Gender pay gap
Unadjusted gap between average gross hourly earnings of men and women, as % of men's earnings, 2025
Women in the western states (including Berlin) earned 17% less per hour than men in 2025; in the five eastern states the gap was 5%. The western gap is 3.4 times the eastern one. Every eastern state has a smaller gap than every western state: the largest in the East is 6%, the smallest in the West 12% (Schleswig-Holstein). Once sector, occupation, job level and working hours are taken into account, however, the picture flips: Destatis puts the adjusted gap at 9% in the East and 6% in the West.
Inner-German border 1949–1990 ·16 states · 2025
Former West
17%
excl. Berlin
Former East
5%
excl. Berlin
Berlin
10%
Germany
16%
The East stands at 29% of the West's level (2025).
By state
- Baden-Württemberg20%
- Hessen19%
- Bayern19%
- Hamburg17%
- Saarland16%
- Niedersachsen16%
- Nordrhein-Westfalen15%
- Bremen14%
- Rheinland-Pfalz14%
- Schleswig-Holstein12%
- Berlin10%
- Sachsen6%
- Thüringen5%
- Brandenburg4%
- Mecklenburg-Vorpommern4%
- Sachsen-Anhalt4%
2025
Then and now
Drag across the map to compare 2006 with 2025. Both maps share one colour key.
Former West
24%
excl. Berlin
Former East
6%
excl. Berlin
Berlin
14%
Germany
23%
The East stands at 25% of the West's level (2006).
Notes & caveats
- All figures are as published by Destatis, in whole percentages: (men's average gross hourly earnings − women's) ÷ men's. Reference month April; firms with 10 or more employees; all sectors except agriculture and public administration (Eurostat definition). The East/West ratio in the summary is our calculation from these rounded values.
- Destatis' East/West split counts Berlin as part of the West ("Früheres Bundesgebiet einschl. Berlin"); the East is the five eastern states. The western figure (17%) therefore includes Berlin, whose own gap is 10%. A West figure without Berlin cannot be derived from the published data.
- Adjusted gap (the part not explained by sector, occupation, job level, working hours and other characteristics): 6% in Germany, 6% in the West and 9% in the East in 2025 (2006: 8%, 8% and 12%).
- Since 2022 the figures come from the monthly Verdiensterhebung; 2006 comes from the Verdienststrukturerhebung 2006 (four-yearly survey), so the methods differ between the two years.
Show the table
| State | Side | 2025 | 2006 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Saarland | west | 16% | 24% |
| Berlin | berlin | 10% | 14% |
| Brandenburg | east | 4% | 6% |
| Mecklenburg-Vorpommern | east | 4% | 2% |
| Sachsen | east | 6% | 9% |
| Sachsen-Anhalt | east | 4% | 3% |
| Thüringen | east | 5% | 6% |
| Schleswig-Holstein | west | 12% | 18% |
| Hamburg | west | 17% | 20% |
| Niedersachsen | west | 16% | 25% |
| Bremen | west | 14% | 25% |
| Nordrhein-Westfalen | west | 15% | 24% |
| Hessen | west | 19% | 23% |
| Rheinland-Pfalz | west | 14% | 21% |
| Baden-Württemberg | west | 20% | 28% |
| Bayern | west | 19% | 23% |