Women in the European Union still earn about 13% less than men, and the pay gap has decreased too slowly, the EU said.

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This means that women across the 27 EU countries earn an average of 0.87 euros for every 1 euro that men earn. One euro is a little over $1.

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Progress on reducing the gap is "stagnant this year and has been slow over the years," the EU said.

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Equal pay for men and women was one of the first principles of the EU when it was founded in 1957.

The EU has marked an Equal Pay Day each year since 2015.

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Each year, Equal Pay Day is the date on which the average man has already made as much money as the average woman will make over the whole year.

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In 2015, when the pay gap was 16.3%, Equal Pay Day was November 2. On that date, the average man had already made as much as the average woman would make by December 31.

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By 2022 and 2023, Equal Pay Day was a little later — November 15.

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"November 15 is the day that women across Europe symbolically stopped getting paid for their work, compared to their male colleagues," said Maria Walsh, an EU politician from Ireland.

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The EU countries with the biggest pay gap between men and women are Estonia, Austria, Germany and Hungary.

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The pay gap is 20.5% in Estonia and 17.6% in Germany.

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In Ireland, the pay gap is lower than most EU countries, at 9.9%.

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Walsh said some improvements were made in Ireland and across the EU, but the pay gap has decreased only slightly over the past nine years.

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"We have a lot of work to do to ensure equal pay," she said.