Data for 2017
Low Pay Rate, 2017
2017, as ILO’s 2026 release gives it · stored as published, never rewritten
Low Pay Rate, 2017 covers 62 countries. Zambia is highest, at 38.98; Portugal is lowest, at 5.42. The middle country reads 20.33. Against 2016, 49 values changed (23 up, 26 down), 13 countries joined, 11 left.
Low Pay Rate · Data for 2017
HighestZambia
38.98
LowestPortugal
5.42Shaded by value in five groups of equal size, darkest at the lowest end. A higher value is the worse result.
01Position · derived
The table
Every country and every column of Low Pay Rate, 2017, as published. ILO ranks nobody on this measure; the position is derived here by ordering the published values. “=” marks a shared position.
Showing 25 of 62 countries · select a heading to sort
| derived | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | ZambiaZMBEastern Africa | 38.98 | Labour Force Survey | — | Break in series |
| 2 |  UgandaUGAEastern Africa | 36.87 | National Labour Force Survey | — | Break in series |
| 3 |  MaliMLIWestern Africa | 36.66 | Continuous Household Employment Survey | — | — |
| 4 |  JordanJORWestern Asia | 34.61 | Employment and Unemployment Survey | — | Break in series |
| 5 |  Côte d’IvoireCIVWestern Africa | 34.54 | Regional Integrated Survey on Employment and the Informal Sector | — | — |
| 6 |  GhanaGHAWestern Africa | 34.43 | Living Standards Survey | — | Break in series |
| 7 |  LiberiaLBRWestern Africa | 33.70 | Labour Force Survey | — | Break in series |
| 8 |  RwandaRWAEastern Africa | 32.49 | Labour Force Survey | — | Break in series |
| 9 |  PalestinePSEWestern Asia | 30.81 | Labour Force Survey | — | — |
| 10 |  HondurasHNDCentral America | 30.16 | Continuous Multi-Purpose Household Survey | — | — |
| 11 |  VenezuelaVENSouth America | 30.09 | Household Sample Survey | — | — |
| 12 |  IndonesiaIDNSouth-eastern Asia | 29.52 | National Labour Force Survey | — | — |
| 13 |  MauritiusMUSEastern Africa | 27.18 | Continuous Multi-Purpose Household Survey | — | — |
| 14 |  United StatesUSANorthern America | 27.09 | Current Population Survey | — | — |
| 15 |  SamoaWSMPolynesia | 26.32 | Labour Force Survey | — | Break in series |
| 16 |  PhilippinesPHLSouth-eastern Asia | 25.35 | Labour Force Survey | — | — |
| 17 |  ArgentinaARGSouth America | 25.28 | Permanent Household Survey, Urban | Geographical coverage: Main cities or metropolitan areas | — |
| 18 |  MongoliaMNGEastern Asia | 24.51 | Sample Survey on average wages and salaries of employees | — | — |
| 19 |  Sri LankaLKASouthern Asia | 24.50 | Labour Force Survey | — | — |
| 20 |  NepalNPLSouthern Asia | 24.39 | Labour Force Survey | — | Break in series |
| 21 |  CanadaCANNorthern America | 23.28 | Labour Force Survey | — | — |
| 22 |  EgyptEGYNorthern Africa | 22.68 | Labour Force Sample Survey | — | — |
| 23 |  IsraelISRWestern Asia | 22.63 | Income Survey | — | — |
| 24 |  South KoreaKOREastern Asia | 22.30 | Survey on labor conditions by employment type | — | — |
| 25 |  MoldovaMDAEastern Europe | 22.00 | Labour Force Survey | — | — |
| 26 |  MyanmarMMRSouth-eastern Asia | 21.79 | Labour Force Survey | — | Break in series |
| 27 |  MexicoMEXCentral America | 21.58 | National Occupation and Employment Survey | — | — |
| 28 |  United KingdomGBRNorthern Europe | 20.73 | Labour Force Survey | — | — |
| 29 |  Dominican RepublicDOMCaribbean | 20.62 | Continuous National Labour Force Survey | — | — |
| 30 |  PeruPERSouth America | 20.50 | National Household Survey | — | — |
| 31 |  SwitzerlandCHEWestern Europe | 20.38 | Labour Force Survey | — | — |
| 32 |  LaosLAOSouth-eastern Asia | 20.28 | Labour Force Survey | — | Break in series |
| 33 |  ParaguayPRYSouth America | 19.97 | Continuous Permanent Household Survey | — | — |
| 34 |  CzechiaCZEEastern Europe | 19.87 | Periodic Census of Employers | — | — |
| 35 |  EcuadorECUSouth America | 19.14 | National Survey on Employment, Unemployment and Underemployment | — | — |
| 36 |  New CaledoniaNCLMelanesia | 19.12 | Labour Force Survey | — | — |
| 37 |  El SalvadorSLVCentral America | 18.44 | Multi-purpose Household Survey | — | — |
| 38 |  SlovakiaSVKEastern Europe | 18.00 | Monthly Structure of Earnings Survey | — | — |
| 39 |  ArmeniaARMWestern Asia | 17.99 | Household Labour Force Survey | — | — |
| 40 |  GermanyDEUWestern Europe | 17.17 | German Socio-Economic Panel | — | — |
| 41 |  BrazilBRASouth America | 16.49 | Continuous National Household Sample Survey | — | — |
| 42 |  VietnamVNMSouth-eastern Asia | 16.26 | Labour Force Survey | — | — |
| 43 |  PanamaPANCentral America | 15.95 | Labour Market Survey | — | — |
| 44 |  HungaryHUNEastern Europe | 15.72 | Survey of Individual Wages and Earnings | — | — |
| 45 |  AustriaAUTWestern Europe | 15.14 | Wage Tax Statistics | — | — |
| 46 |  AustraliaAUSAustralia and New Zealand | 15.06 | Labour Force Survey | — | — |
| 47 |  GreeceGRCSouthern Europe | 14.38 | Labour Force Survey | — | — |
| 48 |  ThailandTHASouth-eastern Asia | 14.10 | Labour Force Survey | — | — |
| 49 |  BangladeshBGDSouthern Asia | 14.01 | Labour Force Survey | — | — |
| 50 |  ColombiaCOLSouth America | 13.72 | Integrated Household Survey | — | — |
| 51 |  Costa RicaCRICentral America | 13.21 | Continuous Employment Survey | — | — |
| 52 |  TürkiyeTURWestern Asia | 12.44 | Household Labour Force Survey | — | — |
| 53 |  JapanJPNEastern Asia | 12.32 | Wage Structure Survey | — | — |
| 54 |  New ZealandNZLAustralia and New Zealand | 12.09 | Household Economic Survey | — | — |
| 55 |  FranceFRAWestern Europe | 10.86 | Employment Survey | — | — |
| 56 |  ItalyITASouthern Europe | 10.82 | Labour Force Survey | — | — |
| 57 |  ChileCHLSouth America | 10.57 | National Survey on Socio-Economic Conditions | — | — |
| 58 |  DenmarkDNKNorthern Europe | 8.52 | Insurance Records | — | — |
| 59 |  NorwayNORNorthern Europe | 7.72 | Labour-related Establishment Survey | — | — |
| 60 |  FinlandFINNorthern Europe | 7.55 | Income Distribution Survey | — | — |
| 61 |  BelgiumBELWestern Europe | 5.50 | Structure of Earnings Survey | — | — |
| 62 | PortugalPRTSouthern Europe | 5.42 | Employment Survey | — | — |
02In 2017
At either end
The 5 countries at each end of the headline.
032016 → 2017
Since 2016
What changed between 2016 and this one: who joined or left, and how far the headline moved.
- +13 / −11countries joined / left
- 49values changed, of 49 in both
- 23 · 26rose · fell
- 0unchanged
Rose most
Fell most
- Costa Rica22.27 → 13.21−9.07
- Chile18.08 → 10.57−7.51
- Hungary19.55 → 15.72−3.83
- Vietnam19.45 → 16.26−3.19
- Egypt25.11 → 22.68−2.42
+ Argentina+ Bangladesh+ Côte d’Ivoire+ Ghana+ Jordan+ Laos+ Myanmar+ New Caledonia+ Nepal+ Rwanda+ Uganda+ Samoa+ Zambia
− Bosnia and Herzegovina
− DR Congo
− Fiji
− Kenya
− Cambodia
− Maldives
− Namibia
− Poland
− Eswatini
− Timor-Leste
− Trinidad and TobagoBoth years come from the same release, so a difference here is a change in the data, not a revision of it. Every country’s full history is charted on the statistic page.
04Caveats
Read before you use
What this edition’s numbers are and are not, worked out from the file itself.
One year of the 2026 release
Every year in this series comes from ILO’s 2026 release, recalculated on one method. It can differ from what was first published for 2017.
The position is ours
ILO publishes values only. The order here sorts the published values, and the page says so wherever it prints one.
Which end is better
A higher value is the worse result.
113 empty cells
An empty cell means the publisher gave no figure. It is never a zero.
Some readings carry a flag
ILO marks readings it considers estimates or provisional. The flags in this file: Break in series.
05The files
Download and cite
The table as a file, digit for digit, what this site changed, and a citation for this edition.
- .csv
For a spreadsheet or code
62 rows · 4.5 KB · UTF-8, opens in Excel
Opens with 11 lines of source notes; the table starts on row 13.
Download low-pay-rate-2017-nations-inquiry.csv - ↗
The publisher’s original
ILO’s own file, on its own site.
https://rplumber.ilo.org/data/indicator/?id=EAR_XTLP_SEX_RT&format=.csv&channel=ilostat
What this site changed: Reshaped into one row per country: regional and income-group totals are left out, only the columns listed are kept, each row gets its ISO 3166 code, and some country names are brought to one spelling. No value is recalculated, rescaled or rounded.
Licence: CC BY 4.0. Share, adapt and use commercially. Credit the publisher and say if you changed anything.
Cite this edition
International Labour Organization (ILO) (2017). Low Pay Rate, 2017 [data set], describing 2017. As held by Nations Inquiry, https://nationsinquiry.com/datasets/low-pay-rate/2017
0618 held
Other years
‹ The year before
Low Pay Rate, 201660 countries
The year after ›
Low Pay Rate, 201869 countries
All of them
Low Pay Rate: every year18 held, with the data dictionary, coverage and licence.
How it has moved, charted by country
07Questions
Low Pay Rate, 2017: questions and answers
Which country has the highest low pay in Low Pay Rate, 2017?
Zambia, at 38.98, of the 62 countries in the file.
What year does Low Pay Rate, 2017 describe?
2017.
How many countries does Low Pay Rate, 2017 cover?
62.
Where can I download Low Pay Rate, 2017?
On this page, as a CSV file holding every value exactly as published, or from the publisher’s own site, linked below.
Is Low Pay Rate, 2017 the newest?
No. The newest held here is Low Pay Rate, 2024.