The Nordic Council of Ministers has published data on the scale of the gender pension gaps in Nordic countries, with Iceland having the smallest gap and Sweden having the largest.

Men in Iceland have an average pension income of 5 per cent higher than Icelandic women, according to the data.

Meanwhile, Sweden was found to have a gender pensions gap of 28 per cent.

Finland had a gender pensions gap of 24 per cent, while Norway had a gap of 23 per cent and Denmark had a gap of 8 per cent.

The figures included public pensions, occupational pensions and private pensions.

The Nordic Council of Ministers explained that the primary driver for the gender pensions gap in all Nordic countries was the differences in labour force participation between men and women, unequal distribution of paid and unpaid work, and wage differences.

However, it noted this did not explain the differences between countries, which it attributed to the diverse designs of the Nordic pension systems.

The main distinction is between systems that are mainly earnings-based, such as the systems in Finland, Norway and Sweden, and the systems in Denmark and Iceland where all or a high proportion of the public pension is non-contributory.

The council stated that reforms outside the pension systems were needed to equalise the distribution of paid and unpaid work between men and women, with such reforms likely to take time and their impact delayed.

It added that the Nordic countries would benefit from learning from each other’s successful strategies for narrowing the gender pensions gap.

Despite the gaps, the council pointed out that the Nordic countries had a low gender pensions gap compared to other countries.

Commenting on the report, Forsikring & Pension deputy director, Karina Ransby, said: “We can see in the analysis that the low pension gap in the Nordic region is particularly due to high labour market participation for women and a large spread of labour market pensions.

“There is still a wage gap in all countries, which pulls the other way, just as the fact that women are working part-time to a greater extent also contributes to increasing the gap.

“However, these differences cannot explain why Danish and Icelandic women fare better relative to the other Nordic countries. This is due to the way the five countries' pension systems are designed.”

F&P noted that, in Denmark, the gender pensions gap was in favour of women when looking at just the youngest pension savers.

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