Netherlands scores high on gender equality within the EU

© Hollandse Hoogte / David Rozing
In 2024, the Netherlands had an average score of 78.8 on gender equality, putting it in third place within the European Union (EU) after Sweden and Denmark. The European Gender Equality Index is a composite measure which consists of six core domains defined by the European Institute for Gender Equality (EIGE). The Netherlands scores higher than the EU average in each of these domains. This is according to the EIGE's latest Gender Equality Index, which is partly based on figures from Statistics Netherlands (CBS).
The EIGE has been collecting figures from the 27 EU member states since 2013, and gives the countries a score between 1 and 100 in terms of gender equality, referred to as the Gender Equality Index. A score of 1 stands for complete inequality and 100 for complete equality. In the 2024 survey, the Netherlands received an average score of 78.8, which is well above the EU average of 71.0. Romania was the country with the lowest index score (57.5).


Highest level of gender equality in the domain of health

The EIGE compiles the final score for the Gender Equality Index based on scores in six domains: health, money, work, power, knowledge and time. In all six domains, the Dutch score in 2024 was higher than the EU average. The highest score was 93.4 for the domain of health, while the EU average for this domain was 88.6. This domain consists of scores for perceived health and life expectancy, for example.

Of the six domains, the Netherlands scored lowest on knowledge (70.3), but this was still above the EU average of 64.2. The measures in this domain include the share of women and men with a higher level of education and the share of those who have completed training at some point in their lives. The Netherlands scored above average on both of these sub-indicators and ranked second in the European Union in 2024.

Segregation in education is also taken into account in the knowledge domain. This occurs when women and men are unequally distributed across various educational programmes. In the Netherlands, women outnumber men in programmes such as education and health social care, resulting in a score of 53.3 for this sub-indicator. This share is slightly lower than the EU average of 54.5.