Data for 1998

Gender Inequality Index, 1998

Name: Gender Inequality Index, 1998
Creator: UNDP Human Development Report Office
License: https://hdr.undp.org/copyright-and-terms-use

1998, as UNDP Human Development Report Office’s 2025 release gives it · stored as published, never rewritten

Gender Inequality Index, 1998 covers 107 countries. Pakistan is highest, at 0.778; Sweden is lowest, at 0.061. The middle country reads 0.440. Against 1997, 96 values changed (15 up, 81 down), 5 countries joined.

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Gender Inequality Index · Data for 1998

HighestPakistan

0.778

LowestSweden

0.061

Shaded by value in five groups of equal size, darkest at the lowest end.

107countries
1measure
1998the year it describes
101distinct values3 decimals, as published
Sep 6, 2026read from the publisher
CC BY 3.0 IGOlicence

01UNDP Human Development Report Office’s rank

The table

Every country and every column of Gender Inequality Index, 1998, as published. The rank is UNDP Human Development Report Office’s own, as printed. “=” marks a shared position.

Search this table

Showing 25 of 107 countries · select a heading to sort

Gender Inequality Index, 1998: every country, as published by UNDP Human Development Report Office.

1	Sweden`SWE`Northern Europe	0.061
2	Denmark`DNK`Northern Europe	0.078
3	Finland`FIN`Northern Europe	0.089
4	Netherlands`NLD`Western Europe	0.093
5	Switzerland`CHE`Western Europe	0.095
6	Norway`NOR`Northern Europe	0.099
7	Germany`DEU`Western Europe	0.133
8	Spain`ESP`Southern Europe	0.142
9	Austria`AUT`Western Europe	0.143
10	Belgium`BEL`Western Europe	0.156
11	Luxembourg`LUX`Western Europe	0.157
12	Canada`CAN`Northern America	0.161
=13	Iceland`ISL`Northern Europe	0.165
=13	Japan`JPN`Eastern Asia	0.165
15	Australia`AUS`Australia and New Zealand	0.171
=16	France`FRA`Western Europe	0.189
=16	Slovenia`SVN`Southern Europe	0.189
18	Italy`ITA`Southern Europe	0.191
19	Czechia`CZE`Eastern Europe	0.198
20	New Zealand`NZL`Australia and New Zealand	0.199
=21	China`CHN`Eastern Asia	0.207
=21	Ireland`IRL`Northern Europe	0.207
23	Poland`POL`Eastern Europe	0.211
24	Portugal`PRT`Southern Europe	0.216
25	Slovakia`SVK`Eastern Europe	0.224
26	United Kingdom`GBR`Northern Europe	0.240
27	Greece`GRC`Southern Europe	0.243
28	South Korea`KOR`Eastern Asia	0.244
29	Croatia`HRV`Southern Europe	0.245
30	Israel`ISR`Western Asia	0.255
31	Singapore`SGP`South-eastern Asia	0.256
32	Lithuania`LTU`Northern Europe	0.265
33	United States`USA`Northern America	0.281
34	Hungary`HUN`Eastern Europe	0.300
35	Cyprus`CYP`Western Asia	0.323
36	Estonia`EST`Northern Europe	0.325
37	Bulgaria`BGR`Eastern Europe	0.328
38	Latvia`LVA`Northern Europe	0.329
39	Malta`MLT`Southern Europe	0.333
40	Malaysia`MYS`South-eastern Asia	0.340
41	Bahamas`BHS`Caribbean	0.356
42	Barbados`BRB`Caribbean	0.361
43	Vietnam`VNM`South-eastern Asia	0.366
44	Azerbaijan`AZE`Western Asia	0.383
45	North Macedonia`MKD`Southern Europe	0.394
46	Trinidad and Tobago`TTO`Caribbean	0.400
47	Russia`RUS`Eastern Europe	0.404
48	Uruguay`URY`South America	0.410
49	Thailand`THA`South-eastern Asia	0.422
50	Argentina`ARG`South America	0.425
51	Sri Lanka`LKA`Southern Asia	0.430
52	Tunisia`TUN`Northern Africa	0.436
53	Armenia`ARM`Western Asia	0.439
=54	Chile`CHL`South America	0.440
=54	Saint Lucia`LCA`Caribbean	0.440
56	Jamaica`JAM`Caribbean	0.445
57	Romania`ROU`Eastern Europe	0.447
58	Mexico`MEX`Central America	0.459
59	Mauritius`MUS`Eastern Africa	0.465
60	South Africa`ZAF`Southern Africa	0.467
61	Fiji`FJI`Melanesia	0.475
62	Philippines`PHL`South-eastern Asia	0.476
63	El Salvador`SLV`Central America	0.482
64	Panama`PAN`Central America	0.496
65	Ecuador`ECU`South America	0.498
66	Brazil`BRA`South America	0.522
67	Maldives`MDV`Southern Asia	0.524
68	Peru`PER`South America	0.525
=69	Belize`BLZ`Central America	0.527
=69	Tajikistan`TJK`Central Asia	0.527
71	Dominican Republic`DOM`Caribbean	0.532
72	Syria`SYR`Western Asia	0.534
73	Venezuela`VEN`South America	0.537
74	Botswana`BWA`Southern Africa	0.540
75	Honduras`HND`Central America	0.549
76	Namibia`NAM`Southern Africa	0.559
77	Indonesia`IDN`South-eastern Asia	0.566
78	Lesotho`LSO`Southern Africa	0.568
79	Zimbabwe`ZWE`Eastern Africa	0.573
80	Türkiye`TUR`Western Asia	0.577
=81	Gabon`GAB`Middle Africa	0.579
=81	Paraguay`PRY`South America	0.579
83	Iran`IRN`Southern Asia	0.589
84	Rwanda`RWA`Eastern Africa	0.591
85	Mozambique`MOZ`Eastern Africa	0.595
86	Nicaragua`NIC`Central America	0.599
87	Laos`LAO`South-eastern Asia	0.604
88	Ghana`GHA`Western Africa	0.612
89	Guatemala`GTM`Central America	0.617
90	Burundi`BDI`Eastern Africa	0.621
91	Algeria`DZA`Northern Africa	0.627
92	Egypt`EGY`Northern Africa	0.633
93	Cambodia`KHM`South-eastern Asia	0.642
94	Zambia`ZMB`Eastern Africa	0.647
95	Benin`BEN`Western Africa	0.652
96	Bangladesh`BGD`Southern Asia	0.659
97	India`IND`Southern Asia	0.682
98	Cameroon`CMR`Middle Africa	0.687
99	Nepal`NPL`Southern Asia	0.692
100	Malawi`MWI`Eastern Africa	0.694
101	Kuwait`KWT`Western Asia	0.698
102	Iraq`IRQ`Western Asia	0.717
103	Morocco`MAR`Northern Africa	0.727
104	Sudan`SDN`Northern Africa	0.729
105	United Arab Emirates`ARE`Western Asia	0.750
106	Tonga`TON`Polynesia	0.769
107	Pakistan`PAK`Southern Asia	0.778

02In 1998

At either end

The 5 countries at each end of the headline.

Highest

#107Pakistan0.778
#106Tonga0.769
#105United Arab Emirates0.750
#104Sudan0.729
#103Morocco0.727

Lowest

#1Sweden0.061
#2Denmark0.078
#3Finland0.089
#4Netherlands0.093
#5Switzerland0.095

A higher value is the worse result. The middle country reads 0.440. “Shared” marks a value another country also holds.

031997 → 1998

Since 1997

What changed between 1997 and this one: who joined or left, and how far the headline moved.

+5 / −0countries joined / left
96values changed, of 102 in both
15 · 81rose · fell
6unchanged

Rose most

Cyprus0.307 → 0.323+0.016
Hungary0.288 → 0.300+0.012
Sudan0.723 → 0.729+0.006
Pakistan0.773 → 0.778+0.005
Belize0.523 → 0.527+0.004

Fell most

Ecuador0.590 → 0.498−0.092
Syria0.562 → 0.534−0.028
Chile0.465 → 0.440−0.025
Maldives0.548 → 0.524−0.024
Sri Lanka0.452 → 0.430−0.022

+ Burundi

+ China

+ Honduras

+ Laos

+ Malawi

Both years come from the same release, so a difference here is a change in the data, not a revision of it. Every country’s full history is charted on the statistic page.

04Caveats

Read before you use

What this edition’s numbers are and are not, worked out from the file itself.

How values are stored

One year of the 2025 release
Every year in this series comes from UNDP Human Development Report Office’s 2025 release, recalculated on one method. It can differ from what was first published for 1998.
101 distinct values among 107
Values are stored exactly as published, to 3 decimals. 2 countries share 0.165. Countries sharing a value share a position too.
The rank is UNDP Human Development Report Office’s
Printed as the publisher ranked the countries; never re-ranked here.
Nothing missing
Every one of the 107 countries has every column.

05The files

Download and cite

The table as a file, digit for digit, what this site changed, and a citation for this edition.

Licence in full

.csv
For a spreadsheet or code
107 rows · 3.7 KB · UTF-8, opens in Excel
Opens with 11 lines of source notes; the table starts on row 13.
Download gender-inequality-1998-nations-inquiry.csv
↗
The publisher’s original
UNDP Human Development Report Office’s own file, on its own site.
HDR25_Composite_indices_complete_time_series.csv

What this site changed: Reshaped into one row per country: regional and income-group totals are left out, only the columns listed are kept, each row gets its ISO 3166 code, and some country names are brought to one spelling. No value is recalculated, rescaled or rounded.

Licence: CC BY 3.0 IGO · what it allows, in plain words

Cite this edition

UNDP Human Development Report Office (1998). Gender Inequality Index, 1998 [data set], describing 1998. As held by Nations Inquiry, https://nationsinquiry.com/datasets/gender-inequality/1998

0634 held

Other years

‹ The year before
Gender Inequality Index, 1997
102 countries
The year after ›
Gender Inequality Index, 1999
112 countries
All of them
Gender Inequality Index: every year
34 held, with the data dictionary, coverage and licence.
How it has moved, charted by country

07Questions