Data for 2018

Women's Political Empowerment Index, 2018

Name: Women's Political Empowerment Index, 2018
Creator: V-Dem Institute, University of Gothenburg
License: https://v-dem.net/data/the-v-dem-dataset/

2018, as V-Dem Institute’s 2026 release gives it · stored as published, never rewritten

Women's Political Empowerment Index, 2018 covers 176 countries. Denmark is highest, at 0.960; Yemen is lowest, at 0.155. The middle country reads 0.772. Against 2017, 164 values changed (98 up, 66 down), the same countries are covered.

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Women's Political Empowerment Index · Data for 2018

HighestDenmark

0.960

LowestYemen

0.155

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

176countries
1measure
2018the year it describes
147distinct 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, 2018, 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 176 countries · select a heading to sort

Women's Political Empowerment Index, 2018: every country, as published by V-Dem Institute, University of Gothenburg.
derived
1	Denmark`DNK`Northern Europe	0.960
2	Germany`DEU`Western Europe	0.954
3	Norway`NOR`Northern Europe	0.951
4	Latvia`LVA`Northern Europe	0.949
5	Estonia`EST`Northern Europe	0.948
6	Belgium`BEL`Western Europe	0.946
7	Finland`FIN`Northern Europe	0.945
8	France`FRA`Western Europe	0.944
=9	New Zealand`NZL`Australia and New Zealand	0.937
=9	Switzerland`CHE`Western Europe	0.937
11	Spain`ESP`Southern Europe	0.935
=12	Austria`AUT`Western Europe	0.928
=12	Portugal`PRT`Southern Europe	0.928
=12	Slovenia`SVN`Southern Europe	0.928
15	Australia`AUS`Australia and New Zealand	0.925
16	United Kingdom`GBR`Northern Europe	0.923
17	Sweden`SWE`Northern Europe	0.921
=18	Iceland`ISL`Northern Europe	0.919
=18	Ireland`IRL`Northern Europe	0.919
=18	Italy`ITA`Southern Europe	0.919
21	Lithuania`LTU`Northern Europe	0.916
22	Czechia`CZE`Eastern Europe	0.914
=23	Costa Rica`CRI`Central America	0.912
=23	Greece`GRC`Southern Europe	0.912
25	Croatia`HRV`Southern Europe	0.905
26	Jamaica`JAM`Caribbean	0.903
27	Uruguay`URY`South America	0.902
28	United States`USA`Northern America	0.897
29	Bulgaria`BGR`Eastern Europe	0.896
30	Taiwan`TWN`Eastern Asia	0.894
=31	Canada`CAN`Northern America	0.892
=31	Trinidad and Tobago`TTO`Caribbean	0.892
33	Hong Kong`HKG`Eastern Asia	0.888
=34	Barbados`BRB`Caribbean	0.881
=34	Israel`ISR`Western Asia	0.881
36	South Korea`KOR`Eastern Asia	0.878
=37	Luxembourg`LUX`Western Europe	0.877
=37	Netherlands`NLD`Western Europe	0.877
39	Romania`ROU`Eastern Europe	0.875
=40	Armenia`ARM`Western Asia	0.874
=40	Slovakia`SVK`Eastern Europe	0.874
42	Georgia`GEO`Western Asia	0.869
=43	Guyana`GUY`South America	0.868
=43	Montenegro`MNE`Southern Europe	0.868
45	Argentina`ARG`South America	0.866
46	Mongolia`MNG`Eastern Asia	0.865
47	Tunisia`TUN`Northern Africa	0.862
=48	Ecuador`ECU`South America	0.858
=48	South Africa`ZAF`Southern Africa	0.858
50	Poland`POL`Eastern Europe	0.857
51	Belarus`BLR`Eastern Europe	0.854
=52	Cyprus`CYP`Western Asia	0.851
=52	Moldova`MDA`Eastern Europe	0.851
54	Suriname`SUR`South America	0.850
55	Seychelles`SYC`Eastern Africa	0.849
56	Chile`CHL`South America	0.847
57	Serbia`SRB`Southern Europe	0.844
58	Benin`BEN`Western Africa	0.843
59	Albania`ALB`Southern Europe	0.840
60	Hungary`HUN`Eastern Europe	0.839
61	São Tomé and Príncipe`STP`Middle Africa	0.836
62	North Macedonia`MKD`Southern Europe	0.835
=63	Liberia`LBR`Western Africa	0.831
=63	Malta`MLT`Southern Europe	0.831
65	Senegal`SEN`Western Africa	0.829
66	Dominican Republic`DOM`Caribbean	0.828
67	Peru`PER`South America	0.827
=68	Namibia`NAM`Southern Africa	0.826
=68	Tanzania`TZA`Eastern Africa	0.826
=70	Mauritius`MUS`Eastern Africa	0.819
=70	Rwanda`RWA`Eastern Africa	0.819
=72	Bosnia and Herzegovina`BIH`Southern Europe	0.818
=72	Ukraine`UKR`Eastern Europe	0.818
74	Philippines`PHL`South-eastern Asia	0.807
75	Singapore`SGP`South-eastern Asia	0.803
76	Cabo Verde`CPV`Western Africa	0.802
77	Bhutan`BTN`Southern Asia	0.799
78	Mexico`MEX`Central America	0.798
79	Zimbabwe`ZWE`Eastern Africa	0.797
=80	Ghana`GHA`Western Africa	0.793
=80	Japan`JPN`Eastern Asia	0.793
82	Kyrgyzstan`KGZ`Central Asia	0.791
83	Panama`PAN`Central America	0.784
=84	Bolivia`BOL`South America	0.778
=84	Lesotho`LSO`Southern Africa	0.778
86	Gabon`GAB`Middle Africa	0.775
87	Sierra Leone`SLE`Western Africa	0.773
88	Zambia`ZMB`Eastern Africa	0.772
89	Algeria`DZA`Northern Africa	0.771
90	Uganda`UGA`Eastern Africa	0.769
91	Burkina Faso`BFA`Western Africa	0.768
92	Kazakhstan`KAZ`Central Asia	0.767
93	Madagascar`MDG`Eastern Africa	0.765
=94	Colombia`COL`South America	0.763
=94	Nepal`NPL`Southern Asia	0.763
=96	Kenya`KEN`Eastern Africa	0.762
=96	Niger`NER`Western Africa	0.762
98	Togo`TGO`Western Africa	0.758
99	Malawi`MWI`Eastern Africa	0.757
100	Brazil`BRA`South America	0.754
101	Gambia`GMB`Western Africa	0.749
102	Cameroon`CMR`Middle Africa	0.748
=103	El Salvador`SLV`Central America	0.746
=103	Mozambique`MOZ`Eastern Africa	0.746
105	Sri Lanka`LKA`Southern Asia	0.744
106	Kosovo`XKX`Southern Europe	0.740
107	Timor-Leste`TLS`South-eastern Asia	0.739
108	Venezuela`VEN`South America	0.738
109	Vietnam`VNM`South-eastern Asia	0.732
110	Nigeria`NGA`Western Africa	0.731
=111	Botswana`BWA`Southern Africa	0.727
=111	Indonesia`IDN`South-eastern Asia	0.727
113	Malaysia`MYS`South-eastern Asia	0.725
114	Angola`AGO`Middle Africa	0.722
115	Honduras`HND`Central America	0.713
=116	Ethiopia`ETH`Eastern Africa	0.704
=116	Guinea-Bissau`GNB`Western Africa	0.704
118	Morocco`MAR`Northern Africa	0.703
119	Fiji`FJI`Melanesia	0.700
120	Guatemala`GTM`Central America	0.698
121	Russia`RUS`Eastern Europe	0.695
122	Cuba`CUB`Caribbean	0.693
123	Paraguay`PRY`South America	0.684
=124	Bangladesh`BGD`Southern Asia	0.677
=124	Thailand`THA`South-eastern Asia	0.677
126	India`IND`Southern Asia	0.662
127	Nicaragua`NIC`Central America	0.660
128	Mali`MLI`Western Africa	0.658
129	Jordan`JOR`Western Asia	0.648
130	Côte d’Ivoire`CIV`Western Africa	0.646
131	Vanuatu`VUT`Melanesia	0.641
132	Azerbaijan`AZE`Western Asia	0.626
133	China`CHN`Eastern Asia	0.624
134	Mauritania`MRT`Western Africa	0.616
135	Central African Republic`CAF`Middle Africa	0.598
=136	Myanmar`MMR`South-eastern Asia	0.589
=136	Pakistan`PAK`Southern Asia	0.589
138	Djibouti`DJI`Eastern Africa	0.574
139	Türkiye`TUR`Western Asia	0.573
140	Uzbekistan`UZB`Central Asia	0.568
141	Cambodia`KHM`South-eastern Asia	0.567
142	Iraq`IRQ`Western Asia	0.566
143	Lebanon`LBN`Western Asia	0.563
144	Burundi`BDI`Eastern Africa	0.557
145	Chad`TCD`Middle Africa	0.523
146	DR Congo`COD`Middle Africa	0.518
147	Guinea`GIN`Western Africa	0.516
148	Comoros`COM`Eastern Africa	0.502
149	Afghanistan`AFG`Southern Asia	0.500
150	Maldives`MDV`Southern Asia	0.498
151	Laos`LAO`South-eastern Asia	0.485
152	Solomon Islands`SLB`Melanesia	0.482
153	Bahrain`BHR`Western Asia	0.469
154	South Sudan`SSD`Eastern Africa	0.466
155	Haiti`HTI`Caribbean	0.465
156	Equatorial Guinea`GNQ`Middle Africa	0.450
157	Papua New Guinea`PNG`Melanesia	0.449
=158	Tajikistan`TJK`Central Asia	0.437
=158	United Arab Emirates`ARE`Western Asia	0.437
160	Republic of the Congo`COG`Middle Africa	0.423
161	Sudan`SDN`Northern Africa	0.415
162	Egypt`EGY`Northern Africa	0.411
163	Somaliland`XSL`Eastern Africa	0.395
164	Turkmenistan`TKM`Central Asia	0.383
165	Kuwait`KWT`Western Asia	0.382
166	Oman`OMN`Western Asia	0.364
=167	Iran`IRN`Southern Asia	0.351
=167	Qatar`QAT`Western Asia	0.351
=169	Libya`LBY`Northern Africa	0.348
=169	Somalia`SOM`Eastern Africa	0.348
171	Eswatini`SWZ`Southern Africa	0.317
172	Syria`SYR`Western Asia	0.296
173	North Korea`PRK`Eastern Asia	0.270
174	Saudi Arabia`SAU`Western Asia	0.259
175	Eritrea`ERI`Eastern Africa	0.166
176	Yemen`YEM`Western Asia	0.155

02In 2018

At either end

The 5 countries at each end of the headline.

Highest

1Denmark0.960
2Germany0.954
3Norway0.951
4Latvia0.949
5Estonia0.948

Lowest

176Yemen0.155
175Eritrea0.166
174Saudi Arabia0.259
173North Korea0.270
172Syria0.296

A higher value is the better result. The middle country reads 0.772. “Shared” marks a value another country also holds.

032017 → 2018

Since 2017

What changed between 2017 and this one: who joined or left, and how far the headline moved.

+0 / −0countries joined / left
164values changed, of 176 in both
98 · 66rose · fell
12unchanged

Rose most

Gambia0.680 → 0.749+0.069
Malaysia0.657 → 0.725+0.068
Kosovo0.674 → 0.740+0.066
Djibouti0.512 → 0.574+0.062
Armenia0.813 → 0.874+0.061

Fell most

Nicaragua0.748 → 0.660−0.088
Netherlands0.907 → 0.877−0.030
El Salvador0.776 → 0.746−0.030
Syria0.326 → 0.296−0.030
Botswana0.756 → 0.727−0.029

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 2018.
147 distinct values among 176
Values are stored exactly as published, to 3 decimals. 3 countries share 0.928. 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 176 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
176 rows · 4.8 KB · UTF-8, opens in Excel
Opens with 11 lines of source notes; the table starts on row 13.
Download womens-political-empowerment-2018-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 (2018). Women's Political Empowerment Index, 2018 [data set], describing 2018. As held by Nations Inquiry, https://nationsinquiry.com/datasets/womens-political-empowerment/2018

0636 held

Other years

‹ The year before
Women's Political Empowerment Index, 2017
176 countries
The year after ›
Women's Political Empowerment Index, 2019
176 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