Danish women have, on average, 27 per cent less pension wealth than men just before they reach state pension age, according to Insurance and Pension Denmark (I&P Denmark).

Analysis by I&P Denmark revealed that even though the gender pension gap has narrowed in recent years - especially among younger people - women's pension wealth will continue to be smaller than men's in the future.

Across all age groups, the analysis found that women have lower pension assets than men, and the difference is greatest among the elderly.

Although men and women pay the same proportion of their income into retirement, women end up with significantly less wealth at retirement age.

“The difference in pension assets is not about the pension system, but about the labour market. When women's income is lower due to job type or part-time work, pension contributions are lower, even with the same contribution percentage,” I&P Denmark head of pensions, Lotte Katrine Ravn, said.

I&P Denmark highlighted that, on average, women earn lower hourly wages than men and are more often employed part-time. Indeed, one in four women in Denmark is employed part-time, compared to one in seven men.

Many women opt to work part-time when they have children, which has a major impact on income and also on pension contributions, the association explained. Furthermore, women are also overrepresented in industries with lower wage levels, especially in the public sector.

Despite this, the difference between women's and men's pension assets has decreased by an average of 3 percentage points over the past 10 years. This is especially true for younger age groups, where the difference has been reduced by 7 percentage points among 30-39-year-olds.

I&P Denmark explained that this development, projected into the future, reduced the difference further. The narrowing of the gap among younger people is primarily due to the fact that more women receive a longer education, leading to higher salaries and higher pension contribution percentages.

However, the association warned that new calculations show that the difference will not disappear in the next 25 years, which has been the expectation in previous projections.

“It is positive that the differences in women's and men's pension assets have narrowed over the past 10 years. However, whereas previous projections showed that women would catch up with men in the coming decades, this is no longer the case with the most recent projections.

“However, the differences may be smaller if, for example, families pay extra into women's pensions if, for example, they choose to work part-time for a period of time,” Katrine Ravn said.

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