Iceland has been named the country with the narrowest gender gap in the world, for the fifth consecutive year, by the World Economic Forum (WEF). The annual gender gap index places Iceland in first place with Finland following in second.

Norway, Sweden and the Philippines take third, fourth and fifth place respectively in the index which looks at four key areas – health (life expectancy, etc), access to education, economic participation (salaries, job type and seniority) and political engagement.

According to the report, Iceland's overall score was strengthened due to improvements in the 'economic participation and opportunity' and the 'political empowerment' subindexes whereas Finland held onto second place despite slight losses in its overall score due to a decrease in its 'economic participation and opportunity' score.

The UK ranks 18 out of 136 countries - the same position as last year. The WEF stress that this "highlights some important points that the UK must address if it is to truly tackle its gender gap as there are worrisome points across all four pillars."

Overall the UK is given a score of 0.744, putting it above Austria, Canada and Luxembourg but below Cuba, Lesotho and South Africa. Of the four pillars used for assessment, the UK is ranked 29th for political empowerment, 31st for educational attainment, 35th for economic participation and opportunity and 92nd for health and survival. Click on the image above to explore the interactive heat map created by the WEF.

Regional performance on the overall index score and by subindexes is also covered in the report. In the overall index score, North America takes first position having closed 74% of its gender gap according to the WEF. The Middle East and North Africa region take last place having closed almost 59% of its gender gap. If you look at regional performance across the four indicators then North America comes top for economic participation and opportunity, educational attainment and health and survival. Asia and the Pacific, however, lead the way in the political empowerment subindex according to the latest release.

The table below shows how each country is ranked in the 2013 gender gap index overall and by subindex. The downloadable spreadsheet has data over time and regional breakdowns. For methodology of the index visit the WEF website.

Gender gap index 2013 rankings Click heading to sort Country Overall rank Economic Participation and Opportunity rank Educational Attainment rank Health and Survival rank Political Empowerment rank Iceland 1 22 1 97 1 Finland 2 19 1 1 2 Norway 3 1 1 93 3 Sweden 4 14 38 69 4 Philippines 5 16 1 1 10 Ireland 6 29 34 65 6 New Zealand 7 15 1 93 12 Denmark 8 25 1 64 11 Switzerland 9 23 66 72 16 Nicaragua 10 91 28 55 5 Belgium 11 34 67 47 14 Latvia 12 17 1 1 26 Netherlands 13 26 44 93 22 Germany 14 46 86 49 15 Cuba 15 65 30 63 13 Lesotho 16 18 1 1 35 South Africa 17 78 54 102 8 United Kingdom 18 35 31 92 29 Austria 19 69 1 47 19 Canada 20 9 1 49 42 Luxembourg 21 7 1 85 51 Burundi 22 3 114 99 31 United States 23 6 1 33 60 Australia 24 13 1 69 43 Ecuador 25 90 52 55 17 Mozambique 26 11 124 112 18 Bolivia 27 57 99 84 23 Lithuania 28 21 60 34 47 Barbados 29 10 1 1 63 Spain 30 76 40 75 27 Costa Rica 31 98 1 62 21 Kazakhstan 32 20 69 1 65 Mongolia 33 2 49 1 108 Argentina 34 101 42 1 24 Colombia 35 39 45 34 55 Trinidad and Tobago 36 47 51 130 38 Panama 37 45 43 61 48 Slovenia 38 43 26 75 54 Malawi 39 4 112 101 56 Bahamas 40 5 1 1 124 Cape Verde 41 96 97 1 25 Serbia 42 59 55 111 39 Bulgaria 43 49 64 34 58 Namibia 44 53 1 105 52 France 45 67 1 1 45 Uganda 46 37 123 1 28 Jamaica 47 36 80 1 74 Guyana 48 102 1 45 33 Croatia 49 61 47 34 50 Venezuela 50 89 33 1 37 Portugal 51 66 56 83 46 Moldova 52 32 74 34 87 Israel 53 56 82 93 57 Poland 54 73 37 34 49 Sri Lanka 55 109 48 1 30 Madagascar 56 51 93 74 61 Macedonia 57 71 75 128 40 Singapore 58 12 105 85 90 Estonia 59 41 59 34 88 Lao PDR* 60 8 113 106 73 Russian Federation 61 42 36 34 94 Brazil 62 74 1 1 68 Kyrgyz Republic 63 60 77 75 71 Ukraine 64 30 27 75 119 Thailand 65 50 78 1 89 Tanzania 66 70 118 112 32 Senegal 67 81 125 71 20 Mexico 68 111 70 1 36 China 69 62 81 133 59 Romania 70 55 50 34 91 Italy 71 97 65 72 44 Dominican Republic 72 63 84 89 84 Vietnam 73 52 95 132 80 Slovak Republic 74 86 1 1 77 Bangladesh 75 121 115 124 7 Ghana 76 24 111 104 95 Uruguay 77 58 41 1 116 Kenya 78 44 107 102 85 Cyprus 79 85 83 91 76 Peru 80 88 88 109 69 Greece 81 79 46 65 92 Honduras 82 94 35 52 78 Czech Republic 83 95 1 46 79 Malta 84 108 58 65 53 Botswana 85 48 1 127 127 Georgia 86 64 89 126 97 Hungary 87 68 62 34 120 Brunei Darussalam 88 33 76 109 135 Paraguay 89 83 61 55 104 Tajikistan 90 38 110 123 100 Chile 91 112 32 1 67 Angola* 92 92 127 1 34 Bhutan* 93 27 116 82 122 Armenia 94 82 29 131 115 Indonesia 95 103 101 107 75 El Salvador 96 114 79 1 70 Maldives 97 99 1 112 101 Mauritius 98 105 72 1 93 Azerbaijan 99 72 85 136 114 Cameroon 100 40 122 112 99 India 101 124 120 135 9 Malaysia 102 100 73 75 121 Burkina Faso 103 28 128 99 98 Cambodia 104 77 117 1 96 Japan 105 104 91 34 118 Nigeria 106 54 126 122 83 Belize 107 80 103 1 133 Albania 108 87 92 134 130 United Arab Emirates 109 122 1 112 81 Suriname 110 119 39 1 110 Korea, Rep. 111 118 100 75 86 Bahrain 112 117 71 112 113 Zambia 113 84 121 98 109 Guatemala 114 113 102 1 123 Qatar 115 106 53 129 135 Kuwait 116 115 57 112 126 Fiji 117 120 63 1 125 Ethiopia 118 93 131 68 66 Jordan 119 128 68 90 117 Turkey 120 127 104 59 103 Nepal 121 116 130 112 41 Oman 122 123 94 59 132 Lebanon 123 126 87 1 133 Algeria 124 133 106 108 62 Egypt 125 125 108 51 128 Benin 126 31 136 112 72 Saudi Arabia 127 134 90 52 105 Mali 128 107 132 54 106 Morocco 129 129 109 88 111 Iran, Islamic Rep. 130 130 98 87 129 Côte d'Ivoire 131 110 133 1 107 Mauritania 132 131 119 1 82 Syria 133 136 96 58 112 Chad 134 75 135 112 102 Pakistan 135 135 129 124 64 Yemen 136 132 134 81 131

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