Finland ranks 8th in EU Gender Equality Index

Finland ranked eighth in the Gender Equality Index for the European Union (EU), according to the index released by the European Institute for Gender Equality (EIGE) on Tuesday.

The position is the same as last year, said the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health in a press release.

The Index measures gender equality in six core domains: power, knowledge, work, health, money and time.

The Index consists of 31 indicators. Most of the data included in this year’s Index is from 2022, that is, from the past government term.

The overall Gender Equality Index score for the EU is now 71 out of 100, with 100 standing for full equality. This is 0.8 points higher than in the previous Index. The rise was much smaller than last year when the Index rose by 1.6 points.

Sweden ranked top in the index with 82 points, followed by Denmark and the Netherlands with 78.8 points. Spain ranked fourth with 76.7 points, Belgium and France were fifth, both with 76.1 points, and Luxembourg was seventh with 75.4 points.

Finland ranked eighth with 74.5 points. The score rose by 0.1 points from last year but the progress was the fourth slowest in the EU, together with Belgium. The scores of Sweden, Bulgaria and Croatia fell.

Together with Belgium, Denmark, Ireland, France, the Netherlands, Slovenia and Sweden, Finland is classified as a country where the growth is levelling off, which means that the score is above the EU average but the growth rate is below the average.

Finland’s points rose in the domains of work and power. The biggest rise was in the domain of power, where Finland ranks fifth in the EU.

Women’s share in politics is among the highest in the EU. Of the Finnish Members of Parliament 47% are women. About 60% of the present Government ministers are women. This is the highest figure during Finland’s history.

Finland’s points were the lowest in the domain of knowledge, where the points for the level of education and participation decreased. The main reason the decrease is educational segregation.

“Finland has a strong history and identity as a trailblazer in equality, but the scores show that this is not self-evident. Finland is particularly weak when it comes to educational and working-life segregation. Fixing this requires deep changes in the attitudes and long-term efforts for equality, which must start in early childhood education and care. In the domain of power the position of Finnish women has improved in recent years,” said Sanni Grahn-Laasonen, Minister of Social Security who is also responsible for gender equality issues.