Best countries for gender equality – ranked

A global ranking of the best countries for gender equality, measured by the relative gaps between women and men in health, education, economy and politics.

First published in 2006 by the World Economic Forum, the Global Gender Gap Index measures gender equality in 153 countries by tracking and ranking a range of gender-based gaps across society.

Now in its 14th year, the report is compiled by drawing on data from the World Bank, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), the OECD and UNESCO.

The report calculates gender-based gaps using four key dimensions: Economic Participation and Opportunity; Educational Attainment; Health and Survival; Political Empowerment.

The index also tracks progress towards closing gender-based gaps over time and makes regional comparisons.

Assessing the gender gap enables the index to compare rich and poor countries on an equal footing. It is the disparity between genders that is being measured rather than the baseline quality of living.

Key findings

• Iceland remains the world’s most gender-equal country for the 11th time in a row.
• The global top 10 features seven European countries, one country from the Americas, one from East Asia and the Pacific and one country from Sub-Saharan Africa.
• Western Europe is the best performing region for the 14th consecutive year.
• The Middle East and North Africa (MENA) is the worst-performing region, despite having narrowed its gap by 0.5 points since last year.
• The USA (53) and Canada (19) have both stalled, particularly in terms of economic participation and opportunity. At the current rate, it will take 151 years to close the gap.
• Spain, Ethiopia, Mexico and Georgia improved the most since last year, all increasing their positions by more than 20 places.
• Recent global improvements can largely be ascribed to a significant increase in the number of women in politics.
• However, in the past 50 years, 85 states have had no female head of state.
• Globally, only 55% of women (aged 15-64) are engaged in the labour market as opposed to 78% of men.
• In 72 countries women are barred from opening bank accounts or obtaining credit.
• There is no country where men spend the same amount of time on unpaid work as women. In countries where the ratio is lowest, it is still 2:1.

Closing the gap

According to the current trajectory, global gender parity will take 99.5 years. This is an improvement on the previous year when the gap was calculated to take 108 years.

However, it still means parity between men and women across all dimensions – health, education, work and politics – will take more than a lifetime to achieve.

Some regions are making better progress than others in regards to gender parity.

1. Western Europe will achieve gender parity in 54 years.
2. Latin America and the Caribbean in 59 years.
3. South Asia in 71.5 years.
4. Sub-Saharan Africa in 95 years.
5. Eastern Europe and Central Asia in 107 years.
6. Middle East and North Africa in 140 years.
7. North America in 151 years.
8. East Asia and the Pacific in 163 years.

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

Top 10s (WEForum)

Best countries for gender equality – complete ranking

The table below ranks the best countries for gender equality by the score they achieved in the 2020 Global Gender Gap Report by the World Economic Forum.

The highest possible score is 1 (equality) and the lowest possible score is 0 (inequality). Some countries have been omitted due to insufficient data.

Rank	Country	Score	2018 ±
1	Iceland	0.88	–
2	Norway	0.84	–
3	Finland	0.83	1
4	Sweden	0.82	–1
5	Nicaragua	0.80	–
6	New Zealand	0.80	1
7	Ireland	0.80	2
8	Spain	0.80	21
9	Rwanda	0.79	–3
10	Germany	0.79	4
11	Latvia	0.79	6
12	Namibia	0.78	–2
13	Costa Rica	0.78	9
14	Denmark	0.78	–1
15	France	0.78	–3
16	Philippines	0.78	–8
17	South Africa	0.78	2
18	Switzerland	0.78	2
19	Canada	0.77	–3
20	Albania	0.77	14
21	UK	0.77	–6
22	Colombia	0.76	18
23	Moldova	0.76	12
24	Trinidad & Tobago*	0.76	n/a
25	Mexico	0.75	25
26	Estonia	0.75	7
27	Belgium	0.75	5
28	Barbados	0.75	–7
29	Belarus	0.75	–1
30	Argentina	0.75	6
31	Cuba	0.75	–8
32	Burundi	0.75	–1
33	Lithuania	0.75	–9
34	Austria	0.74	19
35	Portugal	0.74	2
36	Slovenia	0.74	–25
37	Uruguay	0.74	19
38	Netherlands	0.74	–11
39	Serbia	0.74	–1
40	Poland	0.74	2
41	Jamaica	0.74	3
42	Bolivia	0.73	–17
43	Laos	0.73	–17
44	Australia	0.73	–5
45	Zambia*	0.73	n/a
46	Panama	0.73	–1
47	Zimbabwe	0.73	–
48	Ecuador	0.73	–7
49	Bulgaria	0.73	–31
50	Bangladesh	0.73	–2

51	Luxembourg	0.73	10
52	Cape Verde	0.73	20
53	USA	0.72	–2
54	Singapore	0.72	13
55	Romania	0.72	8
56	Mozambique	0.72	–7
57	Chile	0.72	–3
58	Honduras	0.72	10
59	Ukraine	0.72	6
60	Croatia	0.72	–1
61	Bahamas	0.72	–31
62	Madagascar	0.72	22
63	Slovakia	0.72	20
64	Israel	0.72	–18
65	Uganda	0.72	–22
66	Peru	0.71	–14
67	Venezuela	0.71	–3
68	Tanzania	0.71	3
69	Bosnia Herz.	0.71	–7
70	North Macedonia	0.71	–4
71	Montenegro	0.71	–2
72	Kazakhstan	0.71	–12
73	Botswana	0.71	–18
74	Georgia	0.71	25
75	Thailand	0.71	–2
76	Italy	0.71	–6
77	Suriname	0.71	2
78	Czech Rep.	0.71	4
79	Mongolia	0.71	–21
80	El Salvador	0.71	7
81	Russia	0.71	–6
82	Ethiopia	0.71	35
83	Eswatini	0.70	–3
84	Greece	0.70	–6
85	Indonesia	0.70	–
86	Dominican Rep.	0.70	–12
87	Vietnam	0.70	–10
88	Lesotho	0.70	–7
89	Cambodia	0.69	4
90	Malta	0.69	1
91	Cyprus	0.69	1
92	Brazil	0.69	3
93	Kyrgyzstan	0.69	–7
94	Azerbaijan	0.69	3
95	Brunei Darussalam	0.69	–5
96	Cameroon	0.69	–39
97	Liberia	0.69	–1
98	Armenia	0.68	–
99	Senegal	0.68	–5
100	Paraguay	0.68	4

101	Nepal	0.68	4
102	Sri Lanka	0.68	–2
103	Fiji	0.68	3
104	Malaysia	0.68	–3
105	Hungary	0.68	–3
106	China	0.68	–3
107	Ghana	0.67	–18
108	South Korea	0.67	7
109	Kenya	0.67	–33
110	Belize	0.67	1
111	Sierra Leone	0.67	3
112	India	0.67	–4
113	Guatemala	0.67	–6
114	Myanmar	0.67	–26
115	Mauritius	0.67	–6
116	Malawi	0.66	–4
117	Timor-Leste	0.66	7
118	Angola	0.66	7
119	Benin	0.66	–1
120	UAE	0.66	1
121	Japan	0.65	–11
122	Kuwait	0.65	4
123	Maldives	0.65	–10
124	Tunisia	0.64	–5
125	Guinea	0.64	–9
126	Vanuatu*	0.64	n/a
127	Papua New Guinea*	0.64	n/a
128	Nigeria	0.64	5
129	Burkina Faso	0.64	–
130	Turkey	0.64	–
131	Bhutan	0.64	–9
132	Algeria	0.63	–4
133	Bahrain	0.63	–1
134	Egypt	0.63	1
135	Qatar	0.63	–8
136	Gambia	0.63	–16
137	Tajikistan	0.63	–14
138	Jordan	0.62	–
139	Mali	0.62	4
140	Togo	0.62	–6
141	Mauritania	0.61	–5
142	Côte d’Ivoire (Ivory Coast)	0.61	–11
143	Morocco	0.61	–6
144	Oman	0.60	–5
145	Lebanon	0.60	–5
146	Saudi Arabia	0.60	–5
147	Chad	0.60	–2
148	Iran	0.58	–6
149	DR Congo	0.58	–5
150	Syria	0.57	–4
151	Pakistan	0.56	–3
152	Iraq	0.53	–5
153	Yemen	0.49	–4

Source: Global Gender Gap Report 2020, World Economic Forum