For the fifth successive year, Iceland has been named the country where women have the greatest opportunity, according to a new report. The study on global gender gap, published by the World Economic Forum last Friday, showed that Iceland once again finished in first place when it comes to equality of opportunity between men and women.
The North Atlantic nation first claimed the top spot in 2009, after being ranked fourth between 2006 and 2008.
The rankings, which were compiled from 136 countries, are based on four key areas: economics, politics, health and education. Northern European nations scored particularly well, with Finland, Norway and Sweden taking the second, third and fourth positions respectively. The Philippines was ranked fifth while Denmark came in eighth place.
Of the other notable rankings, the US dropped from 22nd to 23rd, three below its neighbour Canada in 20th spot and one ahead of Australia in 24th place. The African nations of Burundi and Mozambique scored surprisingly well too, finishing in 22nd and 26th place respectively.
At the other end of the list, Yemen finished bottom in 136th position, while Syria, Chad and Pakistan were ranked 133rd, 134th and 135th respectively.
In positive news, more than half the nations surveyed narrowed their gender gaps, according to the authors, largely because of women’s gains in education and politics.