Namibia has maintained its position among the top 10 performers globally in closing its gender gap, according to the World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Report 2024.
The latest data shows Namibia in 8th place out of 146 countries, having closed an impressive 80.5% of its gender gap.
Namibia’s performance is notable across all four sub-indexes, consistently placing in the top 25 in each dimension.
According to the report, Namibia also excels in Educational Attainment and Health and Survival, achieving 100% and 98%, respectively.
The country is also ahead of global and regional averages in Economic Participation and Opportunity by nearly 18 and 10 percentage points, respectively.
“Economic gender parity is particularly high in labour-force participation at 88.4%. Moreover, Namibia has achieved full parity in technical and professional workers, and 77.2% gender parity in senior leadership roles,” said the report.
Despite these successes, the overall score of 78.3% indicates a slight decline from last year, mirroring a minor reduction in parity in estimated earned income, which stands at 82.1%, down 0.9 percentage points from 2023.
Additionally, the Forum highlights that Namibia continues to show strong representation of women in ministerial (46.2%) and parliamentary (79.2%) roles.
Meanwhile, globally, European economies dominate the top 10, with seven spots occupied by Iceland (1st), Finland (2nd, 87.5%), Norway (3rd, 87.5%), Sweden (5th, 81.6%), Germany (7th, 81%), Ireland (9th, 80.2%), and Spain (10th, 79.7%).
Other top performers include New Zealand (4th, 83.5%) from Eastern Asia and the Pacific, Nicaragua (6th, 81.1%) from Latin America and the Caribbean, and Namibia (8th, 80.5%) from Sub-Saharan Africa.
Lithuania (11th, 79.3%) and Belgium (12th, 79.3%) have dropped out of the top 10, while Spain and Ireland have climbed +8 and +2 ranks, respectively, to join the top performers in 2024.
In the broader context of Sub-Saharan Africa, the region ranks sixth globally with a gender parity score of 68.4%, having advanced by an overall 5.6 percentage points since 2006.
“While 21 out of 35 economies in the region are in the top 100, Namibia stands out as a top 10 performer. More than half of the countries in Sub-Saharan Africa have closed over 70% of their gender gap, though there is a 22.8 percentage point divide between the top and bottom ranks,” the report revealed.
The region’s Economic Participation and Opportunity score is 68.1%, reflecting progress in labour-force participation and positive outcomes in technical and professional roles.
However, Sub-Saharan Africa ranks last in Educational Attainment, scoring 88.9%, indicating the widest gap to close.
Health and survival scores are 97.1%, while political empowerment shows improvement at 22.6%, with significant strides in ministerial and parliamentary representation, particularly in Mozambique and South Africa.
