Zoology covers a huge scope of jobs and specializing choices with many interesting opportunities throughout the world, and let’s see which are the 7 highest paying countries for zoology jobs.
As a biological branch which deals with the animal part of living beings, zoology is divided into a great number of fields of interest which explore many aspects of animal lives. As a zoologist, you can focus on marine zoology, herpetology (research of reptiles and amphibians), ornithology (research of birds), ethology (animal behavior researches), entomology (research of insects) and many, many more. So depending on these fields of interests, zoology jobs also differ; ranging from academic and research positions, museum curators, laboratory researches and analysis jobs, to wildlife protection/conservation, wildlife management, or jobs in zoological or marine parks.
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The demand for zoologists also plays the role when it comes to the highest paying countries for zoology jobs. According to Bureau of Labor and Statistics, the demand for zoologists in the period between 2012 and 2022 is projected to grow around 5% (statistics primarily for the USA). Zoologist salaries are rated in the top 60% of all career salaries in the US. Among this percentage are also veterinarians, whose annual salary is a bit higher ranked on the list, so you may also be interested in going through our list of 9 Highest-Paying Countries for Veterinarians. Highest salary figures, of course, do not reflect life standard in certain countries, because some of them, for example, Scandinavian countries have very high life standards and therefore salaries listed here do not reflect the equally high life standard quality.
We have compared annual average salaries for zoology jobs from Payscale, Indeed, Careerjet, Science Careers, Bureau of Labor and Statistics and New Scientist Jobs. When possible, we have picked average salaries for the beginning of a career, which is up to first 5 years of work and a BSc degree in any of the zoology branch. Further specialization, and more working experience, brings higher salaries. Our research started with countries with the highest life standards (like Switzerland, Germany, UAE…), because, reasonably, they offer highest salaries especially for highly educated specialists. Going through zoology careers we indeed found good positions with high salaries in these countries, but those were mostly university research and teaching position as well as opportunities for postgraduate funded studies. Apart from those, well-paid jobs, it seems that demand and variability of zoology jobs in these countries are not too big. Some of those countries do not take place here, because the list we made takes into account the variability and abundance of job offers together with average salaries so that the average salary count could be made. And in the end, we compared those values between the countries. Let’s go through our list of the 7 highest paying countries for zoology jobs.
7. South African Republic
Average beginner BSc. salary: $19,050
Apart from museums, colleges, zoological parks, zoologists in South Africa have a lot of opportunities to work in institutions like: National and Provincial nature conservation agencies, South African Bureau of Standards, Council for Scientific and Industrial Research, Medical Research Council, Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism, Agriculture and Health. The easiest zoology job to get is a biology teaching job since there is a lack of educated nature scientist willing to teach biology mostly because of locations of schools in need for teachers. Other, more specialized research-oriented careers are bit harder to find, but not impossible. This is the case especially for entomologists and fisheries biologists who are often being sought.
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6. United Kingdom
Average beginner BSc. salary: $29,300
There are many opportunities to work in the UK as a zoologist, especially doing researches in a certain field. That position usually requires postgraduate degrees, like MA or PhD. There are also many zoological and alike institutions in the UK such as the Zoological Society of London, British Ecological Society, Society of Biology, British Antarctic Survey, Marine Biological Association of the UK and many more.
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5. New Zealand
Average beginner BSc. salary: $48,300
Of all zoology jobs, New Zealand is most in demand for specialists in environmental science and genetics. One of the largest employing institutions for zoologists is NIWA, which hires marine biologists. For other job opportunities, there is Department of Conservation, Crown research institutes, and other smaller government agencies or private companies.
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4. Canada
Average beginner BSc. salary: $48,600
For zoologists, there is a rather big choice of job opportunities in Canada, the number 4 on our list of highest paying countries for zoology jobs, from federal to municipal government departments, research institutions and colleges and universities, environmental organizations, zoological parks and wildlife conservation and many more. Some of the jobs according to your skills and preferences might be found here.
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3. Sweden
Average beginner BSc. salary: $51,600
Sweden, like other Scandinavian countries invests a lot in science and scientific education which puts it on our list of highest paying countries for zoology jobs. Depending on your interest there are many ways for specialization in biological sciences, where Sweden gives great opportunities. The public sector employs mostly in universities, while there is also a wide range of private sector jobs. Also, any job opportunities are available for the members of Naturvetarna (Swedish Association of Scientists).
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2. Australia
Average beginner BSc. salary: $52,520
Although the employment for zoologists in Australia has roughly declined (as much as -41% in last 5 years), it is expected for this trend to reverse significantly. There is a great number of job possibilities in many ecosystems and for many research specializations also. These include environmental consultants, wildlife conservation, a variety of occupation in zoology and wildlife parks and many more.
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1. USA
Average beginner BSc. salary: $60,500
The USA is the number one of the 7 highest paying countries for zoology jobs. According to the Bureau of Labor and Statistics District of Columbia has the highest mean salary ($106,820), while the highest concentration of job opportunities is in Alaska. The state with the highest employment in zoology field is California.
