Where is the best place in the world to be a woman?
As Visual Capitalist's Srijaa Chatterjee highlights in the following graphic, according to the latest Women, Peace and Security (WPS) Index, the answer remains Northern Europe, where Nordic countries occupy all five of the top positions.
Published by the Georgetown Institute for Women, Peace and Security, the 2025/26 WPS Index ranks 181 countries using 13 indicators spanning women’s inclusion, justice, and security. The results form the basis for this 2026 ranking.
The World’s Best and Worst Countries for Women
The following table ranks countries based on the Women, Peace and Security Index.
Rank Country WPS Index Score 1 🇩🇰 Denmark 0.939 2 🇮🇸 Iceland 0.932 3 🇳🇴 Norway 0.924 3 🇸🇪 Sweden 0.924 5 🇫🇮 Finland 0.921 6 🇱🇺 Luxembourg 0.918 7 🇧🇪 Belgium 0.912 8 🇳🇱 Netherlands 0.905 9 🇦🇹 Austria 0.898 9 🇳🇿 New Zealand 0.898 11 🇦🇺 Australia 0.896 11 🇪🇪 Estonia 0.896 13 🇮🇪 Ireland 0.891 14 🇸🇮 Slovenia 0.889 15 🇱🇹 Lithuania 0.887 16 🇨🇦 Canada 0.885 17 🇱🇻 Latvia 0.884 17 🇸🇬 Singapore 0.884 19 🇨🇭 Switzerland 0.877 20 🇦🇪 United Arab Emirates 0.872 21 🇩🇪 Germany 0.869 22 🇯🇵 Japan 0.866 23 🇫🇷 France 0.864 23 🇬🇧 United Kingdom 0.864 25 🇪🇸 Spain 0.862 26 🇵🇹 Portugal 0.861 27 🇵🇱 Poland 0.854 27 🇹🇼 Taiwan 0.854 2
