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)

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	78 / 100	48 / 100
Europe 50 countries	60	75	45
North America 23 countries	50	63	35
Oceania 14 countries	50	54	47
Asia 44 countries	33	39	28
Africa 54 countries	29	37	18

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
North America 2 countries	87 / 100	100 / 100	73 / 100
Nordic Countries 5 countries	84	91	76
Australia and New Zealand 2 countries	81	91	70
British Islands 2 countries	78	88	68
Western Europe 9 countries	76	87	65
South America 12 countries	63	78	48
Southern Europe 16 countries	60	77	42
Central America 8 countries	57	72	43
Southern Africa 5 countries	52	66	38
Baltic Countries 3 countries	52	74	29
Micronesia 5 countries	47	50	16
Melanesia 4 countries	45	49	34
Eastern Asia 6 countries	44	59	35
Eastern Europe 10 countries	44	59	29
Polynesia 3 countries	41	41	Not enough data
Caribbean 13 countries	40	53	22
Central Africa 9 countries	39	48	21
Southeast Asia 11 countries	36	44	29
Southern and Central Asia 14 countries	34	42	24
Middle East 18 countries	27	34	23
Western Africa 16 countries	26	38	12
Eastern Africa 17 countries	25	32	16
Northern Africa 7 countries	16	13	20

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

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.

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.

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
		Illegal (other penalty)	×0.30
		Male illegal, female legal	×0.50
		Male illegal, female uncertain	×0.40
		Illegal (death penalty as punishment)	×0.00
		Illegal (up to life in prison as punishment)	×0.10
		Illegal (imprisonment as punishment)	×0.20
Same-sex marriage	60	Legal	×1.00
		Other type of partnership	×0.50
		Foreign same-sex marriages recognized only	×0.40
		Unrecognized, same-sex marriage and civil unions banned	×0.30
		Unrecognized, only same-sex marriage official	×0.20
		Unrecognized	×0.10
		Unregistered cohabitation	×0.10
		Not legal	×0.00
		Civil unions	×0.70
Censorship of LGBT Issues	45	Imprisonment as punishment	×0.00
		Fine as punishment	×0.30
		Other punishment	×0.15
		No censorship	×1.00
		State-enforced	×0.40
Right to change legal gender	40	Legal, surgery not required	×1.00
		Illegal	×0.00
		Legal, but requires surgery	×0.70
Legal recognition of non-binary gender	30	Recognized	×1.00
		Not legally recognized	×0.00
		Intersex only	×0.70
LGBT discrimination	25	Illegal	×1.00
		No protections	×0.00
		Illegal in some contexts	×0.50
LGBT employment discrimination	20	Sexual orientation and gender identity	×1.00
		No protections	×0.00
		Sexual orientation only	×0.50
LGBT housing discrimination	20	Sexual orientation and gender identity	×1.00
		Sexual orientation only	×0.50
		No protections	×0.00
Same-sex adoption	15	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	15	Legal	×1.00
		Don't Ask, Don't Tell	×0.50
		Illegal	×0.00
		Lesbians, gays, bisexuals permitted, transgender people banned	×0.70
Blood donations by MSMs	10	Legal	×1.00
		Banned (indefinite deferral)	×0.00
		Banned (5-year deferral)	×0.10
		Banned (1-year deferral)	×0.15
		Banned (6-month deferral)	×0.20
		Banned (3-month deferral)	×0.30
Conversion therapy	15	Banned	×1.00
Conversion therapy	15	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.

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. In some regions with no recent public opinion data, older data is used to score the region.

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.