calculateUN Salary Calculator 2026

Estimate your United Nations salary — Professional, General Service & IICA/LICA grades. Covers UNDP, UNICEF, UNOPS, WFP, FAO, UNESCO, UNHCR, IAEA and 20+ agencies.

Salary data is sourced from ICSC and UN OneHR. Figures are estimates and may not reflect the latest revisions. For official figures, please refer to icsc.un.org.
table_chartView all UN salary scales — Professional grades, post-adjustment & GS tables by country →
help_outline

About UN salary scales

business_center
Professional & Senior Officers
P-1 · P-2 · P-3 · P-4 · P-5 · D-1 · D-2

Internationally recruited through open competitive processes. The base salary is set globally in US Dollars the same regardless of duty station.

A post adjustment percentage is added on top to compensate for cost-of-living differences at each location. Higher post adjustment = more expensive city.

groups
General Service
GS-1 · GS-2 · GS-3 · GS-4 · GS-5 · GS-6 · GS-7

Locally recruited at a specific duty station and tied to the local labour market. Salary scales are published in the local currency of each city.

A GS-5 in Geneva and a GS-5 in Nairobi are on entirely different scales the amounts are not directly comparable across duty stations.

info
Not covered by these scales

Individual contractors (ICs), consultants, UN Volunteers (UNVs), Junior Professional Officers (JPOs), and interns are not on staff contracts and are not covered by ICSC salary scales. Their compensation varies by organisation and contract type.

Applies to: UN Secretariat and most UN specialised agencies and funds & programmes that participate in the UN Common System including WHO, ILO, UNESCO, FAO, ICAO, IMO, ITU, WMO, WIPO, UNIDO, IAEA, UPU, UNDP, UNICEF, WFP, UNFPA, UNHCR, UNOPS, UN Women, and UNAIDS. Some agencies (e.g. World Bank Group, IMF) maintain independent compensation frameworks and are not included here.
assignment_ind

IICA & LICA Contractor Rates

business_center
IICA — International IC Agreements
IICA-1 · IICA-2 · IICA-3 · IICA-4 · IICA-5

IICA contracts are used for international individual contractors and are broadly aligned with the Professional scale: IICA-1 ≈ P-2, IICA-2 ≈ P-3, IICA-3 ≈ P-4, IICA-4 ≈ P-5, IICA-5 ≈ D-1.

However, because these are individual contractor agreements, the rate is negotiable within band limits and may be set as a daily or lump-sum fee rather than a monthly salary.

groups
LICA — Local IC Agreements
LICA-1 through LICA-10

LICA contracts are used for local individual contractors and are broadly aligned with the General Service scale: LICA-1 ≈ GS-1 through LICA-9 ≈ GS-9.

Rates are expressed in local currency and vary by duty station — similar to how GS salaries differ across locations. Actual remuneration is negotiated within the applicable band.

info
Key differences from staff contracts
  • No fixed salary — rates are negotiated per engagement and may be paid as daily, weekly, monthly, or lump-sum fees.
  • No UN staff benefits — contractors are generally not entitled to education grants, pension, health insurance, or annual leave entitlements that staff receive.
  • More flexibility — organisations can adjust the engagement level more easily than with staff contracts; individual contractors can often work for multiple clients simultaneously.
  • Organisations using IICA/LICA — primarily UNDP, UNOPS, FAO, WFP, UNHCR and other funds & programmes. Not all UN entities use this framework.

Salary estimates shown for IICA/LICA positions on this site are approximate, based on the equivalent staff-grade band, and should be used as a rough guide only.