Gender Equality by Country 2024

Gender equality, the concept that everyone should be treated equally regardless of their genetic or chosen gender, is an issue of both human dignity and respect. Many experts believe that gender equality across categories including education, employment, health, politics, and economic participation is not only a cultural responsibility, but a necessary and crucial part of the healthiest, most optimized economies. Sustainable development goals and other economic targets are often unachievable if half of a country’s population is hampered by restricted opportunities. In order to improve gender equality, many governments are implementing policies that provide talent development, diversify the leadership pool, and provide support to families and caregivers of every gender.

Global Gender Gap Index 2023

The World Economic Forum compiles and releases the Global Gender Gap Index every year. This report measures the extent of gender-based gaps among four key dimensions: Economic Participation and Opportunity, Educational Attainment, Health and Survival, and Political Empowerment, then gives each country a ranking between 0.000 (or 0%, the lowest possible gender equality) and 1.000 (100%, the highest possible gender equality). The analyses of the countries are intended to serve as a basis for designing effective measures for reducing gender gaps. The 2023 edition of the Global Gender Gap Index studied and ranked 146 countries and territories around the world.

Top 10 Countries with the Highest Gender Equality (2023 World Economic Forum)

The top ten countries for gender equality include four Nordic countries of Iceland, Norway, Finland, and Sweden, their European neighbors Germany, Belgium, and Lithuania (the lone Eastern European country), the Asian Pacific country New Zealand, the Sub-Saharan African country Namibia, and the Central American country Nicaragua. Iceland retained its number one spot for the 14th year in a row, being also the only country with a percentage point above 90%.

The 2023 report found that, considering the 102 countries covered continuously from 2006 to 2023, the gap is 68.6% closed in 2023, recovering to the level reported in the 2020 edition and advancing only by 4.1 percentage points since 2006 which was the year of the inception of the report. Based upon current progress, the WEF predicts it would take 131 years to close the gender gap worldwide. The largest current gender gap appears in the Political Empowerment category with only 22.1% of the gap closed. That said, 2022 saw significant growth in this category. By the closing of the year 2022, approximately 27.9% of the global population, about 2.12 billion people, lived in countries with a female head of state.

The second-largest gap appears in the Economic Participation and Opportunity category with 59.8% of the gap closed, a slight drop from 60% since 2022. Significant wage disparity persists, and the percentage of females in leadership roles remains imbalanced. Females also seem to have been more likely to lose jobs as a result of the pandemic and slower to regain those jobs once pandemic-related restrictions were lifted.

Educational Attainment gaps are relatively small on average (95.2% closed globally), with 25 countries achieving true gender parity in 2023 (an increase by four countries since 2022), and the gap in Health and Survival is 96% closed. While these percentages are encouraging, the last few percentage points seem just out of reach. Gender parity also varies significantly from one global region to another.

Global Regions with the Highest and Lowest Gender Parity:

10 Countries with the Least Gender Equality (and Largest Gender Gaps):

Of the ten countries at the bottom of the list, only Qatar is new in the 2023 report. The remaining nine are returners from the index of 2022. Departing the bottom ten is Guinea, whose GEI rose from 62% to 64.7%, a notable increase for a single year. Political and economic opportunities are still extremely limited for women in many countries, particularly in the Middle East and Africa.