Data for 2020

Women's Political Empowerment Index, 2020

Name: Women's Political Empowerment Index, 2020
Creator: V-Dem Institute, University of Gothenburg
License: https://v-dem.net/data/the-v-dem-dataset/

2020, as V-Dem Institute’s 2026 release gives it · stored as published, never rewritten

Women's Political Empowerment Index, 2020 covers 176 countries. Denmark is highest, at 0.955; Yemen is lowest, at 0.135. The middle country reads 0.776. Against 2019, 168 values changed (83 up, 85 down), the same countries are covered.

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Women's Political Empowerment Index · Data for 2020

HighestDenmark

0.955

LowestYemen

0.135

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

176countries
1measure
2020the 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, 2020, 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, 2020: every country, as published by V-Dem Institute, University of Gothenburg.
derived
1	Denmark`DNK`Northern Europe	0.955
2	Germany`DEU`Western Europe	0.952
3	Belgium`BEL`Western Europe	0.949
4	Estonia`EST`Northern Europe	0.948
5	Latvia`LVA`Northern Europe	0.945
=6	Finland`FIN`Northern Europe	0.942
=6	Portugal`PRT`Southern Europe	0.942
8	Spain`ESP`Southern Europe	0.941
9	Switzerland`CHE`Western Europe	0.940
10	New Zealand`NZL`Australia and New Zealand	0.937
11	Sweden`SWE`Northern Europe	0.932
12	Austria`AUT`Western Europe	0.931
13	France`FRA`Western Europe	0.929
=14	Iceland`ISL`Northern Europe	0.927
=14	Jamaica`JAM`Caribbean	0.927
16	Ireland`IRL`Northern Europe	0.919
17	Lithuania`LTU`Northern Europe	0.918
18	Italy`ITA`Southern Europe	0.916
19	Slovenia`SVN`Southern Europe	0.913
20	United Kingdom`GBR`Northern Europe	0.912
21	Costa Rica`CRI`Central America	0.911
=22	Australia`AUS`Australia and New Zealand	0.909
=22	Greece`GRC`Southern Europe	0.909
24	Norway`NOR`Northern Europe	0.908
=25	Taiwan`TWN`Eastern Asia	0.905
=25	United States`USA`Northern America	0.905
27	Uruguay`URY`South America	0.900
28	Albania`ALB`Southern Europe	0.899
29	Trinidad and Tobago`TTO`Caribbean	0.898
30	Georgia`GEO`Western Asia	0.896
=31	Bulgaria`BGR`Eastern Europe	0.895
=31	Croatia`HRV`Southern Europe	0.895
33	Netherlands`NLD`Western Europe	0.888
34	Czechia`CZE`Eastern Europe	0.887
35	Barbados`BRB`Caribbean	0.886
36	Armenia`ARM`Western Asia	0.885
37	Canada`CAN`Northern America	0.879
=38	Israel`ISR`Western Asia	0.878
=38	Slovakia`SVK`Eastern Europe	0.878
=40	Moldova`MDA`Eastern Europe	0.873
=40	Serbia`SRB`Southern Europe	0.873
=40	Ukraine`UKR`Eastern Europe	0.873
43	Chile`CHL`South America	0.867
44	South Korea`KOR`Eastern Asia	0.866
45	Tunisia`TUN`Northern Africa	0.863
=46	Ecuador`ECU`South America	0.861
=46	Guyana`GUY`South America	0.861
48	Romania`ROU`Eastern Europe	0.858
49	São Tomé and Príncipe`STP`Middle Africa	0.857
50	Cyprus`CYP`Western Asia	0.856
51	Malta`MLT`Southern Europe	0.853
52	Luxembourg`LUX`Western Europe	0.852
=53	Dominican Republic`DOM`Caribbean	0.848
=53	Seychelles`SYC`Eastern Africa	0.848
=55	Hungary`HUN`Eastern Europe	0.843
=55	Mongolia`MNG`Eastern Asia	0.843
=55	Montenegro`MNE`Southern Europe	0.843
=55	Namibia`NAM`Southern Africa	0.843
59	Hong Kong`HKG`Eastern Asia	0.842
60	Argentina`ARG`South America	0.840
61	Suriname`SUR`South America	0.838
62	Bosnia and Herzegovina`BIH`Southern Europe	0.836
63	Poland`POL`Eastern Europe	0.835
64	Benin`BEN`Western Africa	0.827
65	South Africa`ZAF`Southern Africa	0.825
66	North Macedonia`MKD`Southern Europe	0.822
=67	Liberia`LBR`Western Africa	0.820
=67	Mauritius`MUS`Eastern Africa	0.820
69	Malawi`MWI`Eastern Africa	0.816
70	Singapore`SGP`South-eastern Asia	0.813
71	Zimbabwe`ZWE`Eastern Africa	0.810
=72	Ghana`GHA`Western Africa	0.809
=72	Senegal`SEN`Western Africa	0.809
74	Cabo Verde`CPV`Western Africa	0.808
=75	Lesotho`LSO`Southern Africa	0.799
=75	Peru`PER`South America	0.799
77	Malaysia`MYS`South-eastern Asia	0.797
78	Mexico`MEX`Central America	0.796
79	Philippines`PHL`South-eastern Asia	0.795
80	Kazakhstan`KAZ`Central Asia	0.791
=81	Japan`JPN`Eastern Asia	0.789
=81	Panama`PAN`Central America	0.789
83	Tanzania`TZA`Eastern Africa	0.786
84	Gambia`GMB`Western Africa	0.781
85	Bhutan`BTN`Southern Asia	0.779
86	Cameroon`CMR`Middle Africa	0.777
=87	Sierra Leone`SLE`Western Africa	0.776
=87	Togo`TGO`Western Africa	0.776
89	Rwanda`RWA`Eastern Africa	0.775
90	Kenya`KEN`Eastern Africa	0.772
91	Colombia`COL`South America	0.771
92	Zambia`ZMB`Eastern Africa	0.764
=93	Algeria`DZA`Northern Africa	0.760
=93	Nepal`NPL`Southern Asia	0.760
95	Bolivia`BOL`South America	0.759
96	Brazil`BRA`South America	0.758
=97	Belarus`BLR`Eastern Europe	0.755
=97	Gabon`GAB`Middle Africa	0.755
99	Madagascar`MDG`Eastern Africa	0.753
100	Mozambique`MOZ`Eastern Africa	0.750
101	Kosovo`XKX`Southern Europe	0.748
=102	Botswana`BWA`Southern Africa	0.743
=102	Venezuela`VEN`South America	0.743
104	Niger`NER`Western Africa	0.738
105	Angola`AGO`Middle Africa	0.737
106	Kyrgyzstan`KGZ`Central Asia	0.736
107	Morocco`MAR`Northern Africa	0.735
=108	Sri Lanka`LKA`Southern Asia	0.733
=108	Timor-Leste`TLS`South-eastern Asia	0.733
=108	Uganda`UGA`Eastern Africa	0.733
111	El Salvador`SLV`Central America	0.715
112	Ethiopia`ETH`Eastern Africa	0.710
113	Cuba`CUB`Caribbean	0.708
114	Honduras`HND`Central America	0.706
115	Vietnam`VNM`South-eastern Asia	0.698
116	Thailand`THA`South-eastern Asia	0.697
117	Indonesia`IDN`South-eastern Asia	0.696
118	Guatemala`GTM`Central America	0.691
119	Guinea-Bissau`GNB`Western Africa	0.689
=120	Mali`MLI`Western Africa	0.686
=120	Russia`RUS`Eastern Europe	0.686
122	Nigeria`NGA`Western Africa	0.683
123	Fiji`FJI`Melanesia	0.674
124	Bangladesh`BGD`Southern Asia	0.670
125	Paraguay`PRY`South America	0.656
126	Mauritania`MRT`Western Africa	0.655
127	India`IND`Southern Asia	0.652
128	Azerbaijan`AZE`Western Asia	0.635
129	Uzbekistan`UZB`Central Asia	0.634
130	Jordan`JOR`Western Asia	0.632
=131	Burkina Faso`BFA`Western Africa	0.630
=131	Myanmar`MMR`South-eastern Asia	0.630
133	Vanuatu`VUT`Melanesia	0.629
134	Côte d’Ivoire`CIV`Western Africa	0.620
135	Nicaragua`NIC`Central America	0.616
=136	Burundi`BDI`Eastern Africa	0.615
=136	China`CHN`Eastern Asia	0.615
138	Solomon Islands`SLB`Melanesia	0.608
139	Djibouti`DJI`Eastern Africa	0.591
=140	Cambodia`KHM`South-eastern Asia	0.580
=140	Maldives`MDV`Southern Asia	0.580
142	United Arab Emirates`ARE`Western Asia	0.578
143	Türkiye`TUR`Western Asia	0.576
144	Pakistan`PAK`Southern Asia	0.573
145	Chad`TCD`Middle Africa	0.569
146	Central African Republic`CAF`Middle Africa	0.563
147	Comoros`COM`Eastern Africa	0.555
=148	Iraq`IRQ`Western Asia	0.549
=148	Lebanon`LBN`Western Asia	0.549
150	DR Congo`COD`Middle Africa	0.546
151	Bahrain`BHR`Western Asia	0.503
=152	Afghanistan`AFG`Southern Asia	0.494
=152	Egypt`EGY`Northern Africa	0.494
154	Laos`LAO`South-eastern Asia	0.490
155	Guinea`GIN`Western Africa	0.485
156	Somaliland`XSL`Eastern Africa	0.456
157	Equatorial Guinea`GNQ`Middle Africa	0.447
158	Haiti`HTI`Caribbean	0.445
159	Papua New Guinea`PNG`Melanesia	0.435
160	South Sudan`SSD`Eastern Africa	0.425
161	Tajikistan`TJK`Central Asia	0.415
162	Turkmenistan`TKM`Central Asia	0.411
163	Kuwait`KWT`Western Asia	0.409
164	Republic of the Congo`COG`Middle Africa	0.400
165	Oman`OMN`Western Asia	0.367
166	Somalia`SOM`Eastern Africa	0.365
167	Libya`LBY`Northern Africa	0.359
168	Qatar`QAT`Western Asia	0.339
169	Eswatini`SWZ`Southern Africa	0.325
170	Iran`IRN`Southern Asia	0.324
171	Syria`SYR`Western Asia	0.294
172	North Korea`PRK`Eastern Asia	0.276
173	Saudi Arabia`SAU`Western Asia	0.272
174	Sudan`SDN`Northern Africa	0.221
175	Eritrea`ERI`Eastern Africa	0.156
176	Yemen`YEM`Western Asia	0.135

02In 2020

At either end

The 5 countries at each end of the headline.

Highest

1Denmark0.955
2Germany0.952
3Belgium0.949
4Estonia0.948
5Latvia0.945

Lowest

176Yemen0.135
175Eritrea0.156
174Sudan0.221
173Saudi Arabia0.272
172North Korea0.276

A higher value is the better result. The middle country reads 0.776. “Shared” marks a value another country also holds.

032019 → 2020

Since 2019

What changed between 2019 and this one: who joined or left, and how far the headline moved.

+0 / −0countries joined / left
168values changed, of 176 in both
83 · 85rose · fell
8unchanged

Rose most

Solomon Islands0.530 → 0.608+0.078
Egypt0.425 → 0.494+0.069
Comoros0.501 → 0.555+0.054
Somaliland0.402 → 0.456+0.054
Lesotho0.749 → 0.799+0.050

Fell most

Belarus0.859 → 0.755−0.104
Sudan0.269 → 0.221−0.048
Sri Lanka0.780 → 0.733−0.047
Luxembourg0.899 → 0.852−0.047
Burkina Faso0.675 → 0.630−0.045

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 2020.
147 distinct values among 176
Values are stored exactly as published, to 3 decimals. 4 countries share 0.843. 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-2020-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 (2020). Women's Political Empowerment Index, 2020 [data set], describing 2020. As held by Nations Inquiry, https://nationsinquiry.com/datasets/womens-political-empowerment/2020

0636 held

Other years

‹ The year before
Women's Political Empowerment Index, 2019
176 countries
The year after ›
Women's Political Empowerment Index, 2021
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