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Morocco faces challenges in closing gender gap

Morocco ranked 137th globally in the World Economic Forum's 2024 Global Gender Gap Report, placing it near the bottom in terms of gender equality worldwide.

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Morocco ranked 137th out of 146 countries in the World Economic Forum's latest Global Gender Gap Report, dropping one place from last year's ranking.

The report, published annually since 2006, ranks countries based on four main indicators: economic participation and opportunity (i.e., salary levels, leadership roles), educational attainment (i.e., results of access to basic and higher education), political empowerment (i.e., representation in decision-making structures), and health and survival (i.e., results on life expectancy).

Morocco placed 141st in the economic participation and opportunity index, 118th in the educational attainment index, 83rd in the political empowerment index, and 131st in the health and survival index.

Morocco came second in the Maghreb region, after Tunisia, which ranked 115th globally, while Algeria ranked 139th. The report did not include Mauritania and Libya.

At the Arab level, Morocco ranked 11th, behind the UAE (74th), Tunisia (115th), Bahrain (116th), Jordan (123rd), Saudi Arabia, Qatar (130th), Kuwait (126th), Lebanon (133rd), Egypt (135th), and Oman (135th).

MENA region last among all regions in gender equality

Globally, Iceland was once again ranked as the most gender-equal country, with Iceland's neighbors Finland, Norway and Sweden dominating the top five. Only three countries outside of Europe made the top ten: New Zealand (fourth), Nicaragua (sixth) and Namibia (eighth).

Iran ranked 143rd globally, followed by Chad at 144th, Pakistan at 145th, and Sudan at 146th.

The MENA region ranks last among all regions in gender equality, with a gender parity rate of 61.7%. Despite this result, the region has seen an overall positive trajectory since 2006, with the gender gap score advancing by +3.9 percentage points.

Globally, the gender gap closure in 2024 for all 146 countries included in this release is 68.5%. Compared to the static sample of 143 countries included in last year's edition, the gender gap was closed by an additional 0.1 percentage points, from 68.5% to 68.6%. When looking at the 101 countries covered continuously from 2006 to 2024, the gap also improved by 0.1 percentage points to 68.6%.

The report emphasized that the lack of significant and widespread change since the last edition is effectively slowing down the rate of progress towards equality. Based on current data, it will take 134 years to reach full equality - about five generations after the 2030 Sustainable Development Goal.

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