Sweden consistently ranks first in the EU for gender equality according to the European Institute for Gender Equality (EIGE) Gender Equality Index, scoring 73.7 points in the latest 2025 report (using mostly 2024 data). While still leading, progress has slowed recently, particularly in the domains of knowledge, money, and time, with overall stagnation in recent years despite long-term gains. Sweden excels in areas like health and power but faces challenges with economic disparities, poverty risk, and ensuring equal pay, though its parental leave system is world-renowned, notes sweden.se and EIGE.
Sweden's Government promotes gender equality in all areas of society. In practice, this means a commitment to building a society in which women and men, girls and boys can live their lives to their full potential.
1) Denmark. Nordic countries usually come out on top for measures related to gender equality, and the GII is no exception. Denmark has the best GII score based on the most recent data (2023), at an impressive 0.003.
The global gender gap index benchmarks national gender gaps on economic, political, education, and health-based criteria. In 2025, the country offering the most gender equal conditions was Iceland, with a score of 0.93. Overall, the Nordic countries make up 3 of the 5 most gender equal countries worldwide.
Finland, along with neighbours Sweden and Norway, has one of the strongest global reputations for gender equality. The Scandinavian country's government uses a systematic and target-oriented approach to tackle sexism, and has its own Gender Inequality Policy.
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Homosexuality was de-criminalised in 1944 in Sweden. For context, that's 23 years before the UK and 59 years before the US Supreme Court! And it's one of the 27 countries in the world that have legalised same-sex marriage.
While Sweden is free from large-scale insurgencies, rising gang violence has emerged as an ongoing and growing concern. The number of deadly shootings and arson and bomb attacks has surged in many Swedish cities in recent years: according to 2021 UN data, Sweden had one of the highest gun death rates in Europe.
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U.S. ranks 43rd on gender parity index this year, sliding 16 slots from last year. The World Economic Forum found that overall progress toward full parity has slowed and that the global gap is still not expected to close entirely until 2154.
Denmark scores 71.8 points out of 100 in the Gender Equality Index. Denmark ranks 3rd in the EU. Since 2015, the Gender Equality Index score increased by 7.3 points. Since 2020, it increased by 4.0 points, mostly due to improvements in the domain of power.
On May 20, 2025, the Swedish Parliament voted to criminalize the sale of sexual acts that take place online, making it illegal to pay for sexual acts at a distance using websites like OnlyFans, for example. The changes will enter into force on July 1, 2025.
Swedish, unlike Finnish, has two grammatical genders — common and neuter — but they don't correspond to human gender. The nouns for man and woman have the same grammatical gender, even. But similarly to English, people are referred to by different pronouns: han (he) and hon (she).
Since 2009 Sweden has a gender neutral marriage legislation, which means that same sex couples can get married under the same conditions as opposite sex couples. As a foreign citizen without residency in Sweden you can, in some cases, also get married in Sweden.
In Sweden, bad words mostly have a religious origin and in the past it was common to amplify them with numbers, such as 'sjutton' (17), 'attans' (an old word for 18), and 'tusan' (meaning 1,000).
Around 1.5 million native Swedes left the country. They went primarily to the Americas and Australia – to escape poverty and religious persecution, and to seek a better life for themselves and their families.
Sweden's "five-year rule" primarily refers to the required period of legal residence for non-EU citizens to apply for long-term resident status, granting EU mobility, and to qualify for applying for Swedish citizenship, though stricter citizenship rules (8 years, tests) are proposed for 2026. The five-year mark is crucial for obtaining permanent rights, either as a long-term resident (EU-wide benefits) or for a permanent residence permit (within Sweden).
A person who risks persecution in the country where they are a citizen, due to sexual orientation, gender identity and/or gender expression (SOGIESC), can apply for asylum and be granted refugee status in Sweden.
Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) rights in Sweden are regarded as some of the most progressive in Europe and the world. Same-sex sexual activity was legalized in 1944 and the age of consent was equalized to that of heterosexual activity in 1972.
The three countries at the other end of the Rainbow Map scale are Russia (2%), Azerbaijan (2%), and Turkey (5%). Romania now sits at the end of the EU ranking with 19% points, followed by Poland (21%) and Bulgaria (21%).
2022 Global Gender Gap Index:
The World Economic Forum's 2025 Global Gender Gap Report has seen Australia rise 11 places in the global rankings to 13th out of 148 countries for gender equality, the highest ever ranking since the Index began in 2006.
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