The EU gender gap for median equivalised net income was close to 5% during the last decade, according to data released by Eurostat, the statistical service of the European Union, ahead of International Women’s Day.
In 2021, in absolute terms, the median value for males was 18,774 euro, almost 800 euro higher than the one for females (17,972 euro).
The equivalised disposable income is the total income of a household, after tax and other deductions, that is available for spending or saving, divided by the number of household members converted into equalised adults; household members are equalised or made equivalent by weighting each according to their age.
In 2021, considering the differences in the degree of urbanisation, the EU gender gap for net income was narrower for people living in rural areas than for those living in cities 4.0% against 4.8%.
Cyprus is sixth when it comes to the overall gender gap, both when it comes to cities as well as when it comes to rural areas, with both percentages being above 6%. However, the difference between urban and rural areas is relatively small, with urban areas being slightly higher.
The gender gap is defined as the difference between male and female incomes as a percentage of male incomes.
At the national level, gender income gaps were higher in cities than rural areas in 13 Member States, with Lithuania and Malta presenting the highest differences in terms of the degree of urbanisation 8.5 and 7.3 percentage points, respectively.
Among the 14 countries where income gaps were higher in rural areas than cities, Austria (5.3 pp) and Italy (4.2 pp) presented the largest differences between the income gender gaps observed in urban and rural areas. Interestingly, in Austrian cities and Maltese rural contexts, the income gap was in favour of females -1.7% and -4.4%, respectively.
Source Cyprus News Agency