 66-fold difference across 38 countries.
Regional Patterns
European countries dominate this ranking, holding 12 of the top 20 positions. This strong regional concentration suggests shared economic, geographic, or policy factors that drive higher values across the continent.
Values are broadly distributed across countries, with the middle 50% ranging from 7.33 to 14.241. The overall spread from 0.44 to 28.954 reflects significant global variation.
Notable Outliers
The top of the ranking is competitive: South Korea and Estonia are separated by only 17%, indicating that the leading positions could shift with updated data.
Continental Leaders
Highest Ranked
The top five countries for Gender Wage Gap are South Korea (28.954), Estonia (24.652), Israel (20.846), Japan (20.651), and Latvia (18.412). Together, these nations represent the global leaders in this metric.
Lowest Ranked
At the other end of the spectrum, Luxembourg (0.44), Colombia (0.59), Belgium (1.11), Italy (4.14), and Norway (4.69) have the lowest values globally.
Data Source & Methodology
Rankings are based on the latest available data from OECD, covering 38 of 249 countries and territories. Countries without data for this metric are excluded from the ranking. All values represent the most recently reported figures.
Top 10 Countries
Full Rankings
| Percentile | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st |  South Korea | 29.0% | Asia | 100% |
| 2nd |  Estonia | 24.7% | Europe | 97% |
| 3rd |  Israel | 20.8% | Asia | 95% |
| 4th |  Japan | 20.7% | Asia | 92% |
| 5th |  Latvia | 18.4% | Europe | 89% |
| 6th |  United States | 17.3% | North America | 87% |
| 7th |  Canada | 16.5% | North America | 84% |
| 8th |  Finland | 16.1% | Europe | 82% |
| 9th |  Germany | 14.2% | Europe | 79% |
| 10th |  Hungary | 14.2% | Europe | 76% |
| 11th |  Chile | 13.6% | South America | 74% |
| 12th |  Czechia | 13.6% | Europe | 71% |
| 13th |  United Kingdom | 13.1% | Europe | 68% |
| 14th |  Switzerland | 12.1% | Europe | 66% |
| 15th |  Austria | 12.0% | Europe | 63% |
| 16th |  Ireland | 11.8% | Europe | 61% |
| 17th |  Slovakia | 11.8% | Europe | 58% |
| 18th |  Mexico | 11.4% | North America | 55% |
| 19th |  Poland | 10.9% | Europe | 53% |
| 20th |  Australia | 10.7% | Oceania | 50% |
| 21st |  Lithuania | 10.3% | Europe | 47% |
| 22nd |  Portugal | 10.1% | Europe | 45% |
| 23rd |  Turkey | 10.0% | Europe | 42% |
| 24th |  Greece | 9.7% | Europe | 39% |
| 25th |  Slovenia | 9.2% | Europe | 37% |
| 26th |  Iceland | 8.7% | Europe | 34% |
| 27th |  New Zealand | 8.2% | Oceania | 32% |
| 28th |  Sweden | 7.5% | Europe | 29% |
| 29th |  Costa Rica | 7.3% | North America | 26% |
| 30th |  Spain | 6.2% | Europe | 24% |
| 31st |  France | 6.2% | Europe | 21% |
| 32nd |  Netherlands | 6.1% | Europe | 18% |
| 33rd |  Denmark | 5.4% | Europe | 16% |
| 34th |  Norway | 4.7% | Europe | 13% |
| 35th |  Italy | 4.1% | Europe | 11% |
| 36th |  Belgium | 1.1% | Europe | 8% |
| 37th |  Colombia | 0.6% | North America | 5% |
| 38th |  Luxembourg | 0.4% | Europe | 3% |