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Gender Inequality Index vs. Hours worked (PWT)

Holds up after adjusting for income

Across 124 countries, Gender Inequality Index and Hours worked (PWT) rise and fall together at r = +0.46 (on a scale from −1 to +1, where 0 means no link). It holds up almost unchanged when only countries with similar income (GDP per person) are compared (r = +0.34, q = 0.033, allowing for the many pairs tested). Caution: direction is not consistent across regions.

Comparing countries across the middle half of hours worked (PWT), 1,640 to 2,177 hours per year, gender Inequality Index is worse by 0.155 points at the top of that range than the bottom. Comparing only countries with similar national income, the gap is 0.0575 points.

Link before adjusting (r)+0.465p = 5.3e-8 · 124 countries
After adjusting for national income+0.340p = 0.000 · likely range [+0.17, +0.49]
p, allowing for regions0.002standard error 0.063 · 7 regions
Check for luck (q)0.033across 18,622 pairs

How to read these.r runs from −1 (one goes up as the other goes down) to +1 (they rise together), and 0 means no link. Adjusting for national income means comparing countries with the same GDP per person, so differences in wealth can’t explain the link. Income is used in percentage terms, since an extra $1,000 means more to a poor country than to a rich one. p is how likely a link this strong would be if there were really none. Below 0.05 means it is unlikely to be chance. Very small values are written in short form: 1.1e-32 means a decimal point followed by 31 zeros and then 11, so very close to zero. The likely range is where the true figure probably lies, and a range that crosses zero means the link could easily be chance. Countries in the same region tend to resemble each other, so the third figure allows for that, which gives a fairer p. The standard error is the typical size of the error in r. Finally, testing this many pairs means some will look strong by luck alone. A q below 0.05 means this link is unlikely to be one of those.

Gender Inequality Index · index, 0 to 1link with income -0.89 · proxy
Hours worked (PWT) · hours per yearlink with income -0.40 · moderate

“Link with income” is how closely each measure tracks GDP per person across countries, from −1 to +1.

Every country as a dot

Gender Inequality Index · index, 0 to 1 →Hours worked (PWT) · hours per year →0.0030.6771,3352,658Angola: 0.515 index, 0 to 1, 2,115 hours per yearAlbania: 0.107 index, 0 to 1, 2,152 hours per yearUnited Arab Emirates: 0.04 index, 0 to 1, 2,514 hours per yearArgentina: 0.264 index, 0 to 1, 1,612 hours per yearArmenia: 0.18 index, 0 to 1, 1,976 hours per yearAustralia: 0.056 index, 0 to 1, 1,611 hours per yearAustria: 0.033 index, 0 to 1, 1,438 hours per yearAzerbaijan: 0.315 index, 0 to 1, 1,791 hours per yearBelgium: 0.031 index, 0 to 1, 1,593 hours per yearBurkina Faso: 0.555 index, 0 to 1, 2,356 hours per yearBangladesh: 0.487 index, 0 to 1, 2,383 hours per yearBulgaria: 0.208 index, 0 to 1, 1,659 hours per yearBahrain: 0.165 index, 0 to 1, 2,052 hours per yearBosnia and Herzegovina: 0.157 index, 0 to 1, 2,122 hours per yearBelarus: 0.08 index, 0 to 1, 1,875 hours per yearBolivia: 0.419 index, 0 to 1, 1,968 hours per yearBrazil: 0.39 index, 0 to 1, 1,994 hours per yearBotswana: 0.49 index, 0 to 1, 2,258 hours per yearCanada: 0.052 index, 0 to 1, 1,731 hours per yearSwitzerland: 0.01 index, 0 to 1, 1,529 hours per yearChile: 0.102 index, 0 to 1, 1,950 hours per yearChina: 0.132 index, 0 to 1, 2,328 hours per yearCote d'Ivoire: 0.589 index, 0 to 1, 2,103 hours per yearCameroon: 0.558 index, 0 to 1, 2,181 hours per yearCongo, Dem. Rep.: 0.604 index, 0 to 1, 1,841 hours per yearCongo, Rep.: 0.565 index, 0 to 1, 2,534 hours per yearColombia: 0.393 index, 0 to 1, 2,471 hours per yearCosta Rica: 0.217 index, 0 to 1, 2,177 hours per yearCyprus: 0.252 index, 0 to 1, 1,840 hours per yearCzechia: 0.088 index, 0 to 1, 1,774 hours per yearGermany: 0.057 index, 0 to 1, 1,335 hours per yearDenmark: 0.003 index, 0 to 1, 1,380 hours per yearDominican Republic: 0.417 index, 0 to 1, 2,072 hours per yearAlgeria: 0.443 index, 0 to 1, 2,232 hours per yearEcuador: 0.358 index, 0 to 1, 1,594 hours per yearEgypt, Arab Rep.: 0.398 index, 0 to 1, 2,369 hours per yearSpain: 0.043 index, 0 to 1, 1,638 hours per yearEstonia: 0.061 index, 0 to 1, 1,606 hours per yearEthiopia: 0.497 index, 0 to 1, 1,599 hours per yearFinland: 0.021 index, 0 to 1, 1,497 hours per yearFrance: 0.034 index, 0 to 1, 1,487 hours per yearGabon: 0.505 index, 0 to 1, 2,174 hours per yearUnited Kingdom: 0.083 index, 0 to 1, 1,523 hours per yearGeorgia: 0.257 index, 0 to 1, 1,932 hours per yearGhana: 0.514 index, 0 to 1, 1,656 hours per yearGreece: 0.103 index, 0 to 1, 1,893 hours per yearGuatemala: 0.48 index, 0 to 1, 2,151 hours per yearCroatia: 0.074 index, 0 to 1, 1,974 hours per yearHungary: 0.213 index, 0 to 1, 1,668 hours per yearIndonesia: 0.423 index, 0 to 1, 1,958 hours per yearIndia: 0.403 index, 0 to 1, 2,383 hours per yearIreland: 0.054 index, 0 to 1, 1,654 hours per yearIran, Islamic Rep.: 0.482 index, 0 to 1, 2,246 hours per yearIraq: 0.558 index, 0 to 1, 1,583 hours per yearIceland: 0.024 index, 0 to 1, 1,452 hours per yearIsrael: 0.08 index, 0 to 1, 1,890 hours per yearItaly: 0.043 index, 0 to 1, 1,701 hours per yearJamaica: 0.358 index, 0 to 1, 1,963 hours per yearJordan: 0.433 index, 0 to 1, 2,483 hours per yearJapan: 0.059 index, 0 to 1, 1,654 hours per yearKazakhstan: 0.182 index, 0 to 1, 1,975 hours per yearKenya: 0.526 index, 0 to 1, 2,035 hours per yearKyrgyz Republic: 0.34 index, 0 to 1, 1,830 hours per yearCambodia: 0.506 index, 0 to 1, 2,389 hours per yearKorea, Rep.: 0.038 index, 0 to 1, 1,910 hours per yearKuwait: 0.188 index, 0 to 1, 2,318 hours per yearLebanon: 0.36 index, 0 to 1, 2,412 hours per yearSri Lanka: 0.367 index, 0 to 1, 2,053 hours per yearLithuania: 0.07 index, 0 to 1, 1,640 hours per yearLuxembourg: 0.044 index, 0 to 1, 1,452 hours per yearLatvia: 0.117 index, 0 to 1, 1,625 hours per yearMorocco: 0.438 index, 0 to 1, 2,174 hours per yearMoldova: 0.146 index, 0 to 1, 1,989 hours per yearMadagascar: 0.584 index, 0 to 1, 1,799 hours per yearMexico: 0.358 index, 0 to 1, 1,629 hours per yearNorth Macedonia: 0.112 index, 0 to 1, 1,949 hours per yearMali: 0.612 index, 0 to 1, 2,243 hours per yearMalta: 0.111 index, 0 to 1, 1,848 hours per yearMyanmar: 0.478 index, 0 to 1, 2,197 hours per yearMozambique: 0.479 index, 0 to 1, 1,507 hours per yearMauritius: 0.352 index, 0 to 1, 1,990 hours per yearMalawi: 0.581 index, 0 to 1, 1,596 hours per yearMalaysia: 0.172 index, 0 to 1, 2,308 hours per yearNamibia: 0.448 index, 0 to 1, 2,184 hours per yearNiger: 0.591 index, 0 to 1, 2,069 hours per yearNigeria: 0.677 index, 0 to 1, 2,062 hours per yearNetherlands: 0.013 index, 0 to 1, 1,439 hours per yearNorway: 0.004 index, 0 to 1, 1,412 hours per yearNew Zealand: 0.082 index, 0 to 1, 1,708 hours per yearOman: 0.222 index, 0 to 1, 2,266 hours per yearPakistan: 0.536 index, 0 to 1, 2,471 hours per yearPeru: 0.34 index, 0 to 1, 2,143 hours per yearPhilippines: 0.351 index, 0 to 1, 2,096 hours per yearPoland: 0.081 index, 0 to 1, 1,807 hours per yearPortugal: 0.076 index, 0 to 1, 1,735 hours per yearParaguay: 0.412 index, 0 to 1, 2,123 hours per yearQatar: 0.195 index, 0 to 1, 2,435 hours per yearRomania: 0.227 index, 0 to 1, 1,826 hours per yearRussian Federation: 0.169 index, 0 to 1, 2,087 hours per yearRwanda: 0.394 index, 0 to 1, 1,584 hours per yearSaudi Arabia: 0.228 index, 0 to 1, 2,125 hours per yearSudan: 0.588 index, 0 to 1, 2,658 hours per yearSenegal: 0.49 index, 0 to 1, 2,335 hours per yearSingapore: 0.031 index, 0 to 1, 2,283 hours per yearSerbia: 0.117 index, 0 to 1, 1,995 hours per yearSlovak Republic: 0.176 index, 0 to 1, 1,621 hours per yearSlovenia: 0.042 index, 0 to 1, 1,588 hours per yearSweden: 0.007 index, 0 to 1, 1,432 hours per yearSyrian Arab Republic: 0.49 index, 0 to 1, 1,621 hours per yearChad: 0.67 index, 0 to 1, 1,585 hours per yearThailand: 0.288 index, 0 to 1, 2,177 hours per yearTajikistan: 0.258 index, 0 to 1, 2,134 hours per yearTrinidad and Tobago: 0.262 index, 0 to 1, 1,610 hours per yearTunisia: 0.238 index, 0 to 1, 2,288 hours per yearTurkiye: 0.227 index, 0 to 1, 1,747 hours per yearTanzania: 0.504 index, 0 to 1, 2,129 hours per yearUganda: 0.524 index, 0 to 1, 2,128 hours per yearUruguay: 0.218 index, 0 to 1, 1,481 hours per yearUnited States: 0.169 index, 0 to 1, 1,789 hours per yearUzbekistan: 0.291 index, 0 to 1, 2,099 hours per yearViet Nam: 0.299 index, 0 to 1, 2,160 hours per yearSouth Africa: 0.388 index, 0 to 1, 2,181 hours per yearZambia: 0.524 index, 0 to 1, 2,200 hours per yearZimbabwe: 0.519 index, 0 to 1, 2,311 hours per yearARECOGDEUDNKIRQMWINORPAKQATSDNSGPTCD

best-fit line line after adjusting

Four ways to measure the link

MethodrpCountries
Standard (Pearson), not adjusted+0.4655.3e-8124
By rank (Spearman), not adjusted+0.4821.4e-8124
Standard (Pearson), adjusted for national income+0.3400.000124
By rank (Spearman), adjusted for national income+0.2620.003124

The rank version uses only each country’s place in line, from lowest to highest, so a few extreme countries count for less. The adjusted and unadjusted versions use the same 124 countries: those that report both measures and GDP per person. So the gap between them comes from the adjustment, not from a change in which countries are counted. Drop in the size of r after adjusting: +0.125 (a minus sign means it grew).

How solid is it?

Leaving out one country at a time, r ranges from +0.309 (without MOZ) to +0.375 (without IRQ). The bar above shows that range on a scale from −1 to +1, with the solid line at the full result. The single country that moves r most: IRQ (+0.035).

Fragile: this link may not hold up.
  • direction is not consistent across regions

Within each region

Countries are not separate, unrelated cases, and neighbors share a lot. A link that holds inside each region is far more believable than one that shows up only when comparing regions.

nr
East Asia & Pacific13+0.31
Europe & Central Asia45+0.18
Latin America & Caribbean15+0.19
Middle East, North Africa, Afghanistan & Pakistan18-0.06
Sub-Saharan Africa28+0.24

By income third

If the link shows up only in the richest third of countries, it is a feature of rich countries, not a general pattern.

nr
Poorest third42+0.08
Middle third41+0.03
Richest third41+0.56

By largest religious group

Countries grouped by a label they share, such as main religion, rather than by a number. Groups of fewer than twelve countries are not shown. These groups differ in income, region and history all at once. So a gap between them is a place to start asking questions, not an answer.

nr
Christians73+0.52
Muslims35-0.13

By last European coloniser

Countries grouped by a label they share, such as main religion, rather than by a number. Groups of fewer than twelve countries are not shown. These groups differ in income, region and history all at once. So a gap between them is a place to start asking questions, not an answer.

nr
France16-0.07
Never a European colony16+0.10
Spain14+0.16
United Kingdom35+0.07

By official ideology

Countries grouped by a label they share, such as main religion, rather than by a number. Groups of fewer than twelve countries are not shown. These groups differ in income, region and history all at once. So a gap between them is a place to start asking questions, not an answer.

nr
Nationalist19+0.05
No strong official ideology84+0.40

By party system

Countries grouped by a label they share, such as main religion, rather than by a number. Groups of fewer than twelve countries are not shown. These groups differ in income, region and history all at once. So a gap between them is a place to start asking questions, not an answer.

nr
A few parties banned17+0.19
No parties banned93+0.29

Without outliers (countries far outside the middle half of countries on either measure, by more than one and a half times the width of that middle half): r = +0.340 after dropping 0 countries.

Two series, one country

Both measures over the years for one country you pick. The two charts are stacked so they share only the years along the bottom.

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Over time, within countries

Everything above compares countries with each other at one moment. This section compares each country only with itself over 34years. So a link here can’t come from anything about a country that stays the same, such as its history, geography, institutions or culture.

Within countries over time, there is no link that is clearly more than chance (r = +0.022, comparing each country only with itself over the years, and each year only with the same year elsewhere). Whatever the cross-country picture shows, countries whose gender Inequality Index moved did not tend to see their hours worked (PWT) move with it.

Across countries (adjusted)+0.340for comparison
Within countries+0.397each country vs itself
…and vs the same year elsewhere+0.022q = 0.832 · 125 countries
Year-on-year changes+0.005q = 0.901
Read with care.
  • Almost all of this indicator's variation is between countries, not within them, so the within-country estimate rests on a small part of the data.
  • Much of the within-country association disappears once shared global year effects are removed, which points to a common worldwide trend rather than a country-level relationship.

3,193 country-years (one country in one year), 125 countries, 1990–2023, about 26 years each on average. Share of the variation that happens within countries over time: 7% for Gender Inequality Index, 10% for Hours worked (PWT). The margins of error allow for each country appearing many times, and for each year’s value being close to the year before.

Year-to-year changes are a cautious test, not a final answer. Looking only at changes from one year to the next removes each country’s own trends. But it also makes measurement mistakes louder, which pulls the results toward zero. A near-zero result here is weak evidence of no link, not proof.

With one measure years behind the other

0.10−0.1-100+10years Hours worked (PWT) trails Gender Inequality Index →lag -10: r = -0.009 (n = 2,038)lag -9: r = -0.020 (n = 2,158)lag -8: r = -0.018 (n = 2,276)lag -7: r = -0.015 (n = 2,394)lag -6: r = -0.004 (n = 2,512)lag -5: r = 0.003 (n = 2,630)lag -4: r = 0.004 (n = 2,745)lag -3: r = 0.015 (n = 2,860)lag -2: r = 0.024 (n = 2,973)lag -1: r = 0.022 (n = 3,084)lag +0: r = 0.022 (n = 3,193)lag +1: r = 0.021 (n = 3,128)lag +2: r = 0.013 (n = 3,056)lag +3: r = 0.000 (n = 2,985)lag +4: r = -0.002 (n = 2,909)lag +5: r = -0.011 (n = 2,831)lag +6: r = -0.019 (n = 2,737)lag +7: r = -0.028 (n = 2,644)lag +8: r = -0.026 (n = 2,550)lag +9: r = -0.014 (n = 2,456)lag +10: r = -0.001 (n = 2,354)

Same year (lag 0): +0.022. A peak away from zero does not show which comes first. These series change slowly — this year’s value is close to last year’s. That makes the curve smooth and nearly symmetric, whatever produced the data. Even a sharp peak at one lag (a gap of some years) would not prove that one measure changes the other.

The data


index, 0 to 1
hours per year		Years
Nigeria NGA0.6772,0622023
Chad TCD0.671,5852023
Mali MLI0.6122,2432023
Congo, Dem. Rep. COD0.6041,8412023
Niger NER0.5912,0692023
Cote d'Ivoire CIV0.5892,1032023
Sudan SDN0.5882,6582023
Madagascar MDG0.5841,7992023
Malawi MWI0.5811,5962023
Congo, Rep. COG0.5652,5342023
Iraq IRQ0.5581,5832023
Cameroon CMR0.5582,1812023
Burkina Faso BFA0.5552,3562023
Pakistan PAK0.5362,4712023
Kenya KEN0.5262,0352023

United Nations Development Programme, Human Development Report 2025
Feenstra, Robert C., Robert Inklaar and Marcel P. Timmer (2015), "The Next Generation of the Penn World Table", American Economic Review, 105(10), 3150-3182, www.ggdc.net/pwt. Data: Penn World Table version 11.0, Groningen Growth and Development Centre, doi:10.34894/FABVLR.

Sources

Gender Inequality Index

Gender Inequality Index

United Nations Development Programme, Human Development Report Office · via Our World in Data · CC BY 3.0 IGO · updated annual

Built from deaths in childbirth, births to teenagers, seats in parliament, secondary schooling, and the share of women and men in the workforce. Five of those inputs are on the site and flagged. It is kept out of the gender score, for the same reason the HDI is kept out of the economy score.

Hours worked (PWT)

Average annual hours worked per person engaged (Penn World Table)

Groningen Growth and Development Centre, University of Groningen · via DataverseNL · CC BY 4.0 · updated irregular (new versions every few years)

Hours actually worked in a year, averaged over everyone with a job, including the self-employed and part-timers. It measures the same thing as the OECD hours measure, and for countries in both the two mostly agree. This one is kept because it reaches much further: about 130 countries each year from 2010 to 2023, where the OECD series has 38 countries and stops in 2016. Before 2000 it covers mainly rich countries. No "better" direction is set.

How this was computed

Data used: most recent value in 2010-2025; values come from 2023. To adjust for income, each measure is first predicted from GDP per person (in percentage terms, on a log scale) with a straight-line fit. Only what is left over is then compared. This is called a partial correlation. The line is drawn the standard way (ordinary least squares), which picks the line that comes closest to all the countries at once. The error margins allow for countries in the same region resembling each other, using 7 World Bank regions. The q-value corrects for testing all 18,622 pairs at once, using the Benjamini–Hochberg method. Underlying data last updated V-Dem v16; V-Party v2. How the country data works · explore Gender Inequality Index and Hours worked (PWT)

This page shows that two measures go together. It does not show that Gender Inequality Index changes Hours worked (PWT), or the reverse. These figures also describe countries, not individual people. See the ecological fallacy.

More links with Gender Inequality Index or Hours worked (PWT)