Women, Peace and Security Index 2025/26

The 2025/26 Women, Peace and Security (WPS) Index ranks 181 countries, with Denmark scoring highest (.939) and Afghanistan lowest (.279). The report highlights a global stagnation or decline in women's status, coinciding with a historic peak in armed conflict. In 2024, 676 million women lived within 50 kilometers of armed conflict, a 74 percent increase since 2010. While developed countries generally lead the rankings, significant improvements were noted in fragile states like Congo and South Sudan. The report emphasizes the disproportionate impact of conflict on women, citing severe humanitarian crises in Ukraine, Palestine, Sudan, Myanmar, and Ethiopia, and calls for urgent investment in women to foster peaceful and resilient societies.

• Denmark remains the highest-ranked country in the 2025/26 WPS Index with a score of .939, while Afghanistan continues to be the worst performer with a score of .279.
• There has been a significant increase in the number of women living in proximity to armed conflict, with 676 million women living within 50 kilometers of such conflict in 2024, representing a 74 percent rise since 2010.
• Global trends in women's status are stagnating or reversing, with average regional WPS Index scores showing flat trendlines or declines over the eight years since 2017/18.
• Some of the most significant improvements in WPS Index scores have occurred in fragile and conflict-affected states, specifically Congo (33.4 percent increase) and South Sudan (26.9 percent increase) since 2017/18.
• In Ukraine, 92 percent of women lived within 50 kilometers of armed conflict in 2024, and reported cases of conflict-related gender-based violence have increased by 36 percent since 2022.
• Palestine was identified as the most dangerous and violent place in the world in 2024, with 100 percent of women living in proximity to conflict.
• In Sudan, 53 percent of the 12 million displaced people are women and children, and demand for gender-based violence services rose by 288 percent as of the end of 2024.
• In Myanmar, women-led households are 1.2 times more likely to live in poverty than male-led households, and less than 1 percent of Official Developmental Assistance to the country goes to women's rights groups.
• The Sub-Saharan Africa region has the second-lowest average score (.511) and the second-highest maternal mortality rate, with 437 deaths per 100,000 live births.
• The Developed Countries group generally performs best across 10 of 13 indicators, but it does not lead in community safety, parliamentary representation, or son bias.

APA

Peace Research Institute Oslo (2025). Women, Peace and Security Index 2025/26. https://cdn.cloud.prio.org/files/0fc7997f-0219-4eac-8abf-b3c47679b607/WPS-Index-2025-Summary.pdf?inline=true

Chicago

Peace Research Institute Oslo. Women, Peace and Security Index 2025/26. 2025. https://cdn.cloud.prio.org/files/0fc7997f-0219-4eac-8abf-b3c47679b607/WPS-Index-2025-Summary.pdf?inline=true.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Peace Research Institute Oslo |title=Women, Peace and Security Index 2025/26 |date=2025 |url=https://cdn.cloud.prio.org/files/0fc7997f-0219-4eac-8abf-b3c47679b607/WPS-Index-2025-Summary.pdf?inline=true |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{peaceresearchinstituteoslo2025women, author = {{Peace Research Institute Oslo}}, title = {{Women, Peace and Security Index 2025/26}}, institution = {Peace Research Institute Oslo}, year = {2025}, url = {https://cdn.cloud.prio.org/files/0fc7997f-0219-4eac-8abf-b3c47679b607/WPS-Index-2025-Summary.pdf?inline=true}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }