Ranked: best countries for women

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23rd February 2025
a woman sits beside a canal in Copenhagen

The world’s best countries for women in terms of gender equality have been announced. We take a look at the updated results

Denmark is the best country to be a woman according to the latest academic report on women’s status and empowerment worldwide.

The Women Peace and Security (WPS) Index scores and ranks 178 countries and territories in terms of women’s inclusion, justice and security.

European nations performed well – blocking out the top five – with Denmark followed by Switzerland, Sweden, Finland and Luxembourg.

“Women’s inclusion, justice, and security are not just women’s issues. When women are doing well, everyone in society is doing well, and our data empirically back that up.”

– Elena Ortiz, GIWPS

At the other end of the WPS Index, Afghanistan was ranked the worst country to be a woman following the Taliban takeover in 2021. The next worst performers were Yemen, the Central African Republic, Congo and the DR Congo.

female hiker beside a lake
lzf/Shutterstock The best countries for women are all developed nations

The Georgetown Institute for Women, Peace and Security, in partnership with the Peace Research Institute of Oslo, periodically updates its WPS Index. The index ranks 178 countries and territories 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 fourth edition of the WPS Index since its launch in 2017.

10 best countries for women

Nine of the 10 best countries for women are all located in Europe and are all classed as developing countries.

  1. Denmark
  2. Switzerland
  3. Sweden
  4. Finland
  5. Luxembourg
  6. Iceland
  7. Norway
  8. Austria
  9. Netherlands
  10. New Zealand

“In Denmark, Norway and Sweden, both fathers and mothers have access to at least a year of paid parental leave, also helping to even out childcare responsibilities.”

– GIWPS
A father on a bike with a child in Norway – the best country for women
Iryna Inshyna/Shutterstock Both parents get paid parental leave in Denmark, Norway and Sweden

10 worst countries for women

Of the bottom 10 countries, nine are classified by the World Bank as fragile states. Seven are located in sub-Saharan Africa.

  1. Afghanistan
  2. Yemen
  3. Central African Rep
  4. Congo
  5. DR Congo
  6. South Sudan
  7. Burundi
  8. Syria
  9. Eswatini
  10. Somalia

“Afghan women wake up each day to no jobs, no education and no autonomy over their lives. This report should serve as a wakeup call to world leaders that a nation of women is imprisoned.”

– Torunn L Tryggestad, Peace Research Institute of Oslo

Assessing gender equality

The index uses 13 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.

infographic showing the indicators used in the study
GIWPS The WPS Index uses 13 indicators classified under three dimensions

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 who 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

Justice

  • Absence of legal discrimination: extent to which laws and regulations differentiate between women and men or protect women’s opportunities across 35 aspects of life and work
  • Access to justice extent to which women can exercise justice by bringing cases before the courts without risk to their personal safety, participating in a fair trial and seeking redress if public authorities violate their rights
  • Maternal mortality: number of maternal deaths due to pregnancy-related causes per 100,000 live births
  • Son bias: where the ratio of male to female births exceed the natural rate

Security

  • Intimate partner violence: percentage of women who experienced physical or sexual violence committed by their partner in the 12 months preceding the survey
  • Community safety: percentage of women aged 15 and older who responded “Yes” to the question “Do you feel safe walking alone at night in the city or area where you live?”
  • Political violence targeting women: number of political violence events targeting women per 100,000 women
  • Proximity to conflict: Percentage of women who lived within 50km of at least one armed conflict event in 2022

“Women are critical to achieving sustainable peace”

– GIWPS

insights

The global report draws on recognised data sources to measure women’s inclusion, justice and security in 178 countries. The latest edition suggests that the global average WPS Index score increased by 3%.

Regionally, East Asia and the Pacific and the Middle East and North Africa saw the most improvement. At a country level, 20 nations saw score improvements of at least 10%. Bahrain, Vietnam and Egypt recorded the largest improvements.

Conversely, 13 countries registered a score deterioration of at least 10%, with Eswatini, El Salvador and Burkina Faso recording the largest declines.

Infographic showing the best and worst countries for women
GIWPS The best and worst countries for women

Across the indicators, women’s financial inclusion and absence of legal discrimination have improved the most globally, while women’s employment and proximity to conflict have seen the most significant
regression.

Denmark is the world’s best country for women. The 10 best countries for women are all in Europe, with New Zealand, in 10th, the highest-ranked non-European country. The UK is 26th.

A colour coded map of the best countries for women
GIWPS Mapped: the best countries for women

Bahrain has seen the most improvement on the WPS Index since 2017, with a 24% increase in its overall index score and an increase from 119th position to 56th.

The main indicators driving this improvement are financial inclusion and parliamentary representation. The proportion of women with access to their own bank accounts rose from 67% in 2017 to 75% in 2023. As such, Bahrain now has the highest rate of women’s business participation in the
MENA region.

Infographic showing region and country group performances in the study
GIWPS The best and worst performers across groups and regions

New Zealand (10th) and Australia (11th) are the highest-placed Asia-Pacific countries. Singapore (15th) is the highest-placed Asian country followed by Japan (23rd). The UAE (22nd) is the highest-placed country in the Middle East.

Canada (17th) is the best country to be a woman in North America, followed by the USA in 37th. The highest-ranked country in South America is Argentina (5oth).

Seychelles (43rd) is the best country to be a woman in Africa followed by Cabo Verde (64th).

World’s best countries for women: ranking

The ranking below reflects the average of each country’s scores across all 13 metrics on the WPS Index. All countries and territories are ranked on a 0-1 scale. The highest possible score is 1 (equality) and the lowest is 0 (inequality). No country scores perfectly.

RankCountryScore
1Denmark.932
2Switzerland.928
3Sweden.926
4Finland.924
5Iceland.924
6Luxembourg.924
7Norway.920
8Austria.911
9Netherlands.908
10New Zealand.904
11Australia.902
12Belgium.902
13Estonia.892
14Ireland.892
15Singapore.887
16Lithuania.886
17Canada.885
18Czechia.884
19Portugal.877
20Latvia.872
21Germany.871
22UAE.868
23Japan.866
24France.864
25Croatia.862
26UK.860
27Poland.859
28Spain.859
29Slovakia.856
30South Korea.848
31Malta.846
32Hungary.835
33Serbia.835
34Italy.827
35Bulgaria.826
36Slovenia.824
37USA.823
38Taiwan.818
39Georgia.812
40Hong Kong.812
41Montenegro.808
42Romania.800
43Seychelles.799
44North Macedonia.798
45Albania.796
46Mongolia.794
47Barbados.779
48Armenia.772
49Guyana.769
50Argentina.768
51Greece.766
52Thailand.764
53Moldova.758
54Panama.757
55Bosnia & Herzegovina.754
56Bahrain.752
57Russia.752
58Turkmenistan.750
59Uruguay.748
60Costa Rica.743
61Sri Lanka.743
62Kuwait.742
63Cyprus.739
64Cabo Verde.738
65Fiji.738
66Malaysia.738
67Saudi Arabia.737
68Chile.736
69Belarus.733
70Kazakhstan.729
71Trinidad & Tobago.721
72Maldives.720
73Nicaragua.717
74Peru.717
75Oman.715
76Samoa.711
77Jamaica.710
78Vietnam.707
79Lao.704
80Israel.703
81Qatar.703
82Bhutan.700
83China.700
84Indonesia.700
85Tonga.697
86Bolivia.696
87Suriname.694
88Puerto Rico.692
89Paraguay.691
90Tajikistan.690
91South Africa.688
92Jordan.679
93Mauritius.678
94Uzbekistan.674
95Kyrgyzstan.673
96Tunisia.669
97Azerbaijan.667
98Dominican rep.666
99Türkiye.665
100Kosovo.664
101Solomon Islands.664
102Timor-Leste.664
103Rwanda.663
104Botswana.659
105Belize.657
106Ecuador.655
107Tanzania.652
108Ghana.651
109Sao Tome & Principe.648
110Cambodia.645
111Egypt.645
112Nepal.644
113Vanuatu.644
114Morocco.637
115Brazil.630
116Venezuela.628
117Ukraine.626
118Algeria.622
119Equatorial Guinea.619
120Senegal.619
121Philippines.612
122Honduras.610
123Libya.610
124Namibia.610
125Lesotho.605
126Zimbabwe.604
127Angola.598
128India.595
129Lebanon.595
130Togo.595
131Bangladesh.593
132Gabon.593
133Colombia.582
134Mozambique.580
135Gambia.575
136Côte d’Ivoire.573
137Guatemala.569
138Benin.566
139El Salvador.566
140Iran.557
141Zambia.556
142Mexico.551
143Uganda.544
144Sierra Leone.543
145Guinea.539
146Ethiopia.521
147Malawi.521
148Comoros.519
149Kenya.511
150Congo.507
151Mauritania.506
152Madagascar.505
153Djibouti.504
154Liberia.500
155Papua New Guinea.487
156Guinea-Bissau.483
157Palestine.483
158Burkina Faso.481
159Mali.481
160Pakistan.481
161Cameroon.466
162Nigeria.465
163Chad.462
164Sudan.460
165Myanmar.451
166Niger.442
167Haiti.431
168Iraq.424
169Somalia.417
170Eswatini.415
171Syria.407
172Burundi.394
173South Sudan.388
174DR Congo.384
175Congo.384
176Central African Rep.378
177Yemen.287
178Afghanistan.286

The WPS Index is published by the Georgetown Institute for Women, Peace and Security and the PRIO Centre on Gender, Peace and Security with support from the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The full report can be accessed here.


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Lead image: fokkebok/123RG