diff --git a/dhp-pace-core/src/main/java/eu/dnetlib/pace/tree/CountryMatch.java b/dhp-pace-core/src/main/java/eu/dnetlib/pace/tree/CountryMatch.java
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..9cf616356
--- /dev/null
+++ b/dhp-pace-core/src/main/java/eu/dnetlib/pace/tree/CountryMatch.java
@@ -0,0 +1,47 @@
+package eu.dnetlib.pace.tree;
+
+import java.util.Map;
+
+import com.wcohen.ss.AbstractStringDistance;
+
+import eu.dnetlib.pace.config.Config;
+import eu.dnetlib.pace.tree.support.AbstractStringComparator;
+import eu.dnetlib.pace.tree.support.ComparatorClass;
+
+@ComparatorClass("countryMatch")
+public class CountryMatch extends AbstractStringComparator {
+
+    public CountryMatch(Map<String, String> params) {
+        super(params, new com.wcohen.ss.JaroWinkler());
+    }
+
+    public CountryMatch(final double weight) {
+        super(weight, new com.wcohen.ss.JaroWinkler());
+    }
+
+    protected CountryMatch(final double weight, final AbstractStringDistance ssalgo) {
+        super(weight, ssalgo);
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public double distance(final String a, final String b, final Config conf) {
+        if (a.isEmpty() || b.isEmpty()) {
+            return -1.0; // return -1 if a field is missing
+        }
+        if (a.equalsIgnoreCase("unknown") || b.equalsIgnoreCase("unknown")) {
+            return -1.0; // return -1 if a country is UNKNOWN
+        }
+
+        return a.equals(b) ? 1.0 : 0;
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public double getWeight() {
+        return super.weight;
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    protected double normalize(final double d) {
+        return d;
+    }
+}
diff --git a/dhp-pace-core/src/test/java/eu/dnetlib/pace/comparators/ComparatorTest.java b/dhp-pace-core/src/test/java/eu/dnetlib/pace/comparators/ComparatorTest.java
index b37e16cf5..8e72f4efc 100644
--- a/dhp-pace-core/src/test/java/eu/dnetlib/pace/comparators/ComparatorTest.java
+++ b/dhp-pace-core/src/test/java/eu/dnetlib/pace/comparators/ComparatorTest.java
@@ -336,4 +336,23 @@ public class ComparatorTest extends AbstractPaceTest {
 		System.out.println("compare = " + compare);
 	}
 
+	@Test
+	public void countryMatch() {
+
+		CountryMatch countryMatch = new CountryMatch(params);
+
+		double result = countryMatch.distance("UNKNOWN", "UNKNOWN", conf);
+		assertEquals(-1.0, result);
+
+		result = countryMatch.distance("CHILE", "UNKNOWN", conf);
+		assertEquals(-1.0, result);
+
+		result = countryMatch.distance("CHILE", "ITALY", conf);
+		assertEquals(0.0, result);
+
+		result = countryMatch.distance("CHILE", "CHILE", conf);
+		assertEquals(1.0, result);
+
+	}
+
 }
diff --git a/dhp-workflows/dhp-dedup-openaire/src/test/resources/eu/dnetlib/dhp/dedup/conf/org.curr.conf.json b/dhp-workflows/dhp-dedup-openaire/src/test/resources/eu/dnetlib/dhp/dedup/conf/org.curr.conf.json
index 726f2b899..917c9426b 100644
--- a/dhp-workflows/dhp-dedup-openaire/src/test/resources/eu/dnetlib/dhp/dedup/conf/org.curr.conf.json
+++ b/dhp-workflows/dhp-dedup-openaire/src/test/resources/eu/dnetlib/dhp/dedup/conf/org.curr.conf.json
@@ -49,7 +49,7 @@
           },
           {
             "field": "country",
-            "comparator": "exactMatch",
+            "comparator": "countryMatch",
             "weight": 1,
             "countIfUndefined": "true",
             "params": {}