According to Statistics Sweden (SCB) wage figures from 2007, 40-year-old men have the highest median incomes in the country, earning 306,300 kronor ($36,800) a year.

Women in Sweden, by contrast, tend to reach their peak earnings a bit later in life – at the age of 51 – when their median annual income reaches 243,000 kronor.

Women and men have earn roughly the same amount up until they’re about 20-years-old, but after that compensation for men begins to grow at a faster rate than it does for women.

Between the ages of 32 and 36, when many people start having children, women’s earnings are only about 72 percent as much as men, according to SCB.

Afterward, women begin to make up some of the earnings-deficit, however slowly, reaching a median income equal to 81.5 percent of men’s income by the age of 55.

The statistics are based on total earned income which includes, not only salary earnings, but also, pensions, compensation from social and unemployment insurance, as well as income from other business activities.