LGBT Equality Index

The most LGBT-Friendly Countries in the World.

The Equality Index measures the current status of LGBT rights, laws, and freedoms as well as public attitudes towards LGBT people.

Equality Index ?

0 (Less Equal)

100 (More Equal)

Public Opinion vs. Legal Rights

North America

South America

Europe

Africa

Asia

Oceania

Equality Index by Continent

Average LGBTQ+ Equality Index scores of each continent.

Continent	Equality Index	Legal Index	Public Opinion Index
South America 12 countries	61	75	48
Europe 50 countries	60	73	47
North America 23 countries	46	58	34
Oceania 14 countries	45	49	45
Asia 44 countries	33	36	30
Africa 53 countries	25	29	20

Equality Index by Region

Australia and New Zealand, the Nordic countries, and parts of Europe rank highest in terms of the Equality Index while the Middle East and most of Africa (with the exception of South Africa) rank lowest — both in terms of legal protections and public opinion.

Region	Equality Index	Legal Index	Public Opinion Index
Nordic Countries 5 countries	84	90	78
Australia and New Zealand 2 countries	78	92	64
North America 2 countries	77	90	64
Western Europe 9 countries	73	82	64
British Islands 2 countries	72	83	61
Southern Europe 16 countries	61	76	47
South America 12 countries	61	75	48
Baltic Countries 3 countries	53	71	35
Eastern Asia 6 countries	53	62	43
Central America 8 countries	52	62	41
Micronesia 5 countries	46	49	16
Eastern Europe 10 countries	45	58	33
Southern Africa 5 countries	44	52	36
Southeast Asia 11 countries	38	41	39
Caribbean 13 countries	38	50	25
Melanesia 4 countries	37	41	34
Central Africa 9 countries	33	39	23
Polynesia 3 countries	31	31	Not enough data
Southern and Central Asia 14 countries	30	34	26
Middle East 18 countries	27	33	21
Eastern Africa 17 countries	23	26	19
Western Africa 15 countries	22	27	15
Northern Africa 7 countries	14	10	18

Show 18 More

Largest Disparities

Regions where legal progress and public views don't align. Comparing the legal rights and the public opinion highlights regions where the public's support has advanced past (or fallen behind) legal progress. These may be potential areas for advocacy and change. (Countries without public opinion data are excluded.)

Public Opinion Ahead of Legal Progress

Country	Legal Index	Public Opinion Index	Difference
1. Guyana	29	56	+27
2. Uganda	0	25	+25
3. Cape Verde	55	77	+22
4. United Arab Emirates	5	25	+20
5. Iraq	4	22	+18
6. Algeria	4	22	+18
7. Saudi Arabia	7	25	+18
8. Yemen	0	17	+17
9. Mauritania	0	16	+16
10. Sri Lanka	24	37	+13

Legal Progress Ahead of Public Opinion

Country	Legal Index	Public Opinion Index	Difference
1. Georgia	68	12	-56
2. Moldova	64	8	-56
3. Antigua and Barbuda	71	17	-55
4. Bolivia	88	33	-54
5. Croatia	85	35	-51
6. Greece	93	43	-51
7. Cyprus	85	36	-49
8. Estonia	90	42	-49
9. Colombia	98	52	-46
10. Ecuador	83	37	-46

New for developers: The Equality Index is now available via Equaldex's API.

World Equality Index

Which countries are the most LGBT-friendly?

The Legal Index scores the legal rights and freedoms LGBTQ+ people have while the Public Opinion Index scores how the general public feels in each region.

Country	Equality Index	Legal Index	Public Opinion Index
1. Iceland	92	98	87
2. Malta	86	100	72
3. Norway	86	87	85
4. Denmark	85	92	79
5. Spain	84	100	69
6. Uruguay	83	93	72
7. Canada	81	95	66
8. Chile	80	100	60
9. Andorra	80	86	74
10. Netherlands	80	90	70
11. Germany	80	95	64
12. Luxembourg	79	86	73
13. New Zealand	79	94	64
14. Cuba	79	85	73
15. Finland	78	86	69
16. Austria	77	93	62
17. Sweden	77	86	69
18. Australia	77	90	64
19. Brazil	77	93	60
20. France	75	90	61
21. Portugal	75	90	61
22. Belgium	75	87	63
23. Colombia	75	98	52
24. Mexico	75	93	57
25. Argentina	74	87	61
26. Ireland	74	86	61
27. United States	73	85	61
28. United Kingdom	71	80	61
29. South Africa	71	84	58
30. Nepal	69	78	61
31. Czech Republic	69	76	63
32. Switzerland	69	78	60
33. Slovenia	69	88	51
34. Italy	69	76	61
35. San Marino	68	66	71
36. Greece	68	93	43
37. Costa Rica	68	86	49
38. Taiwan	66	85	48
39. Estonia	66	90	42
40. Cape Verde	66	55	77
41. Liechtenstein	65	61	69
42. Japan	65	74	56
43. Israel	64	84	44
44. Barbados	64	60	67
45. Thailand	63	64	62
46. Belize	62	56	68
47. Marshall Islands	62	62	—
48. Peru	61	77	45
49. Bolivia	60	88	33
50. Cyprus	60	85	36
51. Ecuador	60	83	37
52. Croatia	60	85	35
53. Angola	59	67	51
54. India	58	62	54
55. Philippines	58	58	58
56. Poland	56	66	45
57. Hungary	55	68	43
58. Vietnam	55	60	49
59. Seychelles	54	54	—
60. Monaco	54	57	51
61. Latvia	54	70	38
62. Federated States of Micronesia	54	54	—
63. Fiji	54	54	—
64. Montenegro	53	75	32
65. Singapore	53	54	51
66. Mauritius	52	56	49
67. Mozambique	52	62	42
68. Cambodia	52	54	49
69. Nauru	51	51	—
70. Venezuela	51	55	46
71. Slovakia	50	65	36
72. Ukraine	49	59	39
73. North Korea	49	49	—
74. Romania	49	61	37
75. Botswana	49	63	35
76. China	49	52	45
77. Albania	48	68	29
78. Serbia	48	67	30
79. Laos	48	49	47
80. Vanuatu	48	62	34
81. Bhutan	48	56	40
82. Sao Tome and Principe	47	52	43
83. Guinea-Bissau	47	47	—
84. Equatorial Guinea	47	47	—
85. Bosnia and Herzegovina	47	66	28
86. North Macedonia	46	68	25
87. South Korea	46	47	45
88. Kosovo	46	64	27
89. El Salvador	45	57	33
90. Nicaragua	44	51	37
91. Antigua and Barbuda	44	71	17
92. Mongolia	44	66	21
93. Honduras	44	60	27
94. Bulgaria	43	62	24
95. Guyana	43	29	56
96. Dominican Republic	41	51	31
97. Lithuania	41	54	27
98. Tajikistan	40	40	—
99. Turkey	40	46	34
100. Georgia	40	68	12
101. Guatemala	40	51	29
102. Lesotho	39	49	30
103. Samoa	39	39	—
104. Panama	38	47	30
105. Suriname	38	54	23
106. Bahrain	38	34	42
107. Namibia	38	42	34
108. Trinidad and Tobago	37	47	28
109. Saint Kitts and Nevis	36	58	15
110. Moldova	36	64	8
111. Madagascar	35	47	23
112. Paraguay	35	43	26
113. Djibouti	35	35	—
114. Kiribati	34	34	—
115. Vatican City	33	33	—
116. Dominica	33	51	14
117. Republic of the Congo	32	45	20
118. Benin	32	45	19
119. Bahamas	32	47	16
120. Timor-Leste	31	48	14
121. Central African Republic	31	31	—
122. Belarus	31	45	16
123. Pakistan	31	30	31
124. Gabon	30	47	14
125. Sri Lanka	30	24	37
126. Palau	30	44	16
127. Papua New Guinea	30	30	—
128. Kazakhstan	29	46	12
129. Haiti	29	47	11
130. Tonga	29	29	—
131. Burkina Faso	29	51	7
132. Armenia	28	51	6
133. Azerbaijan	28	50	6
134. Kyrgyzstan	28	43	12
135. Bangladesh	27	23	31
136. Niger	27	41	13
137. Rwanda	26	45	8
138. Grenada	26	36	17
139. Jamaica	26	35	18
140. Saint Lucia	25	33	17
141. Côte d’Ivoire	24	34	14
142. Tuvalu	24	24	—
143. Myanmar	23	20	27
144. Jordan	23	41	6
145. Syria	23	19	27
146. Democratic Republic of the Congo	23	36	10
147. Eswatini	23	23	22
148. Palestine	22	39	6
149. Zimbabwe	21	34	9
150. Lebanon	21	22	19
151. Saint Vincent and the Grenadines	20	33	8
152. Kenya	20	23	17
153. Liberia	20	28	12
154. Uzbekistan	19	21	18
155. Kuwait	19	19	—
156. Turkmenistan	18	18	—
157. Solomon Islands	18	18	—
158. South Sudan	18	18	—
159. Tunisia	16	16	17
160. Sierra Leone	16	26	7
161. Chad	16	20	12
162. Comoros	16	16	16
163. Saudi Arabia	16	7	25
164. Maldives	16	24	8
165. Togo	16	17	14
166. Indonesia	16	19	12
167. Malaysia	16	12	19
168. Guinea	15	17	13
169. United Arab Emirates	15	5	25
170. Russia	15	9	21
171. Egypt	14	12	16
172. Algeria	13	4	22
173. Iraq	13	4	22
174. Malawi	13	22	4
175. Libya	13	7	19
176. Sudan	13	8	18
177. Uganda	13	0	25
178. Zambia	13	19	6
179. Tanzania	12	7	18
180. Oman	11	11	—
181. Morocco	11	7	16
182. Senegal	11	17	4
183. Ethiopia	10	6	14
184. Qatar	10	10	9
185. Burundi	10	9	10
186. Gambia	9	14	4
187. Cameroon	9	6	11
188. Yemen	8	0	17
189. Mauritania	8	0	16
190. Brunei	8	8	—
191. Eritrea	8	8	—
192. Ghana	7	6	9
193. Somalia	7	7	—
194. Iran	7	10	3
195. Nigeria	5	4	7
196. Afghanistan	1	0	2

Equality Index Methodology

Equaldex's Equality Index is a rating from 0 to 100 (with 100 being the most equal) to help visualize the legal rights and public attitudes towards LGBTQ+ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, questioning, intersex...) people in each region. The Equality Index is an average of two indexes: the legal index and the public opinion Index.

Equality Index

Average of Legal Index and Public Opinion Index

Legal Index

The LGBT legal index measures the current legal status of 13 different issues ranging from the legal status of homosexuality, same-sex marriage, transgender rights, LGBT discrimination protections, LGBT censorship laws, and more. Each topic is weighted differently (for example, if same-sex marriage is illegal in a region, it would have a much bigger impact on the score than not allowing LGBT people to serve in the military). Each topic is assigned a "total possible score" and a "score" is assigned based the status of the law using a rating scale that ranges from 0% to 100% (for example, if homosexuality is legal, it would would receive a score of 100, but if it's illegal, it would receve a score of 0.)

If the status of an issue is unknown, not applicable, or no data has not been added to Equaldex, the issue's score is completely discarded and not included in the ranking. In cases where a law varies throughout a region (for example, a country where same-sex marriage is legal in some states or provinces but not others), the score is averaged among all states or provinces, weighted equally.

Past laws that are no longer in effect do not impact the region's current score. New laws that have not gone into effect yet will not impact the region's score until the day it goes into effect.

Legal Index

(Total Possible Score for each issue × Factor of Status of Issue) / Sum of all Total Possible Scores

Show Scoring

Issue	Total Possible Score	Status	Factor
Homosexual activity	100	Legal	×1.00
		Male illegal, female legal	×0.20
		Male illegal, female uncertain	×0.20
		Illegal (other penalty)	×0.15
		Illegal (imprisonment as punishment)	×0.10
		Illegal (up to life in prison as punishment)	×0.05
		Illegal (death penalty as punishment)	×0.00
Same-sex marriage	60	Legal	×1.00
		Civil unions (marriage rights)	×0.80
		Civil unions (limited rights)	×0.70
		Other type of partnership	×0.50
		Foreign same-sex marriages recognized only	×0.40
		Unregistered cohabitation	×0.30
		Unrecognized	×0.10
		Banned	×0.00
Censorship of LGBT Issues	40	No censorship	×1.00
		State-enforced	×0.30
		Fine as punishment	×0.20
		Other punishment	×0.10
		Imprisonment as punishment	×0.00
Right to change legal gender	40	Legal, no restrictions	×1.00
		Legal, but requires medical diagnosis	×0.70
		Legal, but requires surgery	×0.40
		Illegal	×0.00
Gender-Affirming Care	20	Legal	×1.00
		Restricted for minors	×0.70
		Banned for minors	×0.50
		Restricted	×0.30
		Banned	×0.00
Legal recognition of non-binary gender	30	Recognized	×1.00
		Intersex only	×0.70
		Not legally recognized	×0.00
LGBT discrimination	20	Illegal	×1.00
		Illegal in some contexts	×0.50
		No protections	×0.00
LGBT employment discrimination	20	Sexual orientation and gender identity	×1.00
		Gender identity only	×0.50
		Sexual orientation only	×0.50
		No protections	×0.00
LGBT housing discrimination	20	Sexual orientation and gender identity	×1.00
		Gender identity only	×0.50
		Sexual orientation only	×0.50
		No protections	×0.00
Same-sex adoption	20	Legal	×1.00
		Married couples only	×0.50
		Single only	×0.40
		Step-child adoption only	×0.20
		Illegal	×0.00
Intersex infant surgery	20	Full ban	×1.00
		Parental approval required	×0.30
		Not banned	×0.00
Serving openly in military	20	Legal	×1.00
		Lesbians, gays, bisexuals permitted, transgender people banned	×0.70
		Don't Ask, Don't Tell	×0.50
		Illegal	×0.00
Blood donations by MSMs	10	Legal	×1.00
		Legal with restrictions	×0.80
		Banned (less than 6-month deferral)	×0.30
		Banned (6-month deferral)	×0.20
		Banned (1-year deferral)	×0.15
		Banned (5-year deferral)	×0.10
		Banned (indefinite deferral)	×0.00
Conversion therapy	10	Banned	×1.00
		Sexual orientation only	×0.50
		Not banned	×0.00
Equal age of consent	10	Equal	×1.00
		Female equal, male N/A	×0.75
		Unequal	×0.00

Public Opinion Index

The LGBT public opinion index measures the public attitudes towards LGBT people using surveys and polls from reputable organizations. This index is scored based on averaging the results of all surveys in a given region. Generally, the value averaged is usually the most “equal” response in the poll. For example, if a poll asked “Do you support same-sex marriage?” and 56% of people said “yes”, the value “56” would be used. In some cases, a survey may be weighted less if the survey is very specific or includes a specific group of people (such as Christians) and might not be a full representation of the overall attitudes of the region.

To better represent current attitudes, surveys are scored using a time-decay weighting method based on the date published. This means that the most recent surveys carry more weight in the public opinion index. Surveys from the current year and the previous year receive full weight. However, for surveys older than two years, an exponential decay of 75% applies each year. This weight decay ensures that the public opinion index is always most influenced by the most recent data, reflecting evolving public attitudes, while still taking into account older surveys to maintain a comprehensive overview. This change went into effect on July 21, 2023.

Note that public opinion data is not available in every region. In these cases, the Equality Index will only be a representation of the legal rights of LGBT people in the region. Additionally, some regions have no recent public opinion data available, so older data is used to score the region.

Public Opinion Index

(Survey Results Value × Survey Weight × Time Decay Factor) / (Survey Weight × Time Decay Factor)

Show Survey Time Decay

Year Survey Published	Time Decay Factor
2024 (current year)	0.75⁰	1
2023	0.75⁰	1
2022	0.75¹	0.75
2021	0.75²	0.5625
2020	0.75³	0.421875
2019	0.75⁴	0.31640625
2018	0.75⁵	0.2373046875
2017	0.75⁶	0.177978515625
2016	0.75⁷	0.13348388671875
2015	0.75⁸	0.10011291503906
2014	0.75⁹	0.075084686279297
(etc.)

Notes

Equaldex's Equality Index is constantly being improved and tracking it over time may not represent changes in equality over time. As more data is contributed to Equaldex, the index becomes more accurate. For example, adding survey results to a region will likely change the region's Equality Index — even more so if there is limited data on the region. In this case, the change in score could represent a change in attitudes in the region, but it may also just be an increase in the index's accuracy.
Global opinion surveys rarely include transgender topics. Especially in more conservative regions, surveys are usually limited to homosexuality or same-sex marriage. Equaldex continues to seek more international transgender public opinion data to make the Equality Index more inclusive.
The model for the Equality Index is evolving, and adjustments to weights and other parameters are likely as we continue to improve its accuracy and relevance.
The Equality Index is updated automatically as data is added to Equaldex and as new laws go into effect. When a new law or survey is added to Equaldex, the index will recalculate within a few hours.