The best and worst countries in terms of women's economic opportunities - Building Gender Balanced Business

Pivotal facts unveiled by the study

• The countries at the top of the Index have unusually open labour markets for women, particularly high levels of educational achievement and tend to have liberal legal and social regimes.

• Women frequently encounter more difficulties than men when trying to secure credit, largely because they tend to own less collateral and consequently, provide less of a guarantee.

• It is more difficult for women than for men to set up businesses. Their ventures are often of smaller size and reduced to the retail and services sectors.

• The disparities in labour opportunities often originate from an inordinate amount of unpaid work falling in the hands of women. Maternity leave and benefits are among some of the examples of social protection which help mitigate these inequalities.

• Mauritius and Hong Kong are, respectively, the top performers in Africa and Asia. Canada and the United States notwithstanding, Brazil holds the best score in the Americas.

The (incomplete)worldwide ranking

1 Sweden 88.2
2 Belgium 86.4
3 Norway 85.3
4 Finland 85.2
5 Germany 83.9
6 Iceland 82.9
7 Netherlands 82.5
8 New Zealand 81.2
9 Canada 80.5
10 Australia 80.5
11 France 79.4
14 United Kingdom 76.8
15 United States 76.7
23 Hong Kong 72.9
37 Mauritius 64.0
38 Brazil 61.2
113 Sudan 14.5

The Economist Intelligence Unit and the complete rankings