Gender Equality
Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls.
Women in parliament
27.2%
IPU · 2025
Countries never had woman head of state
102
UN Women · 2025
Legal reforms for gender equality
50 reforms (est)
World Bank estimate · 2025
Women's legal protections vs men
65% (est)
World Bank estimate · 2025
Global Progress Score
Based on Sustainable Development Report 2025
Historical Trend (2015–2025)
Regional Comparison (2025)
Goal 5: Gender Equality — Score per Country (2025)
Each country is scored 0–100 based on its progress toward this goal. Drag to rotate. Hover or tap a country to see its score.
Key Targets
SDR 2025 scores SDG 5 at 65.2/100 globally — among the most off-track goals. The WEF Gender Gap Report 2025 revised the full-parity timeline to 134 years. Women hold 27.2% of parliamentary seats globally (IPU, January 2025). Oxfam's Inequality Inc. 2024 report highlighted that women's unpaid care work is worth $10.8 trillion annually — three times the size of the global tech industry. Progress on ending child marriage has been fastest in South Asia (down 50% since 2000) but is slowing globally.
134 years
WEF's 2025 projection for full gender parity at the current pace — a figure that has barely improved in a decade of reporting.
World Economic Forum: Global Gender Gap Report 2025; SDR 2025 (SDSN)
Key Insights
Closing the Political Gap — Slowly
Women hold 26.7% of national parliamentary seats globally (2023), up from 11% in 1995. At this pace, political parity will not be achieved for another 40+ years. Rwanda leads globally at 61%; several democracies — including the US — remain below 30%.
The $12 Trillion Opportunity
Closing gender gaps in workforce participation and wages would add $12 trillion to global GDP annually. Yet women do 2.5× more unpaid care work than men — worth 9% of global GDP if paid at minimum wage. This invisible labor subsidizes economies while remaining uncounted.
Violence Against Women
1 in 3 women (736 million) have experienced intimate partner or non-partner sexual violence. Gender-based violence costs $1.5 trillion/year globally. Only 49 countries have laws fully protecting women from domestic violence. During COVID-19, GBV surged — the "shadow pandemic."
Child Marriage
650 million girls and women alive today were married as children. Child marriage perpetuates cycles of poverty, ends education, and leads to early pregnancies — the leading cause of death for girls aged 15-19 globally. Progress has accelerated, but 12 million girls are still married annually.
Core Challenges
The Gender Data Gap
80% of SDG 5 gender-disaggregated indicators lack sufficient data to measure progress. You cannot manage what you cannot measure. Massive investment in gender-disaggregated national statistics is needed before 2030.
Digital Gender Divide
259 million fewer women than men use the internet globally. The gap is widest in South Asia (51%) and Sub-Saharan Africa (37%). As economies digitize, this exclusion compounds all other economic inequalities facing women.
Legal Discrimination
178 countries still have laws that limit women's economic opportunities. 49 countries have no laws against domestic violence. Legal reform is necessary but insufficient — enforcement, legal literacy, and changing cultural norms must follow.
2030 Outlook
Gender equality is foundational to all 17 SDGs — every other goal accelerates when women are empowered. The 2024 SDG Summit emphasized the need for gender-responsive budgeting, universal access to sexual and reproductive health services, and quotas to accelerate political representation. Business as usual will not close these gaps in our lifetimes.