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 America12 countries	61	73	49
Europe50 countries	58	71	46
North America23 countries	43	53	34
Oceania14 countries	40	43	44
Asia44 countries	30	30	32
Africa54 countries	23	24	22

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 Countries5 countries	83	90	76
Australia and New Zealand2 countries	77	91	63
North America3 countries	72	87	58
Western Europe9 countries	71	81	60
British Isles2 countries	69	81	57
South America12 countries	61	73	49
Southern Europe16 countries	61	75	47
Baltic Countries3 countries	50	65	36
Southern Africa5 countries	47	53	40
Eastern Asia6 countries	47	51	45
Central America7 countries	46	54	39
Eastern Europe11 countries	44	56	31
Micronesia5 countries	40	43	16
Southeast Asia11 countries	39	35	46
Melanesia4 countries	36	37	34
Caribbean13 countries	35	44	25
Central Africa9 countries	28	33	20
Southern and Central Asia14 countries	28	29	27
Eastern Africa17 countries	22	22	24
Middle East17 countries	21	24	20
Polynesia3 countries	21	21	Not enough data
Western Africa16 countries	18	20	17
Northern Africa7 countries	12	9	17

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.Barbados	38	71	+33
2.Guyana	22	53	+32
3.China	39	66	+27
4.Cape Verde	55	80	+26
5.Myanmar	13	38	+25
6.United Arab Emirates	0	23	+22
7.Syria	7	27*	+20
8.Iraq	3	22	+20
9.Malaysia	8	27	+19
10.Saudi Arabia	3	22	+19

Legal Progress Ahead of Public Opinion

Country	Legal Index	Public Opinion Index	Difference
1.Moldova	67	8	-58
2.Greece	92	40	-51
3.Bolivia	87	38	-48
4.Ecuador	89	42	-47
5.Croatia	80	33	-47
6.Mongolia	62	17	-44
7.Antigua and Barbuda	60	17*	-43
8.Cyprus	79	36	-42
9.Colombia	92	50	-42
10.Germany	100	60	-40

World Equality Index

Download / API

Which countries are the most LGBT-friendly? TheLegal Index scores the legal rights and freedoms LGBTQ+ people have while thePublic Opinion Index scores how the general public feels in each region.

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

*Region's public opinion data is based on less than three surveys

Equality Index Methodology

Equaldex'sEquality 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 ofLegal Index andPublic Opinion Index

Legal Index

The LGBTlegal 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	×0.05
		Death penalty 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
		Legal, but restricted for minors	×0.70
		Legal, but 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
Hate crime protections	40	Sexual orientation and gender identity	×1.00
		Sexual orientation only	×0.50
		Protected in some contexts	×0.30
		No protections	×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
		Second parent adoption only	×0.40
		Single 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
		Female equal, male unequal	×0.50
		Unequal	×0.00

Public Opinion Index

The LGBTpublic 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
2026 (current year)	0.75⁰	1
2025	0.75⁰	1
2024	0.75¹	0.75
2023	0.75²	0.5625
2022	0.75³	0.421875
2021	0.75⁴	0.31640625
2020	0.75⁵	0.2373046875
2019	0.75⁶	0.177978515625
2018	0.75⁷	0.13348388671875
2017	0.75⁸	0.10011291503906
2016	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.
Regions are ranked based on their raw, unrounded Equality Index scores, but rounded values are used for simplicity.
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.

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