© Shutterstock

30. Latvia -

The Baltic nation views gender equality as a "horizontal principle" that must be integrated into all national services. In 2024, they scored 64.9% when it came to wages for similar work, a -5,2 percentage point difference from last year.

© Shutterstock

29. Estonia -

Estonian women have a much higher level of education than the global average. On top of that, the legal framework for gender equality is protected in the Estonian Constitution, which states in Article 12 that everyone is equal before the law, and no one should be discriminated against on the grounds of sex. The country is still lagging behind in terms of representation of women in politics, with only 50% and 42% of the parity gap closed in ministerial and parliament positions, respectively.

© Shutterstock

28. Netherlands -

The Netherlands continues to hold the 28th place in the rankings since last year. Although full parity was reached in educational attainment and ministerial positions, women are still severely underrepresented as legislators, senior officials, and managers. 

© Shutterstock

27. Mozambique -

While Mozambique has a long way to go, 83.3% of legal frameworks that promote, enforce, and monitor gender equality, with a focus on violence against women, are in place. The southeast African country ranks among the only 12 economies to register parity scores of over 50% in political empowerment, achieving gender parity at the ministerial level.  

© Shutterstock

26. Serbia -

As a contender to join the European Union, Serbia has been focusing on improving its gender equality indicators since 2013. Moving up 12 positions since last year's global assessment, the country achieved positive results in the political representation and workforce subindexes. In the health and survival subindex, however, Serbia was one of the three economies to register negative results compared to 2023.

© Shutterstock

25. Philippines -

The Philippines has achieved 77.9% gender parity, falling nine positions and -1.2 percentage points since last year. The Philippines has made strides in gender equality in certain areas, achieving parity in professional roles and increasing women's labor force participation. However, the country's overall economic participation and opportunity score has declined due to a decrease in women's representation in leadership positions and perceived wage inequality.

© Shutterstock

24. Australia -

While Australia is one of the leading economies in the Pacific, women are unfortunately not being properly represented in leadership roles and wage equality is only at 65.6%. As for representation in politics, Australia is making progress. While only 10 countries in Eastern Asia and the Pacific have a score of gender parity of 15% or more at the ministerial level, Australia is the only one that has more than 80%.

© Shutterstock

23. Albania -

Dropping 6 positions in the ranking from last year, Albania suffered its biggest drawbacks in indicators related to educational achievements, dropping to 116th place from 33rd place a year ago and political empowerment, from 28th place in 2023 to 30th in 2024. In the Health and Survival subindex, Albania saw an increase of over +0.1 percentage points. 

© Shutterstock

22. France -

France has a long history of laws promoting gender equality in the workplace, dating back to the 1970s. Beginning with the Law of 22 December on equal pay in 1972, at least 12 gender equality laws were adopted prior to 2014, including the 1983 Law on professional equality. Nevertheless, the wage gap is still at 59.6%. Reaching full equality on all levels of the education indicator, French women are apparently highly qualified for a job market that still underpays them.

© Shutterstock

21. Chile -

The South American nation has improved its gender parity scores by at least 0.4 percent. This has mainly been in regard to workforce participation, higher education, and political representation.

© Shutterstock

20. Switzerland -

Compared to many countries, Switzerland was quite slow in giving women the right to vote, which only happened in 1971. When it comes to gender equality today, the Alpine country ranks among the top countries in terms of wages, with the gender gap having been narrowed by 77%.

© Shutterstock

19. Costa Rica -

The Latin American country with the third-best gender gap index, Costa Rica has a gender gap of 21.5% in 2024. The overall parity score of 78.5% shows a -0.8% decrease from the previous year, which shows a slight stagnation towards gender equality. On the other hand, Costa Rica has recorded a parity score of 90% for gender parity at the parliamentary level for the past three editions.

© Shutterstock

18. South Africa -

When it comes to the representation of women in politics, South Africa is among the only 12 economies out of the entire sample to register parity scores of over 50% in the political empowerment subindex. It is also contributing to the positive results achieved by the overall Sub-Saharan Africa region, showing parity at the ministerial level and closing behind with women represented in parliament (85.9% parity). The African nation closed more than 78.5% of the overall gender gap.

© Shutterstock

17. Portugal -

Shooting up 15 positions in the ranking, Portugal is one of the eight European economies that achieved parity at the
ministerial level, showing progress in female representation in politics. In terms of parity related to leadership positions, the country's economy still has a long way to go, registering only 58.4% parity in this indicator.

© Shutterstock

16. Ecuador -

The second-best Latin American country ranked on the index, Ecuador has registered remarkable improvements compared to 2023. Moving close to achieving full parity in education, the country is among the economies with the greatest increase in score (+5.1 percentage points) and the five economies that improved their rankings the most, climbing over 20 places (+34). 

© Shutterstock

15. Denmark -

Falling 8 positions compared to last year, Denmark scored 78.9% in overall parity. While gender equality is a cornerstone in the Danish welfare state, Danish men still earn 12.7% more than women. Compared to other Nordic countries, gender equality is progressing more slowly in Denmark. There have been positive strides made in the political empowerment indicator, with gender parity at the parliamentary level of over 80%.

© Shutterstock

14. United Kingdom -

Moving up one spot from last year, the UK reached a parity score of 78.9%. Excelling at the educational attainment subindex (100%) and moving towards full parity in health and survival, there are still significant improvements needed in political empowerment (47.4%) and economic participation (71.7%).

© Shutterstock

13. Moldova -

Climbing six positions compared to 2023, Moldova achieved an overall parity score of 79.1%. The improvement is mainly driven by progress in the educational attainment and political empowerment subindexes. Moldova's economic gender parity is also among the highest registered (83.7%), with a gender parity in labour-force participation rate above 95%. Full parity (100%) was also achieved in their division of technical and professional workers. 

© Shutterstock

12. Belgium -

Belgium lost its spot in the top 10 in 2024, as it closed 79.3% of the overall gender gap, -0.3% from last year. Most of the development is in politics, where it has reached full parity in ministerial positions and improved the level of gender parity at the parliamentary level (+21.4 percentage points), with women in 41.3% of parliamentary seats. Parity in the healthy life expectancy indicator has regressed by -3.7% since 2006. A regression in the labor market category also resulted in Belgium's overall gender parity score being negatively impacted.

© Shutterstock

11. Lithuania -

With a parity score of 79.3%, Lithuania dropped from 10th to 11th position in 2024. The Baltic nation's regression can be attributed to declining results in the economic participation and opportunity and political empowerment subindexes. Despite having a female prime minister, Ingrida Šimonytė, Lithuania dropped from 46.6% to 41.4% parity in women in parliamentary positions. In terms of education (99.5%) and health (98%), Lithuania edges towards full parity.

© Shutterstock

10. Spain -

Climbing eight ranks since 2023, Spain returns to the top 10 for the third time since 2006, with its highest gender parity score yet at 79.7%. In 2024, the indicators where parity is highest are professional and technical workers (100%) and labor-force participation rate (84.6%). Despite not having had a woman as head of state, Spain has narrowed its political empowerment gap to 49.4%, with full parity at the ministerial level (100%) and increasing parity at the parliamentary level (79.5%, up from 73.6% in 2023).

© Shutterstock

9. Ireland -

Returning to the top 10 after a one-year absence, Ireland places 9th with an overall gender gap score of 80.2%. While the overall economic, social, and health gaps between men and women saw a +.7 percentage-point improvement, the weakest result came in political parity, with a score of 50.7%. Despite a 10% improvement in its parity score for ministerial positions between 2023 and 2024, women are still underrepresented at ministerial and parliamentary levels, with remaining gender gaps of 60% and 70% respectively.

© Shutterstock

8. Namibia -

The highest-ranking Sub-Saharan African country, Namibia has attained 80.5% gender parity. The country has achieved full parity in technical and professional workers, and 77.2% gender parity in senior leadership roles. Solidifying its place among the 50 highest in this subindex, Namibia has also achieved 45.6% parity in political empowerment, having a female head of state who has lengthened her term since the last edition of the index and the continued representation of women at ministerial (46.2%) and parliamentary (79.2%) levels.

© Shutterstock

7. Germany -

Dropping one spot in the ranking since last year, Germany registered a reduction of -0.5 percentage points for a score of 81%. This is mainly driven by slight regressions in the Political Empowerment area, with a drop of 12.5 percentage points compared to 2023. Nevertheless, the country still registers near-equal representation at the ministerial level, achieving a score of 87.5% which is among the 20 highest in 2024. Women’s
parliamentary representation is comparatively lower (54.6%). Educational attainment is where
Germany ranks lowest across dimensions (91st),
with a score of 98.7%.

© Shutterstock

6. Nicaragua -

At 81.1% parity, Nicaragua is the highest-ranking Latin American country on the index. The nation has achieved gender parity in educational attainment and surpasses the global average on health and survival with a score of 97.8%. When it comes to women in ministerial and parliamentary positions, Nicaragua achieves a score of 62.6%, resulting in parity on both indicators.

© Shutterstock

5. Sweden -

Maintaining its rank since the last edition, Sweden has closed 81.6% of the gender gap. On Political Empowerment, women continue to have high levels of representation at ministerial and parliamentary levels, with scores of 91.7% and 87.6%, respectively. When it comes to parity in health and survival, that figure is at 96.3%.

© Shutterstock

4. New Zealand -

In the last five years, New Zealand has suffered a -2.1 reduction percentage-point reduction in score since
the last edition, closing 83.5% of the overall gender gap. With parity in parliamentary positions, and a female head of state for 16 of the last 50 years, New Zealand has the world's third-highest level of parity in political empowerment. The nation has also bridged the gender divide across all levels of education and literacy rates.

© Shutterstock

3. Norway -

The first wave of feminism in Norway began in the 1840s, and many waves have since followed, paving the way for women's rights in the Scandinavian country. Progress towards gender parity has been steady, resulting in a gender parity score of 87.5%. A major part of the nation's improvement can be ascribed to its achievements in political empowerment (score 74.6%), which has increased by 25 percentage points since 2006. In 2024, there are more female ministers than male, resulting in a full parity score.

© Shutterstock

2. Finland -

The first European country to grant women the right to vote in 1906, Finland registered 87.5% parity in the 2024 edition, up one position from 2023. The recent tenure of a female head of state, Sanna Marin, and parity in ministerial positions boosts parity on political empowerment to the countries' highest score to date: 73.4%. 

© Shutterstock

1. Iceland -

For the 15th year running, Iceland takes the top position at 93.5%, a 2.3 percentage-point increase since the last edition. It also continues to be the only country to have closed more than 90% of its gender gap. But while the North Atlantic island is leading the way in gender equality, its 2023 women's strike showed Iceland and the world still have a ways to go.

Sources: (World Economic Forum) 

See also: The gender health gap: times medicine failed women

© Shutterstock