Data for 1991

Women's Political Empowerment Index, 1991

Name: Women's Political Empowerment Index, 1991
Creator: V-Dem Institute, University of Gothenburg
License: https://v-dem.net/data/the-v-dem-dataset/

1991, as V-Dem Institute’s 2026 release gives it · stored as published, never rewritten

Women's Political Empowerment Index, 1991 covers 168 countries. Denmark is highest, at 0.954; Somalia is lowest, at 0.139. The middle country reads 0.604. Against 1990, 113 values changed (84 up, 29 down), 3 countries joined, 1 left.

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Women's Political Empowerment Index · Data for 1991

HighestDenmark

0.954

LowestSomalia

0.139

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

168countries
1measure
1991the year it describes
153distinct values3 decimals, as published
Sep 26, 2026read from the publisher
CC BY-SA 4.0licence

01Position · derived

The table

Every country and every column of Women's Political Empowerment Index, 1991, as published. V-Dem Institute ranks nobody on this measure; the position is derived here by ordering the published values. “=” marks a shared position.

Search this table

Showing 25 of 168 countries · select a heading to sort

Women's Political Empowerment Index, 1991: every country, as published by V-Dem Institute, University of Gothenburg.
derived
1	Denmark`DNK`Northern Europe	0.954
2	Sweden`SWE`Northern Europe	0.949
3	Norway`NOR`Northern Europe	0.945
4	Finland`FIN`Northern Europe	0.932
5	Belgium`BEL`Western Europe	0.916
6	Germany`DEU`Western Europe	0.913
7	Netherlands`NLD`Western Europe	0.908
8	Hungary`HUN`Eastern Europe	0.907
9	Costa Rica`CRI`Central America	0.905
10	New Zealand`NZL`Australia and New Zealand	0.898
11	Switzerland`CHE`Western Europe	0.897
12	Hong Kong`HKG`Eastern Asia	0.892
13	Austria`AUT`Western Europe	0.890
14	Spain`ESP`Southern Europe	0.887
15	Australia`AUS`Australia and New Zealand	0.886
16	Iceland`ISL`Northern Europe	0.885
17	Italy`ITA`Southern Europe	0.883
18	Canada`CAN`Northern America	0.879
19	France`FRA`Western Europe	0.874
20	Poland`POL`Eastern Europe	0.873
21	Czechia`CZE`Eastern Europe	0.863
22	Greece`GRC`Southern Europe	0.862
23	Bulgaria`BGR`Eastern Europe	0.854
=24	Jamaica`JAM`Caribbean	0.848
=24	Portugal`PRT`Southern Europe	0.848
26	Luxembourg`LUX`Western Europe	0.847
27	United States`USA`Northern America	0.846
28	Lithuania`LTU`Northern Europe	0.833
29	Israel`ISR`Western Asia	0.832
30	Trinidad and Tobago`TTO`Caribbean	0.830
31	Ireland`IRL`Northern Europe	0.827
32	Barbados`BRB`Caribbean	0.824
33	Uruguay`URY`South America	0.811
34	Estonia`EST`Northern Europe	0.809
35	Guyana`GUY`South America	0.802
36	Venezuela`VEN`South America	0.801
37	Philippines`PHL`South-eastern Asia	0.799
38	United Kingdom`GBR`Northern Europe	0.795
39	Slovenia`SVN`Southern Europe	0.785
40	São Tomé and Príncipe`STP`Middle Africa	0.778
=41	Argentina`ARG`South America	0.763
=41	Romania`ROU`Eastern Europe	0.763
43	Benin`BEN`Western Africa	0.757
44	Senegal`SEN`Western Africa	0.746
45	Taiwan`TWN`Eastern Asia	0.741
46	Malta`MLT`Southern Europe	0.738
47	Kazakhstan`KAZ`Central Asia	0.732
48	Brazil`BRA`South America	0.729
49	Japan`JPN`Eastern Asia	0.723
50	Cyprus`CYP`Western Asia	0.722
=51	Colombia`COL`South America	0.721
=51	Moldova`MDA`Eastern Europe	0.721
53	Georgia`GEO`Western Asia	0.716
54	Ukraine`UKR`Eastern Europe	0.712
55	Tanzania`TZA`Eastern Africa	0.711
56	Nicaragua`NIC`Central America	0.707
57	Suriname`SUR`South America	0.705
58	Panama`PAN`Central America	0.701
59	Seychelles`SYC`Eastern Africa	0.700
60	Mauritius`MUS`Eastern Africa	0.695
61	South Korea`KOR`Eastern Asia	0.674
62	Armenia`ARM`Western Asia	0.672
63	Bangladesh`BGD`Southern Asia	0.661
64	Vanuatu`VUT`Melanesia	0.660
65	Dominican Republic`DOM`Caribbean	0.657
=66	Mozambique`MOZ`Eastern Africa	0.651
=66	Thailand`THA`South-eastern Asia	0.651
68	Zimbabwe`ZWE`Eastern Africa	0.648
69	Belarus`BLR`Eastern Europe	0.647
70	Namibia`NAM`Southern Africa	0.646
71	Uganda`UGA`Eastern Africa	0.644
72	Peru`PER`South America	0.641
73	Cuba`CUB`Caribbean	0.634
=74	Madagascar`MDG`Eastern Africa	0.633
=74	Singapore`SGP`South-eastern Asia	0.633
76	Cabo Verde`CPV`Western Africa	0.632
=77	Croatia`HRV`Southern Europe	0.631
=77	Serbia`SRB`Southern Europe	0.631
79	Chile`CHL`South America	0.624
80	Tunisia`TUN`Northern Africa	0.619
81	Kyrgyzstan`KGZ`Central Asia	0.617
82	Malaysia`MYS`South-eastern Asia	0.615
83	Burkina Faso`BFA`Western Africa	0.607
84	Vietnam`VNM`South-eastern Asia	0.606
85	Gabon`GAB`Middle Africa	0.602
=86	Cameroon`CMR`Middle Africa	0.600
=86	Togo`TGO`Western Africa	0.600
=88	North Macedonia`MKD`Southern Europe	0.599
=88	Sri Lanka`LKA`Southern Asia	0.599
90	Honduras`HND`Central America	0.594
91	Botswana`BWA`Southern Africa	0.593
92	Mali`MLI`Western Africa	0.586
93	India`IND`Southern Asia	0.584
94	Zambia`ZMB`Eastern Africa	0.582
95	Niger`NER`Western Africa	0.571
96	Nigeria`NGA`Western Africa	0.568
97	Ecuador`ECU`South America	0.567
98	Lesotho`LSO`Southern Africa	0.565
99	China`CHN`Eastern Asia	0.560
100	Liberia`LBR`Western Africa	0.553
=101	Albania`ALB`Southern Europe	0.548
=101	Türkiye`TUR`Western Asia	0.548
103	Tajikistan`TJK`Central Asia	0.547
=104	Bhutan`BTN`Southern Asia	0.528
=104	Rwanda`RWA`Eastern Africa	0.528
106	Somaliland`XSL`Eastern Africa	0.524
107	Bolivia`BOL`South America	0.522
108	Ghana`GHA`Western Africa	0.520
109	Guinea-Bissau`GNB`Western Africa	0.517
110	Angola`AGO`Middle Africa	0.509
111	Fiji`FJI`Melanesia	0.507
112	Côte d’Ivoire`CIV`Western Africa	0.506
113	Mongolia`MNG`Eastern Asia	0.505
114	Paraguay`PRY`South America	0.501
=115	Mexico`MEX`Central America	0.499
=115	Russia`RUS`Eastern Europe	0.499
117	Jordan`JOR`Western Asia	0.498
118	Gambia`GMB`Western Africa	0.494
119	Nepal`NPL`Southern Asia	0.483
=120	Azerbaijan`AZE`Western Asia	0.477
=120	Lebanon`LBN`Western Asia	0.477
122	Maldives`MDV`Southern Asia	0.472
123	Central African Republic`CAF`Middle Africa	0.461
124	Papua New Guinea`PNG`Melanesia	0.446
125	Algeria`DZA`Northern Africa	0.442
=126	Comoros`COM`Eastern Africa	0.429
=126	Uzbekistan`UZB`Central Asia	0.429
128	Kenya`KEN`Eastern Africa	0.426
=129	Chad`TCD`Middle Africa	0.415
=129	Haiti`HTI`Caribbean	0.415
131	Syria`SYR`Western Asia	0.408
132	Indonesia`IDN`South-eastern Asia	0.406
133	Pakistan`PAK`Southern Asia	0.394
134	Equatorial Guinea`GNQ`Middle Africa	0.385
135	El Salvador`SLV`Central America	0.384
136	Egypt`EGY`Northern Africa	0.378
137	Morocco`MAR`Northern Africa	0.369
138	Guatemala`GTM`Central America	0.364
139	Eswatini`SWZ`Southern Africa	0.362
140	Solomon Islands`SLB`Melanesia	0.361
=141	Ethiopia`ETH`Eastern Africa	0.354
=141	Guinea`GIN`Western Africa	0.354
143	Burundi`BDI`Eastern Africa	0.353
144	DR Congo`COD`Middle Africa	0.351
145	Republic of the Congo`COG`Middle Africa	0.348
146	Mauritania`MRT`Western Africa	0.347
147	Bahrain`BHR`Western Asia	0.321
148	Cambodia`KHM`South-eastern Asia	0.312
149	Malawi`MWI`Eastern Africa	0.303
150	Sierra Leone`SLE`Western Africa	0.302
151	Laos`LAO`South-eastern Asia	0.300
152	Turkmenistan`TKM`Central Asia	0.290
153	Iraq`IRQ`Western Asia	0.289
154	North Korea`PRK`Eastern Asia	0.286
155	Yemen`YEM`Western Asia	0.279
156	Oman`OMN`Western Asia	0.277
157	Myanmar`MMR`South-eastern Asia	0.269
158	South Africa`ZAF`Southern Africa	0.259
159	Kuwait`KWT`Western Asia	0.258
160	Iran`IRN`Southern Asia	0.233
161	Djibouti`DJI`Eastern Africa	0.222
162	Timor-Leste`TLS`South-eastern Asia	0.216
163	Eritrea`ERI`Eastern Africa	0.205
164	Sudan`SDN`Northern Africa	0.187
165	Afghanistan`AFG`Southern Asia	0.171
166	Libya`LBY`Northern Africa	0.163
167	United Arab Emirates`ARE`Western Asia	0.159
168	Somalia`SOM`Eastern Africa	0.139

02In 1991

At either end

The 5 countries at each end of the headline.

Highest

1Denmark0.954
2Sweden0.949
3Norway0.945
4Finland0.932
5Belgium0.916

Lowest

168Somalia0.139
167United Arab Emirates0.159
166Libya0.163
165Afghanistan0.171
164Sudan0.187

A higher value is the better result. The middle country reads 0.604. “Shared” marks a value another country also holds.

031990 → 1991

Since 1990

What changed between 1990 and this one: who joined or left, and how far the headline moved.

+3 / −1countries joined / left
113values changed, of 165 in both
84 · 29rose · fell
52unchanged

Rose most

Colombia0.526 → 0.721+0.195
Ethiopia0.185 → 0.354+0.169
Chad0.303 → 0.415+0.112
Guinea0.243 → 0.354+0.111
Georgia0.614 → 0.716+0.102

Fell most

Armenia0.845 → 0.672−0.173
Turkmenistan0.416 → 0.290−0.126
Serbia0.702 → 0.631−0.071
Mexico0.528 → 0.499−0.029
Cabo Verde0.660 → 0.632−0.028

+ Croatia

+ North Macedonia+ Somaliland

− Latvia

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 2026 release
Every year in this series comes from V-Dem Institute’s 2026 release, recalculated on one method. It can differ from what was first published for 1991.
153 distinct values among 168
Values are stored exactly as published, to 3 decimals. 2 countries share 0.848. Countries sharing a value share a position too.
The position is ours
V-Dem Institute publishes values only; the order is this site’s.
Nothing missing
Every one of the 168 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
168 rows · 4.6 KB · UTF-8, opens in Excel
Opens with 11 lines of source notes; the table starts on row 13.
Download womens-political-empowerment-1991-nations-inquiry.csv
↗
The publisher’s original
V-Dem Institute’s own file, on its own site.
V-Dem-CY-Core-v16_csv.zip

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-SA 4.0 · what it allows, in plain words

Cite this edition

V-Dem Institute, University of Gothenburg (1991). Women's Political Empowerment Index, 1991 [data set], describing 1991. As held by Nations Inquiry, https://nationsinquiry.com/datasets/womens-political-empowerment/1991

0636 held

Other years

‹ The year before
Women's Political Empowerment Index, 1990
166 countries
The year after ›
Women's Political Empowerment Index, 1992
168 countries
All of them
Women's Political Empowerment Index: every year
36 held, with the data dictionary, coverage and licence.
How it has moved, charted by country

07Questions