New York, October 27, 2025—Progress for women’s rights and wellbeing has stalled globally, according to the 2025/26 Women, Peace and Security (WPS) Index launched today in New York.
WPS Index scores reveal that global progress on women's status has largely stagnated since tracking began in 2017, with declines in certain regions.
“As wars and conflicts reach a historic peak, progress on women’s status nears a historic low,” says lead author Haleema Hasan.
Since 2017, the Georgetown Institute for Women, Peace and Security, in collaboration with the Peace Research Institute Oslo, has produced the biennial WPS Index to rank countries on women’s status using 13 robust and globally recognized indicators that span the dimensions of women’s inclusion, justice, and security.
Once again, Denmark ranks as the top country for women’s wellbeing according to the WPS Index, scoring more than three times higher than Afghanistan at the bottom. This year, for the first time, two countries in the Latin America and the Caribbean region are in the top 20 percent: Costa Rica (ranking 34th, up from 60th) and Uruguay (35th, up from 59th).
The United States ranks 31st, up from 37th, based on data available up until 2024. However, recent policy changes threaten to undo progress.
Another key finding of the WPS Index is that countries where women’s status is higher are also more peaceful, prosperous, and resilient, including in the face of climate change and economic shocks.
“Our data show that advancing women’s rights and status is not only an ethical and moral imperative; it is also a practical and collective one,” says Ambassador Melanne Verveer, Executive Director of the Georgetown Institute for Women, Peace and Security.
The WPS Index results come at a time when conflicts are escalating worldwide with devastating consequences, especially for women and vulnerable groups. Approximately 676 million women worldwide were exposed to conflict in 2024, a staggering 74 percent rise since 2010 and the highest number of women exposed to conflict ever recorded.
Amidst these alarming trends, some of the greatest improvements in women’s status have come from conflict-affected countries, including Congo and Yemen.
“These are alarming numbers. We know from research that conflict has profound and lasting consequences for individuals, affecting both their immediate well-being and long-term development”, says Siri Aas Rustad, Research Professor and Project Leader at the Peace Research Institute Oslo’s Centre for Gender, Peace and Security.
The WPS Index report is funded by the Government of Norway.
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About GIWPS
Georgetown University’s Institute for Women, Peace and Security seeks to promote a more stable, peaceful, and just world by focusing on the important role women play in preventing conflict and building peace, growing economies, and addressing global threats like climate change and violent extremism. We engage in rigorous research, host global convenings, advance strategic partnerships, and nurture the next generation of leaders. Housed within the Walsh School of Foreign Service at Georgetown, the Institute is headed by the former U.S. Ambassador for Global Women’s Issues, Melanne Verveer.
About PRIO
The PRIO Centre on Gender, Peace and Security is a resource hub for gender research at the Peace Research Institute Oslo. The Peace Research Institute Oslo (PRIO) conducts research on the conditions for peaceful relations between states, groups and people. Its researchers seek to understand the processes that bring societies together or split them apart. PRIO’s Director also presents her own shortlist for the Nobel Peace Prize each year, based on her own assessment of worthy candidates. Founded in 1959, PRIO is an independent research institution known for its effective synergy of basic and policy-relevant research.
For more information or to arrange an interview
- Georgetown University,
Sarah Rutherford
Director of External Affairs
Sdr56@georgetown.edu
+1 412 965 9275
- The Peace Research Institute Oslo, Michelle Delaney Communication Director michelle@prio.org mobile +47 94165 579
