Gender pay gap (i27)
- 30/11/2023
- objective
- assessment assessment
In 2021, the average hourly wage for women in Belgium was 5% lower than that for men. To achieve the sustainable development goal by 2030, this figure must be reduced to zero percent. This objective will not be reached by continuing the trend since 2007 (data available in November 2023). The gender pay gap is therefore developing unfavourably.
Gender pay gap - Belgium - trend assessment
hourly wages, percentage difference
| 2000 | 2007 | 2010 | 2015 | 2020 | 2021 | 2025 | 2030 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| observations | -- | 10.1 | 10.2 | 6.4 | 5.3 | 5.0 | -- | -- |
| trend and extrapolation (November 2023) | -- | 10.9 | 9.2 | 6.8 | 5.2 | 4.9 | 4.2 | 3.8 |
| objective 2030 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
Statbel; Eurostat (2023), Gender pay gap in unadjusted form, sdg_05_20, https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat (consulted on 27/03/2023) & calculations FPB.
Gender pay gap in average hourly wages - Belgium and international comparison
percentage difference
| 2007 | 2010 | 2015 | 2016 | 2020 | 2021 | 2021//2007 | 2021//2016 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Belgium | 10.1 | 10.2 | 6.4 | 6.0 | 5.3 | 5.0 | -4.9 | -3.6 |
| EU27 | -- | 15.8 | 15.5 | 15.1 | 13.0 | 12.7 | -- | -3.4 |
| //: Average Growth Rates | ||||||||
Statbel; Eurostat (2023), Gender pay gap in unadjusted form, sdg_05_20, https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat (consulted on 27/03/2023).
Gender pay gap in annual wages / without correction for working time - Belgium
percentage difference
| 1998 | 2000 | 2005 | 2010 | 2014 | 2015 | 2019 | 2020 | 2014//1998 | 2020//2014 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| in annual wages | 27.4 | 26.4 | 25.0 | 22.8 | 20.6 | -- | -- | -- | -1.8 | -- |
| without correction for working time | -- | -- | -- | -- | 24.3 | 24.0 | 22.7 | 21.6 | -- | -1.9 |
| //: Average Growth Rates | ||||||||||
Institute for the Equality of Women and Men (2022), L'écart salarial entre les femmes et les hommes en Belgique - Rapport 2022, https://igvm-iefh.belgium.be/fr/publications/lecart_salarial_entre_les_femmes_et_les_hommes_en_belgique_rapport_2019 (consulted on 27/03/2023).
Definition: the gap between women's and men's average hourly wage is expressed as a percentage of men's average hourly wage. The data are based on the European Structure of Earnings Survey. Statistics Belgium organises this EU-harmonised survey in Belgium and makes the results available, in particular to Eurostat. The data used here come from Eurostat, which publishes detailed and comparable results between EU Member States. Since these data are based on surveys, a margin of uncertainty must be taken into account. The confidence intervals for these data are available on request from Statistics Belgium.
Goal: the gap between the average hourly wage of women and men must be reduced to zero percent.
The Sustainable Development Goals or SDGs adopted by the UN in 2015 include target 5.1: "End all forms of discrimination against women and girls everywhere".
Under the European Pillar of Social Rights, Belgium has set the target of 2.9% in wage gap by 2030 (European Commission, 2022; Federal Public Service Social Security, 2023).
International comparison: the hourly wage gap in Belgium (5%) is lower than the average in Europe (EU27: 12.7% in 2021). This gap is increasing, from 5.6 percentage points in 2010 to 7.7 percentage points in 2021. When Member States are divided into three groups, Belgium is part of the group with the best performance in 2021. In that year, Luxembourg ranked first with -0.2% and Estonia last with 20.5%.
UN indicator: the selected indicator does not correspond to any monitoring indicator for the SDGs but is related to target 5.1. Measuring the development in equal pay indicators makes it possible to monitor the reduction in discrimination against women.
Sources
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European Commission (2022), The European Pillar of Social Rights: state of play on the national target for 2030, https://ec.europa.eu/social/main.jsp?langId=en&catId=89&furtherNews=yes&newsId=10299 (consulted on 23/11/2023).
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Federal Public Service Social Security (2023), The evolution of the social situation and social protection in Belgium 2021, https://socialsecurity.belgium.be/sites/default/files/content/docs/en/publications/silc/silc-analysis-social-situation-and-protection-belgium-2021-en.pdf (consulted on 23/11/2023).
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SDGs, Sustainable Development Goals: United Nations (2015), Transforming our world: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Resolution adopted by the General Assembly on 25 September 2015, document A/RES/70/1.
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Indicators: United Nations (2017), Work of the Statistical Commission pertaining to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Resolution adopted by the General Assembly on 6 July 2017, document A/RES/71/313.
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UN Sustainable Development: https://sdgs.un.org/ (consulted on 18/01/2023).
- UN Sustainable Development Goal indicators website: https://unstats.un.org/sdgs/ (consulted on 18/01/2023).
Federal Planning Bureau
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