Women Peace and Security Index 2019/20

The Women, Peace and Security (WPS) Index 2019/20 ranks 167 countries based on 11 indicators across three dimensions: inclusion, justice, and security. Norway is the top-ranked country (.904) and Yemen the lowest (.351). While 59 countries showed significant progress since 2017, the report highlights persistent gaps in women's employment and parliamentary representation. It also establishes correlations between women's well-being and broader outcomes, such as reduced maternal and infant mortality and a lower risk of violent conflict.

• The WPS Index ranks 167 countries, with scores ranging from .904 for Norway (the highest) to .351 for Yemen (the lowest).
• Only Iceland performs well across all three dimensions of the index; most other countries, including those in the top dozen, rank in the middle range for women's paid employment.
• Global trends are generally positive, with 59 countries recording significant progress (at least 5% improvement) since the first edition, while only Yemen experienced major deterioration.
• Women's parliamentary representation remains far below parity globally, with an average of 21.5%. At current trends, it is estimated to take at least 52 years to reach parity.
• The gender gap in paid employment is 30 percentage points globally, with the most severe gaps in South Asia (68 percentage points) and the Middle East and North Africa (nearly 60 percentage points).
• Legal discrimination is most prevalent in the Middle East and North Africa, where all 16 countries in the region score below the global mean. Saudi Arabia is identified as having the most extensive legal discrimination.
• Current intimate partner violence rates are highest in South Sudan (47%) and Timor-Leste (46%), while the lowest rates (below 1%) are found in Singapore and Switzerland.
• There is a strong correlation between women's well-being and health outcomes: a 1 percentage point increase in the WPS Index is associated with a 2% reduction in maternal deaths and a 2.3% reduction in infant deaths.
• Gender inequality is significantly correlated with the risk of violent conflict. Specifically, a 1 percentage point increase in the share of women experiencing current intimate partner violence is associated with a 1.4% increase in organized violence.
• Pilot subnational analyses in China, India, and Nigeria reveal significant internal disparities. In Nigeria, the difference between state-level scores is equivalent to the gap between Mauritius (60th) and Afghanistan (166th).
• Financial inclusion has expanded globally, with notable gains in Turkmenistan, India, Tajikistan, and Senegal, though it remains low (averaging 1 in 10 women) in conflict-affected countries.
• Battle deaths from organized violence declined globally in 2018, largely due to the de-escalation of conflicts in Iraq and Syria, although the total number of conflicts rose to a record 54.

APA

Peace Research Institute Oslo (2019). Women Peace and Security Index 2019/20. https://cdn.cloud.prio.org/files/2a08d808-9eee-4d62-9152-7f44437fe629/WPS Index 2019-20 Report.pdf?inline=true

Chicago

Peace Research Institute Oslo. Women Peace and Security Index 2019/20. 2019. https://cdn.cloud.prio.org/files/2a08d808-9eee-4d62-9152-7f44437fe629/WPS Index 2019-20 Report.pdf?inline=true.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Peace Research Institute Oslo |title=Women Peace and Security Index 2019/20 |date=2019 |url=https://cdn.cloud.prio.org/files/2a08d808-9eee-4d62-9152-7f44437fe629/WPS Index 2019-20 Report.pdf?inline=true |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{peaceresearchinstituteoslo2019women, author = {{Peace Research Institute Oslo}}, title = {{Women Peace and Security Index 2019/20}}, institution = {Peace Research Institute Oslo}, year = {2019}, url = {https://cdn.cloud.prio.org/files/2a08d808-9eee-4d62-9152-7f44437fe629/WPS Index 2019-20 Report.pdf?inline=true}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }