Malta has highest gender pension gap in European Union

Malta has the highest gender pension gap among people aged over 65 in the European Union, a table published by the European Parliament shows.

A post by the European Parliament, on its Facebook page, reads: “Lower income and smaller pensions – women deserve better. Women in the EU earn on average 12% less than men and the gap follows them into retirement, the average pension gap is 24.5%. They are more likely to take parental or maternity leave, work part-time and hold lower-paid jobs in undervalued sectors, which limits their earnings and contributes to the gender pay and pension gaps.”

“Parliament calls for an EU action plan to improve working conditions and fair pay in women-dominated sectors and strengthen women’s work-life balance.”

In the table it published, the pension gap is 40.3%, the highest in the EU. The Netherlands was the country with the second highest gap, with 36.3%.

The country with the lowest gap is Estonia, where the gap stood at 5.6 %, followed by Slovakia, with a gap of 8.4%.