In this graphic we’ve ranked the top 10 nations for women, using the 2023 Women Peace and Security Index scores from the Georgetown Institute for Women, Peace and Security.
Countries are given an index score out of 1.0 that is derived based on the following components:
- Inclusion: education, employment, financial inclusion, cell phone use, parliamentary representation
- Justice: absence of legal discrimination, access to justice, maternal mortality ratio, son bias
- Safety: intimate partner violence, community safety, political violence targeting women, and proximity to conflict
Which Are the Best Countries for Women?
All of the top 10 countries for women received index scores above 0.9, significantly higher than the global average of 0.65. Nine of them are located in Europe, with New Zealand (#10) representing the only regional outlier.
| Rank | Country | Index Score |
|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Denmark |
0.932 |
| 2 |  Switzerland |
0.928 |
| 3 |  Sweden |
0.926 |
| 4 |  Finland |
0.924 |
| 4 |  Iceland |
0.924 |
| 4 |  Luxembourg |
0.924 |
| 7 |  Norway |
0.920 |
| 8 |  Austria |
0.911 |
| 9 |  Netherlands |
0.908 |
| 10 |  New Zealand |
0.904 |
| Global Average | 0.650 |
The highest-ranked country was Denmark, which scored particularly well across inclusion (such as financial inclusion and parliamentary representation) and justice (such as absence of legal discrimination and access to justice) metrics. Its Scandinavian peers—Sweden (#3) and Norway (#7)—followed closely behind.
Other Takeaways
Canada (#17), the UK (#26), and the U.S. (#37) all rank relatively high but didn’t make the top 10 list. Lower rankings for parliamentary representation, maternal mortality, and community safety dragged the score for the U.S. down to lower than European counterparts.
Source
