Namibia Stands Out as the Most Advanced African Country in Terms of Gender Equality
According to the Global Gender Gap Report 2025 by the World Economic Forum, Namibia has once again distinguished itself as the African country with the most progress in terms of gender equality, with a score of 81.1%. This places it 8th globally, maintaining its position as a continental leader. Namibia is one of the few non-European countries to make it into the global top 10, thanks to its balanced representation of women in key political and economic positions.
Behind it, Rwanda ranks 11th globally with a score of 80.8%. The country maintains its reputation for excellence in terms of political parity, particularly due to its almost equal, if not majority, female parliamentary representation.
Lithuania takes the 15th global spot, while the third African country in the ranking is Mozambique, which ranks 21st globally with a score of around 77.9%. It is followed by South Africa (24th, 77.6%) and Burundi (26th, 77.1%), which complete the African top 5.
The report covers 148 countries and evaluates progress towards gender parity across four dimensions: economic participation, access to education, health and survival, and political empowerment. In 2025 report, the average score stands at 68.8%, indicating that nearly a third of the journey remains to be completed to achieve total equality.
Although persistent gaps remain in areas such as income and leadership positions, sub-Saharan Africa is making continuous progress. The region has bridged 68% of its overall gap, with particularly strong performances. Notably, ministerial parity has reached 40.2% and parliamentary parity has reached 37.7%, far exceeding global averages.
This report reminds us that progress towards parity is still too slow: at the current rate, it would take 123 years to completely bridge the global gender gap. In Africa, despite encouraging advances, countries like Chad or the Democratic Republic of the Congo are lagging behind with scores around 57%, mainly due to low female economic participation rates and limited access to higher education.
