New Zealand has been rated among the top countries in the world for working women.

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The Women in Work Index rated New Zealand third in the OECD and it was the only country outside Europe to make the top 10.

In 2017, New Zealand reached its highest place ever in the rankings, for 33 countries, the report said.

The gender pay gap in New Zealand was just 6 percent, among the lowest in the world.

New Zealand also scored well on the female labour participation rate, which was about 76 percent.

The only two countries that scored better than New Zealand were Iceland and Sweden.

The three bottom ranking countries were Greece, Mexico and Korea.

Overall slow but gradual improvements are being made in female economic empowerment, which is being driven by a fall in the gender pay gap and the female unemployment rate, the report said.