These Are The 10 Worst Countries In The World For Women

Metrics assessing women’s safety, inclusion, and access to justice vary greatly by country and region. 

In this graphic Visual Capitalist's Julia Wendling ranks the bottom 10 nations for women, using the 2023 Women Peace and Security Index scores from the Georgetown Institute for Women, Peace and Security.

Countries are given an index score out of 1.0 that is derived based on the following components: 

• Inclusion: education, employment, financial inclusion, cell phone use, parliamentary representation

• Justice: absence of legal discrimination, access to justice, maternal mortality ratio, son bias

• Safety: intimate partner violence, community safety, political violence targeting women, and proximity to conflict

Which are the Worst Countries for Women? 

All of the bottom 10 countries for women are located in either the Middle East or Africa.

High maternal mortality rates, low education rates, and elevated rates of intimate partner violence were some key contributors to the low overall scores. Proximity to conflict also hindered the group’s rankings.

The average index score for the group, at 0.38, is around half the global average of 0.65. 

Overall, the status of women deteriorated in 13 countries globally from 2017 to 2023. Somalia (#169), Haiti (#167), and Eswatini (#170) underwent the largest declines.

If you found this interesting, check out this visualization that looks at the best countries for women in 2023, revealing a very different regional perspective.