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.

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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	63 / 100	76 / 100	49 / 100
Europe 50 countries	59	72	46
Oceania 14 countries	48	53	45
North America 23 countries	46	56	36
Asia 44 countries	32	35	30
Africa 54 countries	27	33	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 / 100	91 / 100	78 / 100
North America 2 countries	79	94	64
Australia and New Zealand 2 countries	78	91	64
British Islands 2 countries	74	86	61
Western Europe 9 countries	73	82	64
South America 12 countries	63	76	49
Southern Europe 16 countries	57	73	42
Central America 8 countries	53	59	47
Baltic Countries 3 countries	52	69	35
Micronesia 5 countries	50	54	16
Southern Africa 5 countries	46	56	36
Eastern Asia 6 countries	46	52	41
Eastern Europe 10 countries	45	58	32
Melanesia 4 countries	42	45	34
Southeast Asia 11 countries	38	41	37
Caribbean 13 countries	37	49	25
Polynesia 3 countries	35	35	Not enough data
Central Africa 9 countries	34	41	23
Southern and Central Asia 14 countries	30	35	26
Western Africa 16 countries	26	34	15
Middle East 18 countries	26	31	21
Eastern Africa 17 countries	25	29	19
Northern Africa 7 countries	14	9	18

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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. United Arab Emirates	0 / 100	29 / 100	+29
2. Cape Verde	52	77	+25
3. Saudi Arabia	3	25	+22
4. Belize	46	68	+22
5. Algeria	5	25	+20
6. Uganda	7	24	+18
7. Syria	11	27	+16
8. Mauritania	0	16	+16
9. Libya	3	19	+16
10. Sri Lanka	27	42	+15

Legal Progress Ahead of Public Opinion

Country	Legal Index	Public Opinion Index	Difference
1. Montenegro	75 / 100	16 / 100	-59
2. Moldova	64	8	-55
3. Burkina Faso	62	7	-55
4. Antigua and Barbuda	70	17	-53
5. Georgia	65	12	-52
6. Kazakhstan	64	13	-51
7. Albania	62	12	-50
8. Bosnia and Herzegovina	67	17	-50
9. Ecuador	87	39	-48
10. Croatia	82	35	-47

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 / 100	98 / 100	87 / 100
2. Denmark	87	96	79
3. Norway	86	88	84
4. Malta	85	100	71
5. Canada	83	100	67
6. Uruguay	83	93	73
7. Netherlands	83	95	70
8. Andorra	82	89	74
9. Spain	80	93	68
10. Brazil	80	99	61
11. Chile	80	100	60
12. Germany	80	95	65
13. Luxembourg	79	85	72
14. Australia	78	92	65
15. Finland	78	88	68
16. Cuba	78	84	73
17. Sweden	77	85	70
18. New Zealand	77	91	64
19. Belgium	77	91	63
20. France	77	93	61
21. Colombia	75	98	53
22. Argentina	75	89	61
23. United States	75	88	62
24. Mexico	75	92	57
25. Austria	74	87	62
26. United Kingdom	74	87	62
27. Portugal	74	89	60
28. Ireland	73	85	61
29. Nepal	72	87	58
30. Costa Rica	71	86	57
31. South Africa	69	81	58
32. Switzerland	68	76	61
33. San Marino	68	65	71
34. Slovenia	68	86	50
35. Fiji	68	68	—
36. Marshall Islands	67	67	—
37. Liechtenstein	66	63	69
38. Czech Republic	65	69	62
39. India	65	76	54
40. Cape Verde	65	52	77
41. Italy	64	68	60
42. Barbados	63	59	67
43. Ecuador	63	87	39
44. Suriname	63	63	—
45. Israel	62	79	44
46. Thailand	61	62	61
47. Peru	61	75	47
48. Greece	61	79	42
49. Estonia	60	80	41
50. Taiwan	60	73	48
51. Bolivia	60	83	37
52. Croatia	58	82	35
53. Mauritius	58	67	49
54. Guinea-Bissau	57	57	—
55. Belize	57	46	68
56. Angola	57	62	51
57. Philippines	57	56	57
58. Cambodia	56	70	42
59. Cyprus	56	76	35
60. Singapore	55	60	51
61. Poland	55	65	45
62. Federated States of Micronesia	54	54	—
63. Japan	54	51	57
64. Hungary	54	65	43
65. Botswana	53	70	36
66. Mozambique	53	62	44
67. Seychelles	52	52	—
68. Monaco	52	53	51
69. Venezuela	52	56	47
70. Latvia	51	65	37
71. Honduras	51	64	37
72. Sao Tome and Principe	50	58	43
73. Nauru	50	50	—
74. Bhutan	49	59	40
75. Laos	49	51	47
76. Vietnam	49	55	42
77. Vanuatu	48	62	34
78. Equatorial Guinea	47	47	—
79. Romania	47	57	36
80. Ukraine	46	65	28
81. Montenegro	46	75	16
82. Slovakia	45	53	36
83. Lithuania	45	63	26
84. Mongolia	44	66	23
85. El Salvador	44	48	40
86. Lesotho	44	59	29
87. Kiribati	44	44	—
88. Nicaragua	44	49	39
89. Antigua and Barbuda	43	70	17
90. Bulgaria	43	61	24
91. Kosovo	42	64	21
92. Serbia	42	64	21
93. Panama	42	44	40
94. Bosnia and Herzegovina	42	67	17
95. Dominican Republic	41	48	34
96. China	41	46	35
97. South Korea	41	41	40
98. Bahrain	40	38	42
99. Guatemala	40	46	34
100. Namibia	39	43	35
101. Georgia	38	65	12
102. Kazakhstan	38	64	13
103. Turkey	38	43	33
104. Samoa	38	38	—
105. Djibouti	38	38	—
106. Trinidad and Tobago	38	48	27
107. Republic of the Congo	38	56	19
108. Benin	37	56	19
109. Albania	37	62	12
110. Tajikistan	37	37	—
111. Tuvalu	37	37	—
112. Paraguay	36	40	33
113. North Korea	36	36	—
114. Moldova	36	64	8
115. Saint Kitts and Nevis	36	57	15
116. Pakistan	35	40	31
117. North Macedonia	35	57	13
118. Palau	35	54	16
119. Sri Lanka	35	27	42
120. Madagascar	35	47	22
121. Mali	34	57	12
122. Haiti	34	58	11
123. Burkina Faso	34	62	7
124. Timor-Leste	33	53	14
125. Gabon	32	51	14
126. Vatican City	32	32	—
127. Papua New Guinea	32	32	—
128. Bahamas	32	52	11
129. Tonga	31	31	—
130. Central African Republic	31	31	—
131. Russia	31	42	20
132. Rwanda	30	53	8
133. Lebanon	30	40	20
134. Grenada	30	41	18
135. Belarus	29	43	16
136. Côte d’Ivoire	29	44	14
137. Iraq	28	34	22
138. Armenia	27	49	6
139. Niger	27	41	12
140. Azerbaijan	27	48	5
141. Kyrgyzstan	26	41	12
142. Eswatini	26	29	22
143. Jamaica	26	31	20
144. Jordan	24	43	5
145. Guyana	24	25	23
146. Liberia	23	35	12
147. Saint Lucia	23	29	17
148. Myanmar	22	21	24
149. Dominica	22	29	14
150. Bangladesh	22	16	27
151. Zimbabwe	21	34	8
152. Democratic Republic of the Congo	21	32	10
153. Solomon Islands	20	20	—
154. Sierra Leone	20	33	7
155. Syria	19	11	27
156. South Sudan	19	19	—
157. Burundi	18	27	10
158. Chad	18	24	12
159. Saint Vincent and the Grenadines	18	29	8
160. Togo	18	22	14
161. Kenya	17	18	17
162. Guinea	17	21	13
163. Comoros	17	18	16
164. Maldives	16	24	8
165. Malaysia	16	12	20
166. Ghana	16	24	8
167. Uganda	16	7	24
168. Algeria	15	5	25
169. Zambia	15	23	6
170. Tunisia	15	13	17
171. Malawi	15	25	4
172. Kuwait	15	15	—
173. United Arab Emirates	15	0	29
174. Saudi Arabia	14	3	25
175. Indonesia	14	14	13
176. Sudan	13	8	18
177. Senegal	13	22	4
178. Egypt	13	9	16
179. Uzbekistan	12	7	18
180. Turkmenistan	12	12	—
181. Tanzania	12	7	17
182. Morocco	11	6	16
183. Libya	11	3	19
184. Ethiopia	10	6	14
185. Yemen	10	3	17
186. Cameroon	10	8	11
187. Eritrea	9	9	—
188. Gambia	9	15	4
189. Mauritania	8	0	16
190. Palestine	7	9	6
191. Qatar	7	6	9
192. Nigeria	7	7	7
193. Oman	6	6	—
194. Iran	4	5	3
195. Brunei	3	3	—
196. Somalia	2	2	—
197. 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 uncertain	×0.20
		Male illegal, female legal	×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	×0.70
		Other type of partnership	×0.50
		Foreign same-sex marriages recognized only	×0.40
		Unregistered cohabitation	×0.30
		Unrecognized	×0.10
		Unrecognized, same-sex marriage and civil unions banned	×0.05
		Not legal	×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, surgery not required	×1.00
		Legal, but requires medical diagnosis	×0.70
		Legal, but requires surgery	×0.40
		Illegal	×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
		Sexual orientation only	×0.50
		No protections	×0.00
LGBT housing discrimination	20	Sexual orientation and gender identity	×1.00
		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
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 (3-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
Conversion therapy	10	Not banned	×0.00
Equal age of consent	10	Equal	×1.00
Equal age of consent	10	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
2023 (current year)	0.75⁰	1
2022	0.75⁰	1
2021	0.75¹	0.75
2020	0.75²	0.5625
2019	0.75³	0.421875
2018	0.75⁴	0.31640625
2017	0.75⁵	0.2373046875
2016	0.75⁶	0.177978515625
2015	0.75⁷	0.13348388671875
2014	0.75⁸	0.10011291503906
2013	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.