This section provides a short descriptive analysis of selected country performances, grouped into two categories. The first includes the 10 best performers of the Global Gender Gap Index, listed in rank order. The second includes the 15 most populous countries in the world,² listed in alphabetical order, and which are home to approximately 2.5 billion women, accounting for nearly 66% of the world's female population.

For the 13th consecutive year, Iceland (1st) tops the index with an overall score of 0.908 and high scoring performances in all subindexes. Iceland's strongest performance is on the Educational Attainment subindex, where it reports virtual parity with a score of 0.993. The country's second-highest score is on the Health and Survival subindex. While it ranks 121st here due to minor differences in score, it is among the 90% of countries in the index with a score over 0.96. On the Political Empowerment subindex, Iceland scores the highest of the entire index on account of having a higher share than other countries of women serving as head of state over the past 50 years, as well as by having a comparatively high share of women represented in parliament. Finally, when it comes to Economic Participation and Opportunity, Iceland reports a score of 0.803. It registers full parity in the participation of professional and technical workers, with lower female participation in senior and managerial roles as well as estimated earned income.

Finland (2nd) sits in second place, having covered 86% of its overall gender gap to date. At a subindex level, Finland reports full parity on Educational Attainment and near parity (0.97) on Health and Survival, where it maintains the scores for both subindexes that were achieved in 2021. Finland's 2022 score on Economic Participation and Opportunity (0.789) is lower than last year (0.806). This is caused by a decrease in parity for labour-force participation, as well as a decrease in gender parity for wage equality. However, Finland retained full parity in the participation of women as professional and technical workers and increased by 0.6 percentage points the share of women in legislative, senior and managerial positions. Finally, in terms of Political Empowerment, Finland has closed 68% of its gap. Finland reports full ministerial parity and an increased share of the time women have held leadership as head of state in the past 50 years.

Norway (3rd) has reached third place on this year's index, with an overall score of 0.845, which is slightly lower than its highest achieved in 2021. Norway's highest subindex score is on Educational Attainment, where it approaches full parity (0.989). Its second-strongest performance is on Health and Survival, where it ranks 119th and maintains the level of parity registered in 2021. On Economic Participation and Opportunity, Norway's score (0.765) decreased by three percentage points this year to levels registered in 2007. This year's numbers reflect lower proportions of women participating in the workforce, and in roles as legislators, senior officials and managers. Estimated earned income also went down, while parity was maintained for women's participation in professional and technical roles. Norway's score on the Political Empowerment subindex improved slightly in 2022 from last year. Increases in the share of time women have served as heads of state and in the number of women in parliament are in line with the upwards tick in score.

New Zealand (4th) ranks fourth on the 2022 index, registering its highest scores on the Education and Health subindices. In fact, New Zealand achieved parity across the board in education. On Health and Survival, New Zealand maintained parity in its sex ratio and improved its ranking in healthy life expectancy. As with other countries in 2022, the level of parity New Zealand reaches this year on the Economic Participation and Opportunity subindex is lower than last year, which translates to both a negative rank and score change. The rate at which women participate in the workforce decreased compared to 2021, although wage equality for similar work did increase. On the Political Empowerment subindex, New Zealand marginally improved its score from last year. The score reflects that the share of female leadership as head of state over the past 50 years has increased 11 percentage points, as did the share of women in parliament. The share of women in ministerial positions remains the same.

Sweden (5th) ranks fifth this year, with an overall score of 0.82. Despite ranking highly since the report's first edition in 2006, Sweden has only reported a 2.4 percentage point improvement over the past 16 years. This year, Sweden's highest performance is on Educational Attainment, where it reports a closed gender gap. Its second-highest score is on the Health and Survival subindex (0.963), where the gains reported in 2021 are maintained. And while Sweden registers its third-highest subindex score (0.812) on Economic Participation and Opportunity, the country has the fifth-highest subindex performance globally in the category and first in the European region. The score reflects a high level of female workforce participation, parity in the participation of women in professional and technical roles, and a level of parity in estimated earned income that is higher than 137 other countries. On the Political Empowerment subindex, Sweden's score slipped slightly. While continuing to have parity at ministerial level, the parity score for women in parliament decreased 0.022, resulting in a loss of one rank on the subindex.

Since its first inclusion in 2014, Rwanda (6th) has featured in the Top 10. This year, Rwanda improved its 2021 rank by one, and is the leader in both rank and score for Sub-Saharan Africa. On both Educational Attainment and Health and Survival, Rwanda registers its highest subindex scores: 0.96 and 0.974, respectively. Rwanda has made progress in 2022 by reducing its gender gap in tertiary education by 2.9 percentage points while maintaining parity in compulsory education. On Health and Survival, Rwanda has maintained stable and slightly improving scores since 2015, increasing its rank by four places against countries unable to sustain prior progress. On Economic Participation and Opportunity, Rwanda is one of just three economies that registered parity in labour-force participation in 2022 (alongside Sierra Leone and Burundi). It also improved its score in other elements of the subindex - such as women's participation in professional and technical roles as well as legislator, senior officials and managerial roles - which has contributed to a rise in subindex rank of 15. Finally, on Political Empowerment, Rwanda has achieved parity at ministerial and parliamentary levels, but fell by one place in the ranking, overtaken by countries where the share of women serving as head of state has increased.

With an overall gender gap score of 0.81, Nicaragua (7th) shows progress from last year and improves its ranking position five places, landing seventh in the Top 10. Nicaragua continues to achieve a parity score of 1 on the Educational Attainment subindex, and across all its indicators. On the Political Empowerment subindex, Nicaragua remains in the 5th spot, after registering continued parity in ministerial positions from 2021, and raising its score for parliamentary parity from 0.938 in 2021 to 1 in 2022. On Economic Participation and Opportunity, gender gaps have widened since 2017. This year, the gaps are evident in women's labour-force participation, where the 2021 score fell by -0.032, and in wage equality, with a gender parity score of 0.547, the lowest registered since 2012. However, Nicaragua has maintained 2021 levels of women's participation in professional and technical roles as well as for legislators, officials and senior managers. The country's score on the estimated earned income indicator also increased from 0.456 to 0.682.

Namibia (8th) is one of the two countries in the Top 10 facing reversal in its overall performance. After continued positive progress since 2006, Namibia dropped two places in the ranking and slightly reopened its overall gender gap, reaching a score of 0.807 compared to 0.809 in 2021. Namibia's performance on the Health and Survival subindex has remained unchanged since 2014. On Economic Participation and Opportunity, Namibia reported lower levels of parity in three indicators than in 2021: women's labour-force participation (-0.014), wage equality (-0.017) and estimated earned income (-0.005). Although it has achieved parity across all levels of education and a high literacy score (0.998), Namibia's ranking on the Educational Attainment subindex has not gained ground since slipping from parity in 2016. On the Political Empowerment subindex, the only change registered in 2022 was a small reduction in the gender gap score for women in ministerial positions (-0.001).

One of the six countries in the Top 10 that did not report significant changes in their overall gender gap score or rank between 2021 and 2022 is Ireland (9th). However, Ireland does recover ground lost since posting its highest score in 2016 (0.806). The Health and Survival subindex reports no changes. On the Political Empowerment subindex, Ireland's score remains similar to last year, maintaining the country's upwards progress. Ireland registered small improvements on the Educational Attainment subindex, where the score improved (by +0.002) to 1, as well as the Economic Participation and Opportunity subindex. Its overall Economic Participation score rose by +0.013, bolstered by continued parity in women's participation as professional and technical workers, and by a reduction of gender gaps in estimated earned income, wage equality, and participation of legislators, senior officials and managers. However, these improvements are countered by a reduced score in women's labour-force participation (-0.026).

Germany (10th) returns to the top 10 this year, having occupied ranks between 10 and 14 since the 2008 edition. Its 2022 gender gap score is the highest the country has registered in the history of the index, signaling Germany's continued and progressive advancement since 2006. Across subindexes, Germany ranks highest on Political Empowerment, which is also the subindex where it has the highest level of improvement over time. Its 2022 subindex score (0.55) is higher than 94% of countries in the index, and its score for share of women in leadership over the past 50 years is the fourth highest in Europe. In Educational Attainment, Germany maintains high levels of parity despite a slightly widened gender gap in secondary education (-0.039 score change). On Economic Participation and Opportunity, Germany reduced scores across indicators compared to 2021, bringing its subindex score (0.695) down to lower levels, and back to the scores registered in 2009. Finally, on Health and Survival, Germany has experienced no variation over the last year, although its score (0.972) is slightly lower than in 2006.

The state of gender outcomes can be better assessed using a wealth of valid qualitative and detailed data reported to official international data-collection bodies. The share of the global female population represented by the following countries is both statistically and strategically significant to monitoring and benchmarking efforts like this index. Based on the data that was officially reported for the period included in this edition, the following trends and shifts were observed in the index's 15 most populous countries, which, combined, represent two-thirds of the world's female population.

In Bangladesh (71st) women this year experienced a decline in overall gender parity, as reflected in a lower gender gap score and index ranking compared to 2021. The change is in part the product of slightly lower country performance on Educational Attainment (-0.028 decrease in score), a subindex with high concentration of scores near parity. A small drop in the gender gap score for literacy and the absence of recent data in primary education overshadow a slim increase of gender parity in tertiary education (+0.065 score change). Bangladesh reported no changes on Political Empowerment (9th) and Health and Survival (129th) indexes. On the Economic Participation and Opportunity subindex (141st), there was a reduction in both men and women's workforce participation, by 3.6 and 5.45 percentage points, respectively. However, the proportional impact was higher for women. The negative impact of this shortfall was nonetheless counteracted by a 5.3 percentage point increase in the share of women who are professional and technical workers, as well a 13% increase in women's estimated earned income (compared to men's 11% increase), that raised parity outcomes overall.

Brazil (94th) is the home of approximately 108.1 million women. To date, the country has closed 69.6% of its overall gender gap, a minor improvement from 2021. The most significant changes Brazil registered this year were on the Economic Participation and Opportunity subindex, where it improves its ranking from last year by four places. The share of women in legislator, senior official and managerial roles decreased by 1%, while the share of male workers in the same category increased proportionally, and the share of women in technical and professional roles remained at full parity. Estimated earned income parity improved slightly (+0.052), but mainly because men's income decreased: in 2022, women earn 1% more than they did in 2021 while men earn 7% less. Wage equality for similar work also improved, with a score increase of +0.017. The one subindex where Brazil reports lower performance is Political Empowerment, because of a contraction in the share of women in parliament (-0.4% percentage points), where 12 of 81 seats are currently held by women (14.8%). Brazil has voluntary quotas in its bicameral parliament (Senate), and legislated quotas requiring a minimum of 30% of candidates of one sex be presented in electoral lists for the Chamber of Deputies (lower house).

China (102nd) improves its overall ranking in the index by five places in 2022 and is home to approximately 689 million women.³ China's gender gap scores went up on two dimensions of the index: economics and health. On Economic Participation and Opportunity, while labour-force participation decreased for women and men alike the gap remained steady. The second area of improvement was Health and Survival, where the estimated sex ratio at birth increased slightly (+0.006). In Educational Attainment, China registered a lower parity score for secondary education enrolment. However, it is worth noting that the overall subindex score for China has ranged between 93.6% and 98% over the past 16 years. On Political Empowerment, the negative change in score (-0.006) derives from women's waning share of years in leadership at the executive level for the past 50 years.

The Democratic Republic of Congo (144th) improves its position within the index by seven places, having closed 57.5% of its gender gap. Compared to last year, Congo reports improved results on Educational Attainment (144th), and no change on Health and Survival nor Political Empowerment. On Educational Attainment, a small-step change in secondary education enrolment (+0.006) was enough to increase its subindex score to 0.661, which is higher than those of the past two editions, and places Congo slightly under the level of educational parity that the country first registered in 2018 (0.674). On Economic Participation and Opportunity (120th), Congo sees a slight score reduction (-0.005), driven by a decline in gender parity in labour-force participation. The driver of improved economic outcomes is an increase of 6.5 percentage points in the share of women as professional and technical workers, which improved the indicator score from 0.217 to 0.322.

With a population of approximately 50.6 million women, Egypt (129th) remains steady within the index, but with a marginally lower score in 2022 (0.635) than last year. The subindex that reported improvement is Political Empowerment. In 2021, parliamentarians elected in 2020 took office, and women achieved the highest level of representation at that level to date (27.7%). It is worth noting that Egypt has a gender quota that reserves 25% of parliamentary seats for women. The subindexes pulling Egypt's score down are Economic Participation and Opportunity and Educational Attainment. As to the first, Egypt is another country impacted by an asymmetrical reduction of women's labour-force participation. Their share of both legislators, senior officials and managers as well as professional and technical workers also decreased. On Educational Attainment, the gender gap score in secondary education enrolment has decreased slightly.

While the share of women as a total of the population has been declining in Ethiopia (74th), it stood at 57 million in 2020. In this year's edition of the index, Ethiopia drastically improves its position, climbing from 97th to 74th. It also improves its gender gap score by +0.19, reporting a 71% closure of the gap to date. Ethiopia reports better scores across all subindexes except Health and Survival, which remains static. On Economic Participation and Opportunity, even though it has a lower rate of workforce participation for women, there was an upturn of 2.7 percentage points in the share of women in the category of professional and technical workers. In turn, the share of men among professional and technical workers, while still twice as large as women's, reported negative growth of 3.8 percentage points over last year. Women's estimated earned income surged 36% while men's increased by 33%. On Political Empowerment, women's share of parliamentary seats rose by 2.7% compared to last year, while women's share of years in leadership as head of state continues to grow.

India's (135th) global gender gap score has oscillated between 0.593 and 0.683 since the index was first compiled. In 2022, India scores 0.629, which is its seventh-highest score in the last 16 years. With a female population of approximately 662 million, India's level of attainment weighs heavily on regional rankings. Recovering ground since 2021, India registers the most significant and positive change to its performance on Economic Participation and Opportunity. Labour-force participation shrunk for both men (by -9.5 percentage points) and women (-3 percentage points) since 2021. However, in every other indicator India has gained in parity relative to the weighting of other indicators on the subindex. The share of women legislators, senior officials and managers increased from 14.6% to 17.6%, and the share of women as professional and technical workers grew from 29.2% to 32.9%. The gender parity score for estimated earned income improved; while values for both men and women diminished, they declined more for men. The Educational Attainment and Health and Survival subindexes report small, insignificant changes. However, Political Empowerment records a declining score (-0.010) due to the diminishing share of years women have served as head of state for the past 50 years.

Compared to last year, Indonesia (92nd) records improvements to its rank (+9) as well as to its gender gap score. Indonesia, like most countries, saw a reduction of labour-force participation: the share of women who left the workforce in Indonesia was 2.3%. However, in a country of 135 million women with a 56% female participation rate (ages 15-64), this still impacts roughly over 1.3 million women. Both men and women saw a reduction in estimated earned income, although men's values dropped disproportionately, increasing parity. In addition, the share of women in professional and technical workers has reached parity, while the share of women in legislative, senior and managerial roles also increased from 29.7% to 32.4%. On Educational Attainment, the scores for literacy and primary education enrolment increased slightly, pushing the subindex score up +0.002. Finally, it is noted that while the Health and Survival subindex presents the least amount of variability, Indonesia is among the few countries where healthy life expectancy showed a negative development (-0.001).

Japan's (116th) female share of the total population has been increasing since 2010 while the total population has been declining. In 2020, it was estimated to include 64 million women. In this year's edition, Japan's rank improves despite a lower gender gap score (0.650). On two subindexes Japan reports the same scores as last year: Health and Survival and Political Empowerment. On Educational Attainment, Japan reached parity on three core indicators: literacy and primary and secondary education enrolment. On Economic Participation and Opportunity Japan's performance declined, with its subindex score dropping to 0.564, comparable to levels posted in 2016. The drop was caused by a disproportionate decrease in women's workforce participation (-19.5%, compared to men's 15.3%), one of the index's 10 lowest performances registered for the indicator. The share of women in legislative, senior and managerial positions also decreased (by 9.8%) while men's share increased (by +2.6%).

Mexico (31st), a country of 65 million women, has closed 76.4% of its gap in 2022 and has posted its highest parity score to date. In doing so, the country climbs three positions in the global ranking. The subindex driving Mexico's results is chiefly Political Empowerment, and, specifically, parity at the level of parliament. The Health and Survival subindex shows no changes, although data was not available for one of the two indicators considered. On Educational Attainment, Mexico's subindex score has fallen since 2016, despite recent editions reporting parity in secondary and tertiary education enrolments. Lastly, on Economic Participation and Opportunity Mexico scored 0.597, continuing an upwards trend in gender parity since 2018. In 2022, women represented a slightly smaller share of professional and technical workers, which remains nonetheless close to parity at 0.988. The share of women legislators, senior officials and managers increased by 2.5 percentage points. Estimated earned income dropped for both men (-10.3%) and women (-8.1%), reducing the gender gap on this indicator by -1.2 percentage points, but on account of overall reduced earnings. However, it is important to note that women's earnings represent only one-half of men's estimated earnings in 2022, meaning there are still important economic barriers to gender parity.

In covering 63.9% of its gender gap, Nigeria (123rd) returns to higher and earlier levels of parity (2013, 2016) registered in the 16-year period covered by the report. It also ascends 16 ranks on the overall index, with positive changes recorded on the economic and educational subindexes. After dipping in 2021, overall parity recovered in Nigeria, although the rates of participation decreased for both men and women. While parity in professional and technical workers declined from 1 to 0.628 over the past year, parity in legislators, senior officials and managers increased from 0.434 to 1, as women now make up a majority in 2022. On Educational Attainment, Nigeria records higher levels of parity in secondary education and tertiary education enrolments. However, both shares of men and women in secondary education 2022 were lower than in 2021, while both shares increased in tertiary education. The subindex where Nigeria has the widest gap to close is Political Empowerment, which has been widening since 2012 and currently stands at 96%.

Pakistan (145th) has a population of 107 million women, and in 2022 has closed 56.4% of the gender gap that affects them. This is the highest overall level of parity Pakistan has posted since the report launched. Pakistan registers significant improvement across three subindexes, with the highest positive variation on Economic Participation and Opportunity. While wage equality carries the highest gender gap score among economic indicators (0.620), advances were also reported in estimated earned income, where women's earnings increased 4% compared to 2021. However, it is worth noting that women's labour-force participation declined by 1.9 percentage points in 2022, while both shares of men and women workers in senior and professional categories saw a downturn. On Educational Attainment, gender parity scores for literacy, secondary and tertiary education enrolment all rose. However, the shares of male and female students in secondary and tertiary education both increased from 2021, while a drop in parity in literacy correlates to a reduction of the population of men that are literate.

Philippines (19th) is the home of roughly 54 million women. While the country has improved upon its first gender parity score by 4.2 percentage points, since 2013 progress has hovered between 0.783 and 0.799. In 2022 the Philippines records a gender gap of 21.7%, similar to last year. As a result, Philippines dropped two spots in the general ranking, from 17th to 19th, with minor variations across subindexes. No significant changes, positive or negative, occurred on Health and Survival or Political Empowerment. However, on Educational Attainment, gender parity decreased at the level of enrolment in primary education, with a notably larger share of boys than girls in growing enrolment numbers overall. On the Economic Participation and Opportunity subindex, while the entire labour force was impacted, in 2022 the share of women participating in the workforce was still 24.5 percentage points lower than the share of men. Gender parity for legislative, senior officers and managers, as well as for professional and technical workers, remains constant.

The United States (27th) climbs +3 positions in the ranking compared to last year. Its gender gap score improves slightly, resulting in 167 million women facing a remaining gender gap of 23.1%. The two subindexes detailing higher levels of parity in 2022 are Political Empowerment and Economic Participation and Opportunity, while Educational Attainment and Health and Survival remain virtually unchanged. Similarly, the share of women legislators, senior officials and managers fell from last year. The share of women as professional and technical workers remains at parity and the perception of wage equality increased compared to last year. In addition, estimated earned income for women increased in 2022, but declined for men, improving parity. After the legislative election of 2020, women also increased their share of seats in parliament as well as the years parliament has been headed by a woman.

Viet Nam (83rd) improves its placing by four ranks, supported by mild improvements in three of the four subindexes. On Political Empowerment, Viet Nam saw a 3.6 percentage points increase in the share of women in parliament, although men continue to hold 100% of ministerial roles. On Health and Survival, sex ratio at birth increased from 0.894 to 0.902, while healthy life expectancy remained the same. On Educational Attainment, the literacy rate increased by +0.005, which, in the absence of data for compulsory education enrolment, raised the subindex score slightly. Viet Nam posted negative changes on Economic Participation and Opportunity. Indicators at this level reveal that lower workforce participation and lower parity in workforce participation have both contributed to poorer gender outcomes. While parity in technical and professional workers has been maintained, the share of women in legislator, senior and manager roles decreased approximately 1 percentage point. Finally, estimated earned income also fell, in higher proportion for women (-20.7%) than for men (-18.3%).

1. The regional grouping has been revised in this edition of the report to align with regional groupings in other flagship reports published by the World Economic Forum and other International Organizations.

2. With the exception of Russian Federation, which is not featured in the 2022 edition.

3. National Bureau of Statistics of China. Communiqué of the Seventh National Population Census (No. 4) [Press release], accessed 23 May 2022, http://www.stats.gov.cn/english/PressRelease/202105/t20210510_1817189.html.