Netherlands ranks third in Europe for gender equality
The Netherlands ranked third for gender equality among the 27 countries in the European Union. Sweden ranked first with an average score of 82.0 from six metrics used by the European Institute for Gender Equality (EIGE). Denmark and the Netherlands both scored 78.8 when the average was rounded to the nearest tenth, but the unadjusted numbers put Denmark slightly higher, according to Statistics Netherlands (CBS).
Each country is assessed on gender equality as it pertains to health, money, work, power, knowledge and time, and then they are given a score between 1 and 100 based on the results. The European Union average was 71.0.
Romania ranked last with a score of 57.5, only slightly worse than Hungary’s 57.8. Greece finished with a score of 59.3, putting it at 25th place.
The EIGE uses the scores from the six categories to create its Gender Equality Index. “In all six domains, the Dutch score in 2024 was higher than the European Union average,” the CBS said.
The Netherlands scored 93.4 for health, including perceived well-being and life expectancy, against an EU average of 88.6. That was the best score assigned to the Netherlands. The lowest was for knowledge, at 70.3 against an EU average of 64.2.
“Within this domain, the share of women and men with a higher professional or university education and the share that follows education and courses during their lifetime are among the factors taken into account,” the CBS said. “The Netherlands performed above average on both of these sub-indicators and was in second place within the European Union in 2024.”
The Dutch system did rank a bit below the EU average on the sub-indicator of gender segregation within education. The CBS noted that this was affected by gender choices for courses, pointing out that many more women study education and healthcare when compared to men.
