Iceland is the country with the greatest gender equality in the world, according to the Global Gender Gap Report 2023, published by the World Economic Forum. The Nordic island nation, with a small population of less than 400,000, is now the top ranked country in the Global Gender Gap index for the fourteenth consecutive year.
Iceland is followed by two other Nordic countries, Norway and Finland, at the second and third spot, respectively. Other countries in the top ten include nations as diverse as New Zealand, Nicaragua, and Namibia, while Philippines (16) is the top ranked Asian country. The index ranks a total of 146 countries, with Russia being a notable omission in the 2023 edition.
How is Gender Equality Measured?
The Global Gender Gap Index, started in 2006, examines the gap between men and women across four categories: health and survival; educational attainment; economic participation and opportunity; and political empowerment.
The methodology integrates statistics from various international organizations, such as the World Bank and International Labor Organization, and also includes a survey of executives. The data is then analyzed to allocate a score between 0 and 1 to each of the 146 countries included in the index.
Top-Ranked Countries in Terms of Gender Equality
The list of the 10 most gender-equal countries in the world is as follows.
- Iceland
- Norway
- Finland
- New Zealand
- Sweden
- Germany
- Nicaragua
- Namibia
- Lithuania
- Belgium
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Iceland has a score of 0.912 out of 1, the only country with a score in excess of 0.9. While many of the top ranked countries score high on other global indices too, such as those on income, livability, security, and happiness, there are exceptions like Nicaragua and Namibia, which shows that wealthier nations are not necessarily the ones with the greatest opportunities for females. The countries ranked 11 to 20 on the gender equality index also include a blend of nations from various geographic regions and income groups:
- Ireland
- Rwanda
- Latvia
- Costa Rica
- United Kingdom
- Philippines
- Albania
- Spain
- Moldova
- South Africa
Other Countries
The most improved countries from last year are Liberia (39), Estonia (22), Bhutan (103), Malawi (110), Colombia (42), and Chile (27), each with gains of 4 percentage points or more. While 82 countries have improved their score from the 2022 index, no country has yet achieved full gender parity, represented by a score of 1.
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Among other countries, the United States is ranked at 43, behind low-income African countries such as Burundi (35) and Liberia (39). China (107) and India (127) are among the lowest one-third of the countries. At the bottom end of the index are Afghanistan, Chad, and Algeria. Afghanistan is the only country having a score below 0.5.
Rankings by World Regions
The Global Gender Gap Report 2023 divides the world into eight geographic regions to analyze the average gender gap that has been closed so far. These regions are ranked in terms of greatest gender equality as follows.
- Europe
- North America
- Latin America and the Caribbean
- Eurasia and Central Asia
- East Asia and the Pacific
- Sub-Saharan Africa
- Southern Asia
- Middle East and North Africa
Future Outlook
Despite improvements made by some countries in recent years, progress towards gender equality generally remains slow, particularly in many of the lower ranked countries and regions. The report predicts that at the current rate of progress over the 2006-2023 span, it will take 16 years to close the Educational Attainment gender gap, 162 years to close the Political Empowerment gender gap, and 169 years to close the Economic Participation and Opportunity gender gap, while the time to close the Health and Survival gender gap remains unspecified.
You can download the Global Gender Gap Report 2023 by the World Economic Forum here.
Outlook of the World 