Sweden comes top in 2019 Women’s Liveability Index

As the United Nations this International Women’s Day and year-round urging us all to “think equal, build smart, and innovate for change” to help achieve a more gender-equal world, furnished apartment search-engine Nestpick’s new index means globally mobile employees and global mobility managers can see how local infrastructure might impact quality of life.Under the four headings infrastructure, inequality, legislation and work-life balance factors, the 2019 Liveability Index assessed basic necessities such as health, safety and education alongside factors like domestic violence rates, female life expectancy, female literacy, the gender wage gap, divorce laws, maternity leave, women’s suffrage and the percentage of women in C-level, governmental and founder positions in over 100 countries.

What are the world's most gender-equal countries?

On all the measures combined, Norway, Sweden and Canada head the list of the most liveable countries for women, with the UK taking nineteenth place to just make it in the global top 20 behind New Zealand and ahead of Belgium.On just inequality measures, the world-leading countries are Norway in first place, followed by Sweden and New Zealand.

Top 20 countries in the women's 2019 Liveability Index

1. Norway
2. Sweden
3. Canada
4. Finland
5. Iceland
6. Denmark
7. Ireland
8. Slovenia
9. Austria
10. Estonia
11. Germany
12. Australia
13. Singapore
14. Switzerland
15. France
16. Netherlands
17. Spain
18. New Zealand
19. United Kingdom
20. Belgium

Where are the world's most women-friendly workplaces?

For women in work, the top three line-up shifts to see Iceland, Singapore and Sweden lead the world thanks to their high levels of women in STEM, female entrepreneurs and senior leaders in business and government.

Top 10 countries for women in work

1. Iceland
2. Singapore
3. Sweden
4. Estonia
5. New Zealand
6. Canada
7. Finland
8. Norway
9. Australia
10. Slovenia

Which countries are making most progress to gender-equal infrastructure?

From the perspective of infrastructure, which includes health, safety and education, Canada, Norway and Austria take first, second and third place respectively.

Top 10 countries for women's infrastructure

1. Canada
2. Norway
3. Austria
4. Iceland
5. Ireland
6. Slovenia
7. Denmark
8. Sweden
9. Switzerland
10. Australia

Which countries have the most women-friendly legislation?

When it comes to measures like length of statutory maternity leave, the year of women's suffrage and abortion legality, the global leaders are Estonia, Slovakia and Hungary.

Top 10 countries for Women's Legislation on the 2019 Liveability Index

1. Estonia
2. Slovakia
3. Hungary
4. Finland
5. Norway
6. Germany
7. Sweden
8. Czech Republic
9. Denmark
10. Slovenia

Understanding living standards for women worldwide

Commenting on the relevance of the findings to relocating and globally mobile employees and their global mobility managers, Ömer Kücükdere, managing director of Nestpick, said.“For those who are relocating, whether for work, life or education, gender does sadly still play an impact on the quality of life they might find in that country. We wanted to create a resource that would help women to better understand the potential quality of life in different countries around the world.“We hope that the Women’s Liveability Index can play a small part in highlighting which countries are actively pursuing gender balance – both to help women looking to move to see which locations offer them the best opportunities, but also as a call-to-action.“Understanding how different demographics can find varying levels of life quality in certain cities or countries has been a topic that has fascinated us since our company’s inception.“Undertaking our previously published studies looking into the best cities for the LGBT community and for Millennials was an eye-opening experience in that sense. As you begin to understand that although one location might be a great place to call home for some, it might offer a very different experience for others.“While the results also include countries which have some way to go in order to improve living standards for women, this index ought to act as a positive springboard for those nations to see how they could improve their advocacy and actions to advance living standards for women in these countries.”

For more news and insight, please visit our International Assignments pages.

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