ILO · Low Pay Rate
Low pay by country
What share of employees are paid far below the typical wage in their country?
Of the 71 countries compared in 2024, New Zealand had the lowest reading, 3.40%, and Tanzania had the highest reading, 41.69%. In the middle country the figure was 17.89%. Among the 23 countries measured in every edition since 2006, the middle one moved from 19.74% to 16.60%.
Share
Low pay · 2024
Context statistic
Lowest of 71New Zealand
3.40%012024 · position · derived
Who leads
The three countries at the lowest end of 71 compared, the three at the other end, and the first on each continent.
1Photo: Karora derivative work: Inkey · Public domain, greyscale
2Photo: Tsy1980 · CC BY-SA 4.0, greyscale
3Photo: Francisco Antunes · CC BY 2.0, greyscale
Highest in 2024
Tanzania41.69%
Jordan40.84%
Burkina Faso40.17%
Where a country sits says how it compares with the others measured, and nothing about why.
Lowest on each continent
- Africa
Mauritius16.76% - Americas
Costa Rica10.41% - Asia
Japan10.47% - Europe
Portugal3.79% - OceaniaNew Zealand3.40%
3 of 21 measured
- Every region
02Every measured country
Low pay on a map
Each country is shaded by its value, in five groups holding the same number of countries. Hover a country for its value, or select it to open its profile. Below the map, each continent’s middle country.
Darker is a lower value — the better end.
- 27.12–41.69%
- 19.91–26.16%
- 16.94–19.87%
- 11.50–16.76%
- 3.40–11.42%
- No reading in 2024 (63 measured in an earlier edition)
- Europe
13.03%
the middle country, of 24 measured · 49 members
Portugal3.79%
Latvia24.86%Lowest and highest reading in Europe.
- Asia
17.32%
the middle country, of 12 measured · 52 members
Japan10.47%Jordan40.84%Lowest and highest reading in Asia.
- Americas
19.10%
the middle country, of 19 measured · 48 members
Costa Rica10.41%
Guatemala34.06%Lowest and highest reading in Americas.
- Africa
33.76%
the middle country, of 13 measured · 55 members
Mauritius16.76%Tanzania41.69%Lowest and highest reading in Africa.
- Oceania
3 of 21 measured — too few for a middle: Australia, Fiji, New Zealand.
New Zealand3.40%
Australia19.03%Lowest and highest reading in Oceania.
- Every region
19 sub-regions, lowest middle country first
- Southern Europe
9.62%
the middle country, of 6 measured · 17 members
Portugal3.79%
Bosnia and Herzegovina23.77%Lowest and highest reading in Southern Europe.
- Western Europe
12.96%
the middle country, of 7 measured · 9 members
France10.52%
Switzerland19.27%Lowest and highest reading in Western Europe.
- Northern Europe
16.60%
the middle country, of 7 measured · 13 members
Norway6.73%Latvia24.86%Lowest and highest reading in Northern Europe.
- South America
18.50%
the middle country, of 10 measured · 12 members
Chile12.34%
Argentina27.60%Lowest and highest reading in South America.
- Central America
19.30%
the middle country, of 6 measured · 8 members
Costa Rica10.41%Guatemala34.06%Lowest and highest reading in Central America.
- Western Africa
33.76%
the middle country, of 5 measured · 16 members
Nigeria29.41%Burkina Faso40.17%Lowest and highest reading in Western Africa.
- Australia and New Zealand
2 of 2 measured — too few for a middle: Australia, New Zealand.
New Zealand3.40%Australia19.03%Lowest and highest reading in Australia and New Zealand.
- Caribbean
1 of 24 measured — too few for a middle: Dominican Republic.
Dominican Republic20.92%Lowest and highest reading in Caribbean.
- Eastern Africa
4 of 19 measured — too few for a middle: Mauritius, Rwanda, Tanzania, Zambia.
Mauritius16.76%Tanzania41.69%Lowest and highest reading in Eastern Africa.
- Eastern Asia
3 of 8 measured — too few for a middle: Japan, Mongolia, South Korea.
Japan10.47%
Mongolia17.34%Lowest and highest reading in Eastern Asia.
- Eastern Europe
4 of 10 measured — too few for a middle: Czechia, Hungary, Moldova, Slovakia.
Moldova10.95%
Hungary22.06%Lowest and highest reading in Eastern Europe.
- Melanesia
1 of 5 measured — too few for a middle: Fiji.
Fiji12.49%Lowest and highest reading in Melanesia.
- Middle Africa
1 of 9 measured — too few for a middle: Angola.
Angola33.26%Lowest and highest reading in Middle Africa.
- Northern Africa
1 of 6 measured — too few for a middle: Egypt.
Egypt20.39%Lowest and highest reading in Northern Africa.
- Northern America
2 of 4 measured — too few for a middle: Canada, United States.
Canada18.51%
United States22.34%Lowest and highest reading in Northern America.
- South-eastern Asia
3 of 11 measured — too few for a middle: Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam.
Thailand11.25%
Philippines17.30%Lowest and highest reading in South-eastern Asia.
- Southern Africa
2 of 5 measured — too few for a middle: Botswana, Lesotho.
Botswana35.46%
Lesotho39.47%Lowest and highest reading in Southern Africa.
- Southern Asia
3 of 9 measured — too few for a middle: Bangladesh, India, Sri Lanka.
Bangladesh19.87%
India26.16%Lowest and highest reading in Southern Asia.
- Western Asia
3 of 19 measured — too few for a middle: Jordan, Palestine, Türkiye.
Türkiye17.18%Jordan40.84%Lowest and highest reading in Western Asia.
03The whole field at once
The spread
71 countries, one dot each, on one scale — further right is a higher value. Half the countries are above 17.89%; a quarter are above 24.86%, and a quarter below 12.52%. The bar in each row marks that continent’s middle country.
04All 134 ever measured
Every country
In order, highest value first — position 1 is the highest value, the way ILO’s own tables read. “=” marks a position shared with another country. International Labour Organization (ILO) ranks nobody on this measure; the position is derived here by ordering the published values. It is relative to each country’s own median, so it measures how far the bottom of the pay scale is stretched, not how poor anyone is: a country where most people earn little can still read low. Sources differ — labour force surveys, household surveys, employer surveys and tax records, a few covering cities only — and the file names each row’s source.
Showing 25 of 134 countries
Values for 2024. The change column compares 2024 with 2023 only; the sparkline covers the recent editions.
052006–2024 · 18 reference years
Over time
Each point is one year of a survey or register. Countries measure on different schedules, so a line can have gaps, and a “Break in series” flag in the data marks a change of method that can move the level by itself.
- the middle country
- the middle half of countries
- the middle of the 23 countries measured every time
- each continent’s middle country
The same, year by year
| Year | Countries | Middle country | Middle half | Measured every time |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | 71 | 17.89% | 12.52% – 24.86% | 16.60% |
| 2023 | 77 | 19.33% | 13.15% – 25.41% | 17.49% |
| 2022 | 75 | 19.30% | 13.70% – 25.44% | 16.94% |
| 2021 | 63 | 19.88% | 15.11% – 25.83% | 17.15% |
| 2020 | 55 | 20.35% | 15.60% – 25.00% | 17.77% |
| 2019 | 68 | 20.32% | 15.88% – 26.57% | 16.96% |
| 2018 | 69 | 19.42% | 14.37% – 23.64% | 17.63% |
| 2017 | 62 | 20.33% | 14.55% – 25.33% | 17.17% |
| 2016 | 60 | 19.91% | 14.74% – 24.36% | 19.00% |
| 2015 | 58 | 20.12% | 16.06% – 23.95% | 19.12% |
| 2014 | 74 | 20.34% | 16.20% – 24.78% | 18.65% |
| 2013 | 60 | 22.10% | 16.23% – 26.42% | 18.62% |
| 2012 | 59 | 21.26% | 17.06% – 26.90% | 19.00% |
| 2011 | 56 | 22.45% | 16.83% – 27.01% | 19.99% |
| 2010 | 67 | 21.28% | 15.49% – 25.17% | 20.15% |
| 2009 | 51 | 22.15% | 18.33% – 26.30% | 20.04% |
| 2008 | 50 | 22.15% | 17.61% – 25.75% | 19.70% |
| 2006 | 54 | 20.70% | 15.78% – 25.69% | 19.74% |
062023 → 2024
Who rose and fell
The biggest changes in value between the two newest editions — reference years recalculated in one report, not two separate publications. Places are shown second, because they also move when other countries do.
Improved most
before → afterWorsened most
before → after- Bosnia and Herzegovina11.06% → 23.77% · 65th → 20th+12.71
- Guatemala21.81% → 34.06% · 27th → 8th+12.26
Zambia27.26% → 35.27% · 17th → 7th+8.00- Chile8.39% → 12.34% · 73rd → 55th+3.95
Brazil14.17% → 17.89% · 56th → 36th+3.72
64 countries were measured in both 2023 and 2024. The field changed from 77 to 71 countries, so a place can move for reasons that have nothing to do with the country itself.
07Across every edition
Low pay in records
The extremes of the statistic. A record reached by more than one country names none of them.
Highest reading on record
50.00%
Employees paid less than two-thirds of the median hourly earnings (%)
Lowest reading on record
1.60%
Employees paid less than two-thirds of the median hourly earnings (%)
Biggest improvement between editions
−16.66
29.49% → 12.82%
Biggest decline between editions
+30.00
20.00% → 50.00%
Most improved since first measured
−14.54
25.49% → 10.95%
At the top most often
6 of 18
editions, alone at the first-listed end
08The measure
About low pay
This is the share of employees whose hourly pay is below two-thirds of the typical — median — hourly pay in their own country. It is a standard international measure of low pay, and shows how many workers sit far below the middle of the wage scale.
What the number is: Employees paid less than two-thirds of the median hourly earnings (%).
09Where it fits
Connections
Its part in the Country Index, the statistics whose values line up most closely with it across countries, and others on the same subject.
In the Country Index
Context, with no vote
This statistic is published in full under Work & Labour and Poverty & Inequality, but does not help decide any Country Index standing.
Work & LabourPoverty & InequalityWhich statistics vote, and why
Moves with
Where low pay is higher, these tend to be higher too.
No statistic lines up this closely.
Moves against
Where low pay is higher, these tend to be lower.
No statistic lines up this closely.
Rank correlation (ρ, from −1 to 1) across countries, on each statistic’s newest edition, out of 0 statistics sharing at least 80 countries with this one. Two statistics that move together do not cause each other.
10Keep reading
Explore further
The subject
The countries at either end
11Questions
Low pay: questions and answers
Which country has the lowest low pay?
New Zealand, at 3.40%, among the 71 countries compared in 2024.
Which country has the highest low pay?
Tanzania, at 41.69%, among the 71 countries compared in 2024.
How many countries does the Low Pay Rate cover?
71 in 2024, and 134 at least once across all editions. The number measured varies from 50 to 77 between editions.
What is the world average low pay?
This site does not calculate a world average, which would depend on how countries are weighted. In the middle country of the 71 compared in 2024, the figure was 17.89%.
Is this International Labour Organization (ILO)’s own ranking?
No. International Labour Organization (ILO) publishes the values but ranks nobody; the position on this page is derived by Nations Inquiry by ordering the published values, and equal values share a position.
How often is the Low Pay Rate published?
This site holds 18 reference years, 2006–2024, all recalculated in International Labour Organization (ILO)’s 2026 report on one method — not 18 separate publications.
Where does the data come from, and can I download it?
From International Labour Organization (ILO), under CC BY 4.0. Read from ILOSTAT directly; close to three rows in ten are figures the ILO takes from the OECD. Country-years the ILO serves as exactly 0, where no figure exists, are left out. Every edition is on this site’s Datasets pages as a full table, and downloads as a CSV file with every value unrounded.
12Method
Sources, method and citation
Source
Low Pay Rate — International Labour Organization (ILO)
Read from ILOSTAT directly; close to three rows in ten are figures the ILO takes from the OECD. Country-years the ILO serves as exactly 0, where no figure exists, are left out.
Newest edition
Report year 2024Data year 2024
Cite the source as: International Labour Organization. ILOSTAT. Geneva: ILO.
Licence: CC BY 4.0, checked 2026-10-03.
How this page reads the numbers
- International Labour Organization (ILO) ranks nobody on this measure. The position is derived by Nations Inquiry by ordering the published values; equal values share a position.
- Which end is better follows the publisher’s own reading of the measure.
- A country is named at an end only when it holds that value alone. Where several share it, the page says how many and names none first.
- Values are stored exactly as published and trimmed only for display. “The middle country” is the median of the countries measured, not a world average.
The file itself, column by column — where it came from, what each column holds, and every edition as a CSV — is on its dataset page.
Photographs
The countries at the top of this statistic, from their profiles: Wikimedia Commons, shown in greyscale, each used under the licence named.
- New Zealand — Karora derivative work: Inkey, Public domain
- Portugal — Tsy1980, CC BY-SA 4.0
- Italy — Francisco Antunes, CC BY 2.0
Cite this page
Nations Inquiry (2026). Low pay by country: Low Pay Rate, data from International Labour Organization (ILO). https://nationsinquiry.com/statistics/low-pay-rate