The Netherlands has climbed one place in a World Economic Forum index which looks at the difference in pay between men and women.

This year, the Netherlands is in 13th place in the ranking, level pegging with Nicaragua and ahead of Denmark. The Netherlands has hovered around this position for several years.

The index says the gender gap in the Netherlands has been reduced by four percentage points over the past 10 years and that women now earn what men earned in 2006.

Iceland, Norway, Finland and Sweden are the best performing countries. Jemen is bottom of the list.

The national statistics office CBS said earlier this month just under half (47%) of Dutch women earn enough to support themselves, a figure largely unchanged since 2008.

A survey by the Monsterboard jobs platform in June found the wage gap between men and women in the Netherlands is shrinking because men are earning less.

The difference in average wages has now gone down to 5.8%, the organisation said. Women’s average wage of €13.86 an hour remained unchanged last year while men’s pay went down from €15.19 to €14.72.