The Georgetown Institute for Women, Peace and Security, in partnership with the Peace Research Institute of Oslo, will launch the second edition of the global Women, Peace and Security Index (WPS Index) today at the United Nations. PRIO Deputy Director and Director of the PRIO Centre on Gender, Peace and Security Torunn L. Tryggestad will speak at the event.

We draw on recognized data sources to rank 167 countries on women’s comprehensive wellbeing and analyze trends in women’s equality.

Norway leads the second edition of the WPS Index, while Yemen ranks worst. The United States ranks 19th.

Report Key Findings

Nearly 60 countries have significantly advanced women’s wellbeing in recent years while only one nation—Yemen—has recorded major deterioration for women’s rights.

The most marked gains for women worldwide were in financial inclusion, access to education, and legal reforms—including in some conflict-affected states.

However, progress overall remains slow and uneven.

Only one country performs well in every aspect of women’s lives captured by the WPS Index.

Women’s employment is moving in the wrong direction globally, despite strong evidence that women’s economic participation is essential for growing economies. 2.7 billion women around the world remain legally restricted from working in the same jobs as men.

The Index includes a measure of intimate partner violence experienced in the past year. Around one in eight women globally experienced such violence, a rate that increases to one in five women in fragile and conflict affected states. The rates are as high as 47 percent in South Sudan.

New investigations within several of the world’s largest countries—namely China, India and Nigeria—reveal that Nigeria has the greatest state-level disparities.

Read the full WPS Index here.

Watch a movie explaining the WPS Index here.