Women across the European Union continue to face a significant pension shortfall compared with men, according to the latest 2024 figures. On average, women aged 65 and over
received pensions that were 24.5% lower than those paid to men, highlighting long-standing inequalities linked to pay gaps, career breaks, and part-time work.
The widest pension gaps were recorded in Malta (40.3%), followed by the Netherlands (36.3%) and Austria (35.6%). At the other end of the scale, Estonia showed the smallest difference at 5.6%, with relatively narrow gaps also seen in Slovakia (8.4%) and Hungary (9.6%).
Beyond average figures, Eurostat also examines pension disparities using median values. The median pension represents the midpoint of all pensions paid and is less influenced by very high or very low amounts than the average.
Using this measure, the gender pension gap across the EU was 24.9%, closely mirroring the average-based result. However, country rankings shifted noticeably. The largest median gaps were found in Luxembourg (43.3%), Spain (41.1%), and again the Netherlands (39.6%). In contrast, Estonia (-0.3%), Hungary (0.4%), and Denmark (2.7%) showed almost no difference between women’s and men’s median pensions.
Comparing average and median data reveals how pension inequality affects retirees differently within each country. Denmark stood out, with its average pension gap exceeding the median gap by 12.9 percentage points, suggesting that higher male pensions at the top end strongly skew the average. Similar patterns appeared in Belgium (11.0 pp) and Hungary (9.2 pp).
In other countries, the reverse was true. Spain, Luxembourg, and Portugal recorded significantly larger gaps in median pensions than in average pensions, indicating that inequality is more widespread across the pension population rather than driven by a small number of high earners.
Taken together, the 2024 data underline that despite progress in some member states, the gender pension gap remains a structural issue across Europe—one that reflects inequalities accumulated over entire working lives, not just at retirement. Photo by Phil Whitehouse, Wikimedia cmomons