The smallest gender pay gap in the UK varies by category, but recent data shows it's smallest in Northern Ireland (around 0.8%), specific sectors like Public Administration (negative 1.4%), among younger employees (under 40), and in part-time roles where women sometimes earn slightly more, contrasting with the wider gap in full-time and higher-paid roles, with overall UK figures around 7-9% median gap recently.
For all workers (full- and part-time), the UK's median gender pay gap in 2024 is 13.1% in favour of men (down 1.1% from 14.2% in 2023). So, women in the UK only earn 87 pence, on average, for every pound men earn.
Ordinary pay Gender Pay Gap analysis
The Defra group mean pay gap is lower than the 2025 Civil Service gender pay gap which is 6.9%. The median pay gap has decreased by 1.6pp from 8.7% in 2024 to 7.1% in 2025. The Defra median gender pay gap is slightly higher than that of the overall Civil Service of 6.4%.
Luxembourg's gender pay gap per hour stands at -0.9%, which means that for every €100 women earn per hour, men earn €99.10. One reason is Luxembourg's service sector, particularly financial services. These jobs favour employees with higher education levels who are more likely in Luxembourg to be women.
The gender pay gap is larger among high-paid employees than among lower-paid employees, and women employees' share in high-paying occupations decreases with age. The gender pay gap among full-time employees was higher in every English region than it was in Wales, Scotland, or Northern Ireland, in April 2025.
Legal and sales occupations have the widest gender pay gap
After analyzing pay disparities across more than 30 occupations, Bankrate found the pay gap is largest for legal occupations — with women earning nearly 55 percent as much as their male counterparts as of 2023.
Is the gender pay gap illegal in the UK? Paying someone less than a colleague doing the same or work of equal value based on their gender is illegal in the UK under the Equality Act 2010.
Finland, along with neighbours Sweden and Norway, has one of the strongest global reputations for gender equality. The Scandinavian country's government uses a systematic and target-oriented approach to tackle sexism, and has its own Gender Inequality Policy.
And here are the rankings for the top 10 countries:
Iceland. Iceland is the single most gender-equal country in the world... Iceland is arguably the most feminist and gender-equal country in the world.
According to the Office for National Statistics (ONS), median hourly pay for full-time employees was 6.9% less for women than for men in April 2025, while median hourly pay for part-time employees was 2.9% higher for women than for men (figures exclude overtime pay).
Taking big data directly from official UK sources, the table below compares the gender pay gap by job.
Press Releases. 22 January 2025: A comprehensive new study has found that it will take another 40 years to close the Gender Pay Gap in the UK at the current rate of improvement.
In Western Australia, which has the largest gender pay gap, men are concentrated in Mining, which is generally a highly-paid industry, while women are concentrated in Health Care and Social Assistance, which has a mid-range average total remuneration.
Despite half a century of equalities legislation, the UK labour market remains highly segregated, with men dominating some types of job and women others; many women are concentrated in the 'five Cs' of caring, cleaning, catering, clerical and cashiering, all of which tend to be lower paid.
The median pay gap is low, showing high levels of pay equality. While the mean pay gap is wider, it is still less than 10%. Having analysed ONS data from 2020 and 2023, our ethnicity pay gap is lower than the national median among Asian or Asian British and Black, Black African, Caribbean or Black British people.
The latest figures, from 2022, show that the average pay gap for full-time workers stands at 20.8%, placing Israel fourth among OECD countries with the largest disparities—behind South Korea, Japan, and Estonia.
The Country with the Lowest Gender Equality Index – Afghanistan. Afghanistan is the country with the worst gender equality index in the year 2023 with the score of 0.41. Afghanistan is a country where men and women aren't treated equally.
The world's best places for work-life quality
The 10 countries with the worst GII scores are, in descending order, Guinea, Mali, Haiti, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Afghanistan, Chad, Somalia, Nigeria, and Yemen, which is ranked last among countries with available data.
RWANDA: The Only Country in the World Where Dominated by Women. Women have made significant advances in politics over the past few decades, with females having served as the head of state in many prominent countries, including Britain, India, Germany, Pakistan, and others.
Explain how they're doing equal work to you
For example, because the job is the same as yours, has been graded as equivalent in a recent job evaluation or both jobs require similar skills. Ask questions about contractual pay and benefits, not additional payments such as a discretionary bonus pay.
The legal requirement that employees performing the same or equivalent work should receive the same pay, unless there is a valid, non-discriminatory reason for any difference. A UK law that protects individuals from discrimination in the workplace and wider society, including provisions for equal pay.
These exceptions are when unequal payment is made pursuant to (i) a seniority system; (ii) a merit system; (iii) a system which measures earnings by quantity or quality of production; or (iv) a differential based on any other factor other than sex.