Namibia 6th most gender-equal country globally

By Hilary Mare

THE 2021 Global Gender Gap Report from the World Economic Forum (WEF) has ranked Namibia sixth out of 156 countries in the Global Gender Gap Index 2021 rankings.

Geographically, the global top 10 continues to be dominated by Nordic countries, with —Iceland, Norway, Finland and Sweden—in the top five. The top 10 is completed by one country from Asia Pacific (New Zealand fourth), two Sub-Saharan countries (Namibia, sixth and Rwanda seventh), one country from Eastern Europe (the new entrant to the top 10, Lithuania, eighth) and another two Western European countries (Ireland, ninth, and Switzerland, 10th), another country in the top 10 for the first time.

Namibia enters the top 10 for the first time, after having closed its overall gender gap by almost 2.5 percentage points in one year to achieve a score of 80.9 percent.