Best countries for women – ranked

2nd November 2019

by Suzanne Lai

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

1. Norway
2. Switzerland
3. Finland
4. Denmark
5. Iceland
6. Austria
7. UK
8. Luxembourg
9. Sweden
10. 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
• Financial inclusion: 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
• Cellphone use: 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
• Son bias: 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
• Community safety: 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	UK	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	USA	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 Rep.	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 & Tobago	0.788
42	Jamaica	0.787
43	Kazakhstan	0.786
44	UAE	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	Russia	0.770
53	Romania	0.767
54	Bolivia	0.765
55	Chile	0.764
56	Bosnia & Herz.	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	0.731
70	Panama	0.731
72	Qatar	0.730
73	Malaysia	0.729
74	Dominican Rep.	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 & 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 Rep.	0.513
161	DR Congo	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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