According to the Gender Inequality Index (GII), Denmark and Norway were the most gender equal countries in the world in 2023, reporting an index of ***** and *****, respectively. The Gender Inequality Index measures inequality between women and men in three dimensions: reproductive health, empowerment, and the labor market. A low GII value indicates low inequality between women and men and vice versa. Yemen was considered the least gender equal country that same year. Gender inequality in the workplace The most prominent source of gender inequality is the workplace, often captured by the gender pay gap. In 2023, women still earned one percent less than their male counterparts with the same qualification and the same job. Women are less represented in senior roles and top management positions, with only one third percent of companies worldwide having a woman in leadership positions. The same situation can be observed in government roles - only 17 out of 195 countries worldwide have ever had a woman in the highest position of executive power. Future outlook Numbers on how long it will take to close gender gaps highly differ between regions. In Europe, it is estimated that it will take around 67 years to achieve equality between the genders. In East Asia and the Pacific, on the other hand, it is projected to take 189 years. New data shows that the COVID-19 pandemic has increased female poverty worldwide and widened the gender poverty gap even further. Heightened female poverty will also negatively impact the Gender Inequality Index (GII).

The global gender gap index benchmarks national gender gaps on economic, political, education, and health-based criteria. In 2025, the country offering the most gender equal conditions was Iceland, with a score of 0.93. Overall, the Nordic countries make up 3 of the 5 most gender equal countries worldwide. The Nordic countries are known for their high levels of gender equality, including high female employment rates and evenly divided parental leave. Sudan is the second-least gender equal country Pakistan is found on the other end of the scale, ranked as the least gender equal country in the world. Conditions for civilians in the North African country have worsened significantly after a civil war broke out in April 2023. Especially girls and women are suffering and have become victims of sexual violence. Moreover, nearly 9 million people are estimated to be at acute risk of famine. The Middle East and North Africa have the largest gender gap Looking at the different world regions, the Middle East and North Africa have the largest gender gap as of 2023, just ahead of South Asia. Moreover, it is estimated that it will take another 152 years before the gender gap in the Middle East and North Africa is closed. On the other hand, Europe has the lowest gender gap in the world.

According to the Gender Inequality Index (GII), Denmark was the most gender equal country in the world in 2022. The Gender Inequality Index measures inequality between women and men in three dimensions: reproductive health, empowerment, and the labor market. A low GII value indicates low inequality between women and men and vice versa. Yemen was considered the least gender equal country that same year. Gender inequality in the workplace The most prominent source of gender inequality is the workplace, often captured by the gender pay gap. In 2023, women still earned one percent less than their male counterparts with the same qualification and the same job. Women are less represented in senior roles and top management positions, with only one third percent of companies worldwide having a woman in leadership positions. The same situation can be observed in government roles - only 17 out of 195 countries worldwide have ever had a woman in the highest position of executive power. Future outlook Numbers on how long it will take to close gender gaps highly differ between regions. In Europe, it is estimated that it will take around 67 years to achieve equality between the genders. In East Asia and the Pacific, on the other hand, it is projected to take 189 years. New data shows that the COVID-19 pandemic has increased female poverty worldwide and widened the gender poverty gap even further. Heightened female poverty will also negatively impact the Gender Inequality Index (GII).

The Gender Equality Index benchmarks national gender gaps on economic, political, education, and health-based criteria among the countries of the European Union. A score of 0 indicates that there is no gender equality, while 100 points indicate that gender equality is achieved. In the 2024 index, the leading country was Sweden with 82 points. Denmark and the Netherlands were the second and third most gender equal countries. Considering the other side of the spectrum, Romania only scored 56.1 points, way below the EU average of 70.2. Other countries at the bottom of the ranking were Hungary and Romania. Equality in health Not only does the index measure gender equality on national levels, it also breaks down gender equality into different dimensions. With an index score of 88 points, health was the most equal dimension among men and women within the EU, followed by money and work. To the contrary, power was considered the most unequal dimension, along with knowledge and time management. The Global Gender Gap Index From a global perspective, Iceland is considered the most gender equal country. Dominating this list are the Nordic countries: Norway, Finland, New Zealand, and Sweden rank in the top 5. As of 2024, it was estimated that Europe had closed 75 percent of its gender gap, making it the most successful region in the world, before North and Latin America. Nevertheless, experts predict that gender parity will not be achieved in the region for another 67 years.

According to the Gender Inequality Index (GII) 2023, Yemen was the least gender equal country globally, scoring ****. The Gender Inequality Index measures inequality in achievement between women and men in three dimensions: reproductive health, empowerment, and the labor market. A low GII value indicates low inequality between women and men and vice versa. By comparison, Denmark was considered the most gender equal country worldwide that same year.

Among 15-year-olds, boys tend to report higher life satisfaction than girls. Recent research has shown that this gender gap tends to be larger in more gender-egalitarian countries. We shed light on this apparent paradox by examining the mediating role of two psychological dispositions: competitiveness and fear of failure. Using data from the 2018 PISA study, we analyze the life satisfaction, competitiveness, and fear of failure of more than 400,000 15-year-old boys and girls in 63 countries with known levels of gender equality. We find that competitiveness and fear of failure together mediate more than 40 percent of the effects on life satisfaction of gender and its interaction with gender equality. Thus, interventions targeting competitiveness and fear of failure could potentially have an impact on the gender gap in life satisfaction among adolescents in gender equal countries.

The so-called “gender-equality paradox” is the fact that gender segregation across occupations is more pronounced in more egalitarian and more developed countries. Some scholars have explained this paradox by the existence of deeply rooted or intrinsic gender differences in preferences that materialize more easily in countries where economic constraints are more limited. In line with a strand of research in sociology, we show instead that it can be explained by cross-country differences in essentialist gender norms regarding math aptitudes and appropriate occupational choices. To this aim, we propose a measure of the prevalence and extent of internalization of the stereotype that “math is not for girls” at the country level. This is done using individual-level data on the math attitudes of 300,000 15-year-old female and male students in 64 countries. The stereotype associating math to men is stronger in more egalitarian and developed countries. It is also strongly associated with various measures of female underrepresentation in math intensive fields and can therefore entirely explain the gender-equality paradox. We suggest that economic development and gender equality in rights go hand-in-hand with a reshaping rather than a suppression of gender norms, with the emergence of new and more horizontal forms of social differentiation across genders.

In 2025, Costa Rica was the Latin American country with the highest gender gap index, with 0.786 points. Another Central American country, Belize, had the worst score in the region with 0.7 points. This means that, on average, women in this country have 30 percent less opportunities than men in education, health, the economy, and politics.

Gender Inequality in Latin America
Based on a 2023 survey conducted among the populace in each nation, Mexico has been perceived as having the least gender-based wage equality, receiving a score of 0.5 out of 1, which is the lowest. In contrast, Barbados is regarded as the most gender-equal among the LATAM countries. Furthermore, the labor market exhibits a male bias, as women have consistently experienced higher unemployment rates over the years, with a rate of 11.3 percent as of 2021. Additionally, it is more common across the countries to observe a greater proportion of females experiencing higher poverty rates, with Mexican and Colombian women being the primary two groups representing this circumstance.

Literacy gender gap
As education progresses in both the educational and labor sectors, the goal is to ensure that basic literacy is accessible to everyone. However, research data reveals that the gender parity index for adult and youth literacy in Latin America remains at around 1 percent. This means that one woman out of 100 is less likely to possess literacy skills compared to men. Furthermore, this rate shows a significant gender gap, with 93.71 percent of females in this region accounting for this skill. Consequently, in the labor field, there are implications for skilled workers due to this literacy gap, resulting in higher rates of unemployment, a lack of training, and a non-educational population. This issue affects approximately 28.4 percent of women in Latin America.

In 2023, Sub-Saharan Africa had the highest child mortality rate worldwide, with 69 children under the age of five deceased per 1,000 live births. The region has the highest poverty rates worldwide. Nevertheless, global child mortality rates have fallen steadily since the millennium.

Series Name: Proportion of countries with systems to track and make public allocations for gender equality and women's empowerment (percent)Series Code: SG_GEN_EQPWNRelease Version: 2020.Q2.G.03This dataset is the part of the Global SDG Indicator Database compiled through the UN System in preparation for the Secretary-General's annual report on Progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals.Indicator 5.c.1: Proportion of countries with systems to track and make public allocations for gender equality and women’s empowermentTarget 5.c: Adopt and strengthen sound policies and enforceable legislation for the promotion of gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls at all levelsGoal 5: Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girlsFor more information on the compilation methodology of this dataset, see https://unstats.un.org/sdgs/metadata/

According to the Gender Inequality Index (GII) 2020, Chad was the least gender equal country in Africa and third in the world. In fact, most of the least gender equal countries worldwide were located in the continent. The Gender Inequality Index measures inequalities between women and men in three dimensions: reproductive health, empowerment, and the labor market. The higher the GII value the more disparities between females and males, and vice versa.

Supplementary material and data for journal article titled "The Moderating Effect of Gender Equality and Other Factors on PISA and Education Policy". ABSTRACT from the article: Globalisation and policy transfer in education make it incumbent upon decision makers to prioritise among competing policy options, select policy initiatives that are appropriate for their national contexts, and understand how system-specific factors moderate the relationship between those policies and student outcomes. This study used qualitative comparative analysis and correlational analyses to explore these relationships with publicly available data on socio-economic, cultural, and education conditions, and their association with PISA 2015 results in 49 countries. Findings show that gender and income equality, human development, and individualism were outcome-enabling conditions for PISA 2015 results, and gender equality was the most consistent of these conditions. These factors significantly moderated the relationships between education policy and PISA results. Implications for the identification of meaningful peer countries for comparative educational research, policy transfer, and the future expansion of PISA are discussed in the article.

Series Name: Proportion of countries with systems to track and make public allocations for gender equality and women's empowerment (percent)Series Code: SG_GEN_EQPWNRelease Version: 2020.Q2.G.03 This dataset is the part of the Global SDG Indicator Database compiled through the UN System in preparation for the Secretary-General's annual report on Progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals.Indicator 5.c.1: Proportion of countries with systems to track and make public allocations for gender equality and women’s empowermentTarget 5.c: Adopt and strengthen sound policies and enforceable legislation for the promotion of gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls at all levelsGoal 5: Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girlsFor more information on the compilation methodology of this dataset, see https://unstats.un.org/sdgs/metadata/

Talent is one of the most essential factors for growth and competitiveness. To build future economies that are both dynamic and inclusive, we must ensure that everyone has equal opportunity. When women and girls are not integrated—as both beneficiary and shaper—the global community loses out on skills, ideas and perspectives that are critical for addressing global challenges and harnessing new opportunities.

This report finds that, globally, gender parity is shifting into reverse this year for the first time since the World Economic Forum started measuring it. Yet there are also many countries that have made considerable progress, understanding that talent is a critical factor for growth. These countries are poised for further success. This year’s analysis also reveals gender gaps at the industry level and, in particular, highlights that even though qualified women are coming out of the education system, many industries are failing to hire, retain and promote them, losing out on a wealth of capacity.

As the world moves from capitalism into the era of talentism, competitiveness on a national and on a business level will be decided more than ever before by the innovative capacity of a country or a company. In this new context, the integration of women into the talent pool becomes a must.

While no single measure can capture the complete situation, the Global Gender Gap Index presented in this report seeks to measure one important aspect of gender equality: the relative gaps between women and men across four key areas: health, education, economy and politics.

Context

This dataset compiles valuable information on how different countries worldwide rank concerning conditions and opportunities for women. It aims to shed light on the status of women's rights and gender equality across the globe, making it a valuable resource for researchers, policymakers, and organizations advocating for gender equality.

Content

This dataset contains three main columns:

1.**Rank:** This column provides the ranking of countries based on their performance or score in terms of conditions and opportunities for women. Rankings range from 1 (indicating the best country for women) to the total number of countries included in the dataset.

2.**Country:** This column lists the names of the countries under evaluation. Each row corresponds to a specific country, allowing users to identify which country the data pertains to. Examples of entries in this column include "United States," "Sweden," "India," and more.

3.**Score:** The "Score" column comprises numerical values or scores reflecting the overall assessment of each country's performance regarding conditions and opportunities for women. These scores are likely calculated based on factors such as gender equality in education, employment, healthcare, political representation, and legal rights. Higher scores generally indicate better conditions for women, while lower scores suggest room for improvement.

Use Cases:

• Researchers can analyze this dataset to identify global trends in gender equality, allowing for cross-country comparisons and the identification of areas where countries excel or need improvement.

• Policymakers can utilize this data to make informed decisions and track progress in achieving gender equality goals.

• Advocacy groups and organizations working on women's rights can leverage this dataset to support their initiatives and promote gender equality on a global scale.

• Data enthusiasts on Kaggle can explore this dataset for data visualization, machine learning, and statistical analysis projects aimed at uncovering insights and trends related to women's well-being and opportunities.

Data Source:

https://ceoworld.biz/2021/06/11/the-worlds-best-countries-for-women-2021/

Acknowledgments:

If applicable, acknowledge any individuals or organizations that contributed to collecting or compiling this dataset.

By publishing this dataset on Kaggle, you are contributing to the open data community and providing a valuable resource for data-driven insights into gender equality worldwide.

Societal attitudes toward gender roles in the workplace and politics play a central part in theorizing on the difficulty women face in achieving political equality, but shortcomings in the available data have prevented direct examination of many implications of these theories. Drawing on recent advances in latent variable modeling of public opinion and a comprehensive collection of survey data, we present the Public Gender Egalitarianism dataset to address this need: comparable estimates of the public’s attitudes on gender equality in the public sphere across more than one hundred countries over time. These PGE scores are strongly correlated with responses to individual survey items and with women’s rates of participation in the labor force and corporate boards. We expect that the PGE data will become an invaluable source for broadly cross-national and longitudinal research on the causes and consequences of collective attitudes toward gender equality in politics and the economy.

Proximal socio-economic drivers of gender equality tend to obscure its remote ecological origins. General systems theory predicts that the greater annual variability in daylength, temperature and daily precipitation at higher latitudes requires greater psychosocial flexibility. We extend this prediction to gender equality as a likely consequence. Accordingly, for 87 pre-industrial societies after 1500 CE, we find more gender equality in more variable habitats, and that this link is mediated by greater subsistence flexibility—foraging rather than raising plants and animals. Mutatis mutandis, these ecological predictors of global gender equality replicate in 175 modern countries after 2000 CE. Gender equality was, and still is, lowest around the Equator, higher toward the North and South Poles, and invariant in east-west direction. The geographical positioning of gender equality in pre-industrial times can predict over 40% of each of the opposite north-south gradients of gender equality in the opposite Northern and Southern Hemispheres today.

The Gender-Equality Paradox (GEP) describes the phenomenon that the gender gap in the preference for and choice of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) majors is larger in more affluent and gender-egalitarian societies. GEP has theoretically been explained by greater economic opportunities in affluent societies for gendered self-realization, yet the literature lacks a test of this explanation on the individual level. This study tests (a) whether household wealth is associated with a greater male-favorable gender gap in student's math intentions, (b) whether this association, if any, is different in size and shape in more affluent and less affluent countries, and (c) whether household wealth can account for GEP regarding math intentions. Multilevel regression analyses of 15-year-old students' intentions to study math rather than language from 60 countries of the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) 2012 display that household wealth is only weakly and positively related to girls' and boys' math intentions and does not increase or decrease the gender gap in math intentions. This pattern of household wealth effects does not differ between more affluent and less affluent countries, and household wealth cannot account for GEP regarding math intentions. These findings underline that the economic need/opportunity interpretation of GEP does not hold on the micro level and requires further research into the drivers of GEP.

By many measures, 2015 marks a watershed year in the international communitys efforts to advance gender equality. In September, with the adoption of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), UN Member States committed to a renewed and more ambitious framework for development. This agenda, with a deadline of 2030, emphasizes inclusion not just as an end in and of itself but as critical to development effectiveness. At the center of this agenda is the achievement of gender equality and empowerment of all women and girls (SDG 5). In addition to governments, the private sector is increasingly committed to reducing gaps between men and women not just because it is the right thing to do, but because it makes business sense. Gender equality is also central to the World Bank Group’s own goals of ending extreme poverty and boosting shared prosperity in a sustainable manner. No society can develop sustainably without transforming the distribution of opportunities, resources and choices for males and females so that they have equal power to shape their own lives and contribute to their families, communities, and countries. Promoting gender equality is smart development policy.

Citation

“World Bank Group. 2015. World Bank Group Gender Strategy (FY16-23) : Gender Equality, Poverty Reduction and Inclusive Growth. World Bank, Washington, DC. © World Bank. https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/handle/10986/23425 License: CC BY 3.0 IGO.”

Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls : The region has made progress in achieving gender equality and empowering women and girls, particularly in education and health and to a lesser extent women’s participation in formal employment and national policy making. This is attributed to growing awareness of the need to address gender inequalities; While almost all countries in the Pacific have adopted specific gender policies and strategies, the resources for integrating and implementing these priorities are limited. Budgets for national women’s offices are less than one percent of national appropriations; Gender inequality is highlighted by the high prevalence rates of violence against women (more than 60 percent in Melanesia, and more than 40 percent in Polynesia and Micronesia). Sexual and reproductive health and rights issues also remain substantial challenges to be addressed under Goal 5. Fertility rates, especially teenage fertility, remain high in some.

Find more Pacific data on PDH.stat.