Change is coming when it comes to sexual equality, but there is further proof today that it is taking a long time. For seven years running, a welter of information has been pulled together to assess the "global gender gap" in 132 countries.

We can quibble about the analysis and definitions but, essentially, the report prepared by the World Economic Forum (WEF) assesses four key areas – health (life expectancy, etc), access to education, economic participation (salaries, job type and seniority) and political engagement. This year, the WEF has come up with a new interactive data map that you can play with here.

There is a lot to study in this report (which I haven't done in depth yet), but the gist is that, while there has been much progress in closing the gap in healthcare and education (with notable exceptions), "gaps in senior positions, wages and leadership levels still persist." This applies even in countries in the developed world, where as many women as men go into higher education and lots of them work. The UK, where just 3% of the top companies are led by women and where women account for only 22% of people in parliament, has slipped from 15th to 18th over the past two years.

Sixty per cent of countries had managed to narrow the economic gender gap in the past year, but only 20 per cent had made any change on a political level. Just six countries had shown an improvement of 10 percentage points or more since the report launched seven years ago, while almost 75 countries have improved by less than five points.

Saadia Zahidi, senior director at the WEF and the person responsible for the report, said the issue was an economic one – the need to make the most of one half of the world's human capital. "If that capital is not invested in, educated or healthy, countries are going to lose out in terms of their long-term potential," she said, adding, "the progress is very slow … even though we are seeing a trend in a positive direction."

The top four countries – Iceland, Finland, Norway and Sweden – all offer mandatory paternity leave, relatively generous parental leave benefits, tax incentives and post-maternity re-entry programmes to try to help women return to work after childbirth.

The focus on the political and economic gap comes a day after EU Justice Commissioner Viviane Reding was forced for legal reasons to delay a move to set a 40% quota for women on the boards of listed companies. Lack of support was also blamed. And it didn't help that another man was about to be appointed to the European Central Bank – an appointment that would leave the ECB executive board all male until 2018.

The WEF analysis, which uses data from international organisations such as the International Labour Organisation, the United Nations Development Programme and the World Health Organisation, also results in a table that puts Lesotho and the Philippines in the top 20, above the UK and US.

One last point to note: no country from the Middle East or north Africa – areas of huge current conflict – are in the top 100. Proof that more gender equality often equates to more political stability? What do you think?

Data summary

Global Gender Gap Index detialed rankings, 2012 Click heading to sort table. Download this data Country Overall Rank 2012 2011 rank Economic Participation and Opportunity Rank Educational Attainment Rank Health and Survivial Rank Politcial Empowerment Rank Iceland 1 1 27 1 98 1 Finland 2 3 14 1 1 2 Norway 3 2 4 1 94 3 Sweden 4 4 10 39 73 4 Ireland 5 5 29 30 69 6 New Zealand 6 6 15 1 94 9 Denmark 7 7 16 1 67 11 Philippines 8 8 17 1 1 14 Nicaragua 9 27 88 23 58 5 Switzerland 10 10 28 71 68 13 Netherlands 11 15 24 1 94 16 Belgium 12 13 36 67 50 10 Germany 13 11 31 83 52 15 Lesotho 14 9 6 1 1 33 Latvia 15 19 20 1 1 26 South Africa 16 14 69 87 103 7 Luxembourg 17 30 7 43 85 39 United Kingdom 18 16 33 27 93 29 Cuba 19 20 64 24 66 19 Austria 20 34 70 49 50 18 Canada 21 18 12 70 52 38 United States 22 17 8 1 33 55 Mozambique 23 26 9 123 111 12 Burundi 24 24 3 117 100 30 Australia 25 23 22 1 73 42 Spain 26 12 75 38 34 27 Barbados 27 33 11 1 1 79 Uganda 28 29 37 112 1 28 Costa Rica 29 25 99 1 65 21 Bolivia 30 62 79 98 84 20 Kazakhstan 31 49 19 66 1 61 Argentina 32 28 92 41 1 24 Ecuador 33 45 97 54 58 23 Lithuania 34 37 25 45 34 60 Cape Verde* 35 ▬ 84 97 1 25 Malawi 36 65 5 111 102 53 Bahamas 37 22 2 1 1 122 Slovenia 38 41 41 33 78 50 Sri Lanka 39 31 105 48 1 22 Panama 40 40 48 62 64 44 Namibia 41 32 43 31 106 49 Guyana 42 38 94 28 47 32 Trinidad and Tobago 43 21 47 53 128 36 Mongolia 44 36 1 50 1 127 Moldova 45 39 21 42 34 85 Tanzania 46 59 60 105 111 31 Portugal 47 35 55 57 83 43 Venezuela 48 63 83 29 1 35 Croatia 49 50 61 46 34 47 Serbia* 50 ▬ 67 61 91 40 Jamaica 51 47 38 79 1 77 Bulgaria 52 51 50 64 34 67 Poland 53 42 72 34 34 46 Kyrgyz Republic 54 44 46 74 78 68 Singapore 55 57 13 104 85 89 Israel 56 55 53 80 94 54 France 57 48 62 1 1 63 Madagascar 58 71 51 93 77 56 Russian Federation 59 43 39 35 34 90 Estonia 60 52 40 58 34 87 Macedonia, FYR 61 53 65 75 126 45 Brazil 62 82 73 1 1 72 Colombia 63 80 86 51 34 51 Ukraine 64 64 34 22 34 119 Thailand 65 60 49 78 1 93 Vietnam 66 79 44 95 130 78 Romania 67 68 54 52 34 97 Timor-Leste* 68 ▬ 90 109 47 34 China 69 61 58 85 132 58 Slovak Republic 70 72 82 1 1 80 Ghana 71 70 26 113 105 100 Kenya 72 99 35 106 103 103 Czech Republic 73 75 95 1 49 76 Honduras 74 54 96 21 55 75 Brunei Darussalam 75 76 30 56 109 133 Uruguay 76 58 66 40 1 116 Botswana 77 66 45 1 125 124 Peru 78 73 91 88 109 65 Cyprus 79 93 87 90 92 74 Italy 80 74 101 65 76 71 Hungary 81 85 68 68 34 117 Greece 82 56 80 55 69 99 Paraguay 83 67 71 44 58 115 Mexico 84 89 113 69 1 48 Georgia 85 86 57 89 129 109 Bangladesh 86 69 121 118 123 8 Chile 87 46 110 32 1 64 Malta 88 83 109 59 69 59 Dominican Republic 89 81 93 94 89 84 Senegal 90 92 59 122 75 41 Albania 91 78 63 76 133 105 Armenia 92 84 76 25 130 114 Gambia, The 93 77 18 127 1 70 El Salvador 94 94 112 77 1 66 Maldives 95 101 100 26 111 96 Tajikistan 96 96 42 114 122 95 Indonesia 97 90 104 92 107 73 Mauritius 98 95 108 73 1 88 Azerbaijan 99 91 74 84 135 113 Malaysia 100 97 98 72 78 120 Japan 101 98 102 81 34 110 Belize 102 100 77 100 1 131 Cambodia 103 102 78 116 1 91 Burkina Faso 104 115 32 125 100 94 India 105 113 123 121 134 17 Suriname 106 104 115 37 1 107 United Arab Emirates 107 103 122 1 111 81 Korea, Rep. 108 107 116 99 78 86 Kuwait 109 105 106 60 111 130 Nigeria 110 120 81 124 121 83 Bahrain 111 110 118 47 111 112 Cameroon 112 119 52 126 111 92 Fiji 113 109 117 63 1 123 Zambia 114 106 89 120 99 106 Qatar 115 111 107 36 127 133 Guatemala 116 112 114 102 1 121 Benin 117 128 23 134 111 69 Ethiopia 118 116 85 130 72 62 Mauritania 119 114 119 119 1 82 Algeria 120 121 131 103 108 57 Jordan 121 117 126 82 90 118 Lebanon 122 118 125 86 1 131 Nepal 123 126 120 128 111 37 Turkey 124 122 129 108 62 98 Oman 125 127 127 96 62 129 Egypt 126 123 124 110 54 125 Iran, Islamic Rep. 127 125 130 101 87 126 Mali 128 132 103 132 57 101 Morocco 129 129 128 115 88 108 Côte d'Ivoire 130 130 111 131 1 104 Saudi Arabia 131 131 133 91 55 133 Syria 132 124 135 107 61 111 Chad 133 134 56 135 111 102 Pakistan 134 133 134 129 123 52 Yemen 135 135 132 133 82 128

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