Japan ranks 79th in global report on gender gap

Japan ranked 79th in a global report measuring women’s achievements in key areas, the Swiss-based World Economic Forum said Tuesday. Nordic countries topped the list, with Sweden considered to be a country with the smallest gender gap. Sweden was followed by Norway, Finland and Iceland. The rest of the top 10 countries were Germany, the Philippines, New Zealand, Denmark, Britain and Ireland.

The report measured the extent to which women in the polled countries and regions have achieved equality with men in four areas ? economic participation and opportunity, education attainment, political empowerment, and health and survival. Japan placed first in health and survival along with 34 other nations with the same level of well-being index, but was 83rd in both economic opportunity and political empowerment, bringing the overall ranking to 79th.