Nordics Consistently Lead the World in Gender Equality
Iceland has led the World Economic Forum's Global Gender Gap ranking for 17 straight years, with 93% of its gap closed - still the only country above 90%. Finland and Norway hold 2nd and 3rd for a third year running. Namibia climbed to 4th, the top Sub-Saharan African economy. Source: Statista
The World Economic Forum's Global Gender Gap Report 2026, published this week, keeps the Nordic countries at the top of its annual ranking. Iceland has now led the index for 17 consecutive years, with 93% of its gender gap closed - the only economy in the report to pass 90%. Finland (87.2%) and Norway (85.7%) hold second and third place for a third year running. Beyond the Nordic trio, this year's report shows some movement. Namibia climbed four places to fourth, becoming the highest-ranked country in Sub-Saharan Africa, followed by the United Kingdom, New Zealand, Sweden, and Australia, which entered the top 10 for the first time. Across the 20 editions of the report since 2006, only Iceland, Finland, Norway and Sweden have appeared in every top 10. The WEF cautions that progress on gender parity remains uneven: political empowerment, one of the four dimensions the index tracks, has reversed since 2016, and the report estimates full global parity is still about 120 years away at the current pace. Source: World Economic Forum via Statista.