In honor of women (who we think deserve recognition all year round), we took a look at how they fare in terms of health, living and work conditions as measured by the 2013 Global Gender Gap Index.
Notably, the United Kingdom ranked 18th, while the United States came 23rd.
The Gender Gap Index looks at four pillars of comparison for its ranking:
- Economic participation and opportunity looks at women’s income equality and presence in the labor force.
- Educational attainment looks at women’s literacy and enrollment in school.
- Health and survival compares the ratio of girls born to boys born. It also takes into account female life expectancy.
- Political empowerment looks at how many women hold seats in political office, and how many female heads of state a country has had.
Here are the four best and the four worst countries to be a woman, along with their individual scores: