The world’s best countries for women in terms of gender equality have been announced. We take a look at the updated results

The Georgetown Institute for Women, Peace and Security, in partnership with the Peace Research Institute of Oslo, has released the 2019 Women, Peace and Security (WPS) Index. The index ranks 167 countries by women’s equality.

The index assesses women’s inclusion in society, sense of security and exposure to discrimination – key indicators of how women are faring in different communities and cultures.

This is the first update of the index since its launch in 2017.

10 best countries for women

Norway Switzerland Finland Denmark Iceland Austria United Kingdom Luxembourg Sweden Netherlands

“Women are critical to achieving sustainable peace” GIWPS

Assessing gender equality

The index uses 11 indicators to assess the world’s best countries for women in terms of gender equality. These indicators fall into three categories: inclusion, security and justice.

Inclusion

Education: average years of education among women aged 25 and over

average years of education among women aged 25 and over Financial inclusion: percentage of women aged 15 and over who have a bank account, joint bank account or use a mobile banking app

percentage of women aged 15 and over who have a bank account, joint bank account or use a mobile banking app Employment: percentage of women aged 25 and older that are employed

percentage of women aged 25 and older that are employed Cellphone use: percentage of women aged 15 and older who have access to a mobile phone

percentage of women aged 15 and older who have access to a mobile phone Parliamentary representation: percentage of seats held by women across all houses of national parliaments

Security

Legal discrimination: aggregate score of laws and regulations that limit women’s ability to participate in society or the economy

aggregate score of laws and regulations that limit women’s ability to participate in society or the economy Son bias: where the ratio of male to female births exceed the natural rate

where the ratio of male to female births exceed the natural rate Discriminatory norms: percentage of men aged 15 years and older who say it’s unacceptable for women to hold paying jobs

Justice

Intimate partner violence: percentage of women physically or sexually assaulted in the last 12 months

percentage of women physically or sexually assaulted in the last 12 months Community safety: percentage of women aged 15 and older who report feeling safe while walking alone at night

percentage of women aged 15 and older who report feeling safe while walking alone at night Organised violence: deaths per 100,000 people caused by large-scale armed conflicts

World’s best countries for women: insights

Of 167 countries, only Iceland (5) performed in the top third of every aspect of women’s lives captured by the WPS Index. This insight proves that the need to advance gender equality is truly a universal agenda.

Norway is the world’s best country for women in 2019. Switzerland, Finland, Denmark and Iceland round out the top five. The 10 best countries for women are all in Europe with Canada (11) the highest ranked non-European country.

Among regions, the Middle East and North Africa generally perform poorly overall. Of the 12 worst countries, only Pakistan is not classified as fragile and conflict affected. Six of those 12 are located in Sub-Saharan Africa.

A total of 59 countries recorded significant progress since the previous edition. Only Yemen – the world’s worst country for women – experienced major deterioration. Yemen is joined by Afghanistan, Syria, Pakistan and South Sudan in the bottom five.

World’s best countries for women: ranking

The ranking below reflects the average of each country’s scores across all 11 metrics. All countries are ranked on a 0-1 scale. The highest possible score is 1 (equality) and the lowest possible score is 0 (inequality).

Rank Country WPS Index value 1 Norway 0.904 2 Switzerland 0.893 3 Finland 0.891 3 Denmark 0.891 5 Iceland 0.888 6 Austria 0.884 7 United Kingdom 0.883 8 Luxembourg 0.880 9 Sweden 0.879 9 Netherlands 0.879 11 Canada 0.876 12 Estonia 0.873 13 Slovenia 0.872 14 New Zealand 0.869 15 Spain 0.860 16 Ireland 0.858 17 Germany 0.856 17 Portugal 0.856 19 United States of America 0.851 20 France 0.847 21 Latvia 0.845 22 Australia 0.844 23 Singapore 0.843 24 Serbia 0.839 25 Poland 0.838 26 Lithuania 0.835 27 Belgium 0.827 28 Italy 0.826 29 Japan 0.823 30 Czech Republic 0.820 31 Cyprus 0.819 32 Croatia 0.818 33 South Korea 0.816 34 Israel 0.815 35 Slovakia 0.813 36 Malta 0.807 37 North Macedonia 0.806 38 Belarus 0.804 39 Bulgaria 0.801 40 Montenegro 0.791 41 Trinidad and Tobago 0.788 42 Jamaica 0.787 43 Kazakhstan 0.786 44 United Arab Emirates 0.781 45 Costa Rica 0.779 46 Georgia 0.777 47 Mongolia 0.776 48 Argentina 0.775 49 Ecuador 0.772 49 Hungary 0.772 51 Greece 0.770 51 Russian Federation 0.770 53 Romania 0.767 54 Bolivia 0.765 55 Chile 0.764 56 Bosnia and Herzegovina 0.760 57 Albania 0.759 58 Fiji 0.757 58 Uruguay 0.757 60 Turkmenistan 0.752 60 Mauritius 0.752 62 Namibia 0.748 63 Suriname 0.744 64 Moldova 0.743 65 Rwanda 0.743 66 Guyana 0.741 66 South Africa 0.741 68 Paraguay 0.738 69 Peru 0.735 70 Hong Kong, SAR China 0.731 70 Panama 0.731 72 Qatar 0.730 73 Malaysia 0.729 74 Dominican Republic 0.726 74 Zimbabwe 0.726 76 El Salvador 0.725 76 China 0.725 78 Lao PDR 0.724 78 Ghana 0.724 80 Timor-Leste 0.721 80 Kyrgyzstan 0.721 82 Armenia 0.720 83 Bahrain 0.719 84 Venezuela 0.717 84 Nepal 0.717 86 Belize 0.716 87 Barbados 0.715 88 Nicaragua 0.712 89 Uzbekistan 0.710 90 Philippines 0.709 91 Honduras 0.708 92 Viet Nam 0.707 92 Thailand 0.707 94 Tanzania 0.704 95 Indonesia 0.703 96 Kuwait 0.701 96 Tajikistan 0.701 98 Brazil 0.700 98 Cabo Verde 0.700 98 Kenya 0.700 101 Solomon Islands 0.695 102 Cambodia 0.694 103 Mexico 0.693 104 Colombia 0.691 105 Ukraine 0.689 106 Guatemala 0.680 107 Sri Lanka 0.679 107 Zambia 0.679 109 Uganda 0.678 110 Mozambique 0.675 111 Maldives 0.671 112 Botswana 0.667 113 Togo 0.665 114 Turkey 0.661 114 Senegal 0.661 116 Benin 0.659 117 Papua New Guinea 0.658 118 Iran 0.657 118 Bhutan 0.657 120 Saudi Arabia 0.655 121 Tunisia 0.651 121 Ethiopia 0.651 123 Azerbaijan 0.650 124 Gabon 0.647 125 Lesotho 0.641 126 Gambia 0.638 127 São Tomé and Príncipe 0.634 128 Comoros 0.632 129 Jordan 0.629 130 Angola 0.626 130 Equatorial Guinea 0.626 130 Malawi 0.626 133 Morocco 0.625 133 India 0.625 133 Guinea 0.625 136 Burkina Faso 0.622 136 Madagascar 0.622 138 Côte d'Ivoire 0.617 139 Burundi 0.616 140 Haiti 0.613 140 Eswatini 0.613 142 Bangladesh 0.612 143 Algeria 0.611 144 Liberia 0.608 145 Djibouti 0.604 145 Nigeria 0.604 147 Lebanon 0.599 148 Cameroon 0.597 149 Congo 0.593 150 Myanmar 0.587 151 Egypt 0.583 151 Mauritania 0.583 153 Sierra Leone 0.578 154 Somalia 0.564 155 Niger 0.554 156 Chad 0.553 157 Sudan 0.547 158 Libya 0.546 159 Mali 0.539 160 Central African Republic 0.513 161 Congo, Dem. Rep. 0.512 162 Iraq 0.490 163 South Sudan 0.479 164 Pakistan 0.460 165 Syria 0.416 166 Afghanistan 0.373 167 Yemen 0.351

The full report can be downloaded here.

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