The country’s gender gap in labor force participation rates was the seventh largest among 38 member states of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).

According to the OECD’s gender equality-related report, the country’s gap between labor force participation rates of men and women stood at 18-point-one percent as of 2021, seven-point-two percentage points larger than the OECD average of ten-point-nine percent.

Lithuania posted the smallest gender gap at two percent. The United States marked ten-point-five percent, while Japan and Germany marked 13-point-three percent and eight-point-one percent, respectively.

Italy, Chile, Costa Rica, Columbia, Mexico and Türkiye recorded larger gender gaps than South Korea.

The labor force participation rate is a measure of the proportion of a country’s working-age population that engages actively in the labor market.

The OECD said that many of its member states are facing a decline in their economically productive population due to an ageing society and low birthrates, adding that the increasing employment of women would be crucial for maintaining a growth rate and a standard of living over the next decades.