GGGR 2023

16, while nine countries have attained full parity in enrolment in primary education. In comparison to other regions, Latin America and the Caribbean has the highest parity on the Health and Survival subindex, at 97.6%. All countries have attained parity in sex ratio at birth and six out of 21 countries have perfect parity in healthy life expectancy. At 35% parity, the region has the second-highest score, after Europe, on the Political Empowerment subindex. Based on the constant sample of countries there has been a 0.6 percentage-point improvement in parity since 2022. Overall, nine out of 21 countries have experienced at least a 0.5 percentage-point improvement and nine have seen a decline of more than 0.5%. Colombia, Chile and Brazil are not only the region’s top-ranked countries; they are also the most improved. Five out of 21 countries in this region have seen at least a 1 percentage-point improvement in the share of parliamentary positions held by women. Middle East and North Africa In comparison to other regions, Middle East and North Africa remains the furthest away from parity, with a 62.6% parity score. This is a 0.9 percentage- point decline in parity since the last edition for this region, based on the constant sample of countries covered since 2006. The United Arab Emirates, Israel and Bahrain have achieved the highest parity in the region, while Morocco, Oman and Algeria rank the lowest. The three most populous countries – Egypt, Algeria and Morocco – register declines in their parity scores since the last edition. On the other hand, five countries, led by Bahrain, Kuwait and Qatar, have increased their parity by 0.5% or more. At the current rate of progress, full regional parity will be attained in 152 years. When it comes to Economic Participation and Opportunity, 44% of the gender gap has been closed, ranking the region 7th out of eight regions, just above Southern Asia. There is highly uneven progress in parity on this subindex among different countries. Algeria’s level of parity, 31.7%, is less than half of that of Israel which has closed 68.9% of the gender gap. The United Arab Emirates and Egypt have registered increases in both the share of women senior officer positions and the share of women in technical positions. Further 10 out of 13 countries in the region have advanced towards parity in estimated earned income by at least 0.5 percentage points. The Middle East and North Africa is at 95.9% parity on the Educational Attainment subindex, and Israel is the only country in the region to have full parity. Kuwait, Bahrain and Jordan come close, with more than 99% gender parity. Relatively more populous countries such as Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia and Egypt have the lowest parity on this subindex, and they also have the lowest parity in literacy rate. Only four countries (Israel, Bahrain, Qatar and Jordan) have more than 99% parity in literacy rate. Seven countries achieve parity in secondary education and 10 countries in tertiary education. The region records 96.4% parity in Health and Survival, and all countries except Qatar have achieved more than 95% parity, while all countries have attained perfect parity in sex ratio at birth. However, in five countries healthy life expectancy for women is lower than that of men. The Middle East and North Africa also has the second-lowest regional parity in political empowerment at 14%. Based on the sample of countries covered continuously since 2006, parity on the Political Empowerment subindex has regressed by 1 percentage point since last year. Parity has declined in seven out of 13 countries, including the region’s most populous countries – Egypt, Algeria and Tunisia – and increased in six other countries, led by Bahrain, Qatar and Kuwait. Bahrain, Kuwait and Lebanon have also seen significant increases in the share of parliamentary positions held by women, while Israel and Tunisia have seen a drop on this indicator since 2022. In terms of ministerial positions held by women, only Tunisia, Bahrain and Morocco have more than 20% female ministers, while Saudi Arabia and Lebanon continue to have an all-male cabinet. Apart from Tunisia and Israel, no country in this region has had a female head of state in the last 50 years. North America Just behind Europe, North America ranks second, having closed 75% of the gap, which is 1.9 percentage points lower than the previous edition. While Canada has registered a 0.2 percentage- point decline in the overall parity score since the last edition, the United States has seen a reduction of 2.1 percentage points. At the current rate of progress, 95 years will be needed to close the gender gap for the region. North America has achieved the highest gender parity score among all regions, 77.6%, on the Economic Participation and Opportunity subindex. This marks a 0.2 percentage-point increase in the parity score since the last edition. Canada improved by 0.5 percentage points and the United States by 0.2 percentage points. Parity in wage equality for similar work and estimated earned income increased in both countries. Regional parity on the Educational Attainment subindex stands at 99.5%. While Canada has achieved full parity, the United States, barring enrolment in secondary education, is virtually at parity for literacy rate, enrolment in primary education and enrolment in tertiary education. Global Gender Gap Report 2023 23