Good practice Imported

Sweden's Mandatory Annual Pay Equity Survey (Lönekartläggning)

Sweden · Stockholm · See the Sweden profile · See the Stockholm profile

Evidence: Observational / pre–post Top 12% 96/100 · Ask Evidence Copilot about this practice

Sweden's Discrimination Act requires employers with 10+ staff to conduct an annual pay equity survey (lönekartläggning) and close identified gaps within three years; Sweden's gender pay gap (11.2%) is below the EU average (12.7%), sustained by 30 years of mandatory pay auditing.

11.2%

National gender pay gap

12.7%

EU average gender pay gap

Details

Maturity: Established
Promoter: Diskrimineringsombudsmannen (Equality Ombudsman — DO)
Period: 1994-present
Region (NUTS): SE11
Keywords: pay equity, gender pay gap, pay transparency, equal pay, discrimination law

Context

Sweden's Discrimination Act requires employers with 10 or more staff to conduct an annual pay-equity survey (lönekartläggning) and close identified gaps within three years.

Results

Sweden's gender pay gap stands at 11.2%, below the EU average of 12.7%, sustained by 30 years of mandatory pay auditing.

Implementation

Implementation detail (cost, timeline, staffing, conditions for success) is not yet available for this practice.

Commonly funded by

National / regional programmes

Indicative funding routes for practices of this type — always check each programme's current calls and eligibility rules.

Do you run this practice? Claim it — verified implementers get a public contact pathway and can propose corrections.

Data sources

Where this practice's information was retrieved from, and when.

C-NAPSE web research — accessed 2026-06-21
Diskrimineringsombudsmannen (Equality Ombudsman — DO) — accessed 2026-06-21
Diskrimineringsombudsmannen (DO) – officiell webbplats — accessed 2026-06-21
EIGE – Gender Equality Index Sweden 2024 — accessed 2026-06-21
Sysarb – Sweden Gender Pay Transparency Obligations — accessed 2026-06-21

Quality score: 96/100

How is this calculated?

Evidence: Observational / pre–post

Top 12% in this catalogue (794 scored practices)

Scores cluster high, so position within the catalogue is often more telling than the number alone.

Evaluation

Evaluated by C-NAPSE

Score profile — the dimensions behind the score — how it's computed

Transferability / replicability2/3

Sweden's mandatory internal pay audit model was cited as a reference during the drafting of EU Pay Transparency Directive 2023/970 and is referenced in OECD and ILO research on mandatory pay equity instruments.

Impact on gender equality1/1

Sweden's unadjusted gender pay gap (11.2%) is below the EU average (12.7%), with the adjusted gap among the lowest in the EU, sustained through 30 years of mandatory pay equity monitoring.

Effectiveness1/1

Annual lönekartläggning is conducted across Swedish employers; the DO enforces compliance and the systematic audit-and-remedy cycle creates ongoing accountability.

Efficiency1/1

Compliance costs are distributed across employers; DO oversight requires modest public expenditure relative to the national-level pay equity gains achieved over three decades.

Evaluated outcomes1/1

DO publishes annual compliance data; the mechanism is assessed in EIGE Gender Equality Index country reports and referenced in OECD country surveys on Sweden.

Sustainability1/1

The lönekartläggning has been continuously in force since 1991 (strengthened 2016); enshrined in permanent statute with no credible political threat to removal.

Achievement / evidence1/1

All Swedish employers with 25+ employees who identify pay gaps are legally required to implement remediation within three years, with DO-monitored enforcement and financial penalties.

Gender-mainstreaming embedding1/1

Pay equity is embedded structurally as a mandatory non-discrimination obligation under employment law — a structural employer responsibility, not a voluntary CSR action.

Curator validation1/1

Documented by DO.se official guidance, Diskrimineringslagen (SFS 2008:567), EIGE Gender Equality Index Sweden, and Eurostat gender pay gap statistics.

Cite this

Evidoria. Sweden's Mandatory Annual Pay Equity Survey (Lönekartläggning). Persistent ID: 4363696b-7457-4f92-a480-86085f9c2e35.

Export as decision brief (PDF)

Similar practices you may find useful

★ 100

United Kingdom Mandatory Gender Pay Gap Reporting (Equality Act 2010 / 2017 Regulations)

United Kingdom

Since April 2017, all UK employers with ≥250 staff must publish annual gender pay gap data. Over 10,700 employers now …

★ 96

Australia's WGEA Employer-Level Gender Pay Gap Disclosure (2024)

Australia

First public disclosure of median gender pay gaps for ~5,000 Australian employers (100+ staff), published 27 Feb 2024. Median employer …

★ 96

Ireland's Gender Pay Gap Information Act 2021

Ireland

Ireland's 2021 Act mandates annual gender pay gap reporting; in the first cycle (December 2022) 500+ companies disclosed figures showing …

★ 89

EU Pay Transparency Directive (2023/970/EU)

Belgium

EU Directive 2023/970 obliges employers across 27 member states to disclose salary ranges, grant employees pay-comparison rights, and report gender …