16, while nine countries have attained full parity in they also have the lowest parity in literacy rate. Only enrolment in primary education. four countries (Israel, Bahrain, Qatar and Jordan) have more than 99% parity in literacy rate. Seven In comparison to other regions, Latin America and countries achieve parity in secondary education and the Caribbean has the highest parity on the Health 10 countries in tertiary education. and Survival subindex, at 97.6%. All countries have attained parity in sex ratio at birth and six out The region records 96.4% parity in Health and of 21 countries have perfect parity in healthy life Survival, and all countries except Qatar have expectancy. achieved more than 95% parity, while all countries have attained perfect parity in sex ratio at birth. At 35% parity, the region has the second-highest However, in 昀椀ve countries healthy life expectancy for score, after Europe, on the Political Empowerment women is lower than that of men. subindex. Based on the constant sample of countries there has been a 0.6 percentage-point The Middle East and North Africa also has improvement in parity since 2022. Overall, nine the second-lowest regional parity in political out of 21 countries have experienced at least a empowerment at 14%. Based on the sample 0.5 percentage-point improvement and nine have of countries covered continuously since 2006, seen a decline of more than 0.5%. Colombia, Chile parity on the Political Empowerment subindex has and Brazil are not only the region’s top-ranked regressed by 1 percentage point since last year. countries; they are also the most improved. Five Parity has declined in seven out of 13 countries, out of 21 countries in this region have seen at least including the region’s most populous countries – a 1 percentage-point improvement in the share of Egypt, Algeria and Tunisia – and increased in six parliamentary positions held by women. other countries, led by Bahrain, Qatar and Kuwait. Bahrain, Kuwait and Lebanon have also seen signi昀椀cant increases in the share of parliamentary Middle East and North Africa positions held by women, while Israel and Tunisia have seen a drop on this indicator since 2022. In terms of ministerial positions held by women, only In comparison to other regions, Middle East and Tunisia, Bahrain and Morocco have more than 20% North Africa remains the furthest away from parity, female ministers, while Saudi Arabia and Lebanon with a 62.6% parity score. This is a 0.9 percentage- continue to have an all-male cabinet. Apart from point decline in parity since the last edition for this Tunisia and Israel, no country in this region has had region, based on the constant sample of countries a female head of state in the last 50 years. covered since 2006. The United Arab Emirates, Israel and Bahrain have achieved the highest parity in the region, while Morocco, Oman and Algeria North America rank the lowest. The three most populous countries – Egypt, Algeria and Morocco – register declines in their parity scores since the last edition. On the Just behind Europe, North America ranks second, other hand, 昀椀ve countries, led by Bahrain, Kuwait having closed 75% of the gap, which is 1.9 and Qatar, have increased their parity by 0.5% or percentage points lower than the previous edition. more. At the current rate of progress, full regional While Canada has registered a 0.2 percentage- parity will be attained in 152 years. point decline in the overall parity score since the last edition, the United States has seen a reduction When it comes to Economic Participation and of 2.1 percentage points. At the current rate of Opportunity, 44% of the gender gap has been progress, 95 years will be needed to close the closed, ranking the region 7th out of eight regions, gender gap for the region. just above Southern Asia. There is highly uneven progress in parity on this subindex among different North America has achieved the highest gender countries. Algeria’s level of parity, 31.7%, is less parity score among all regions, 77.6%, on the than half of that of Israel which has closed 68.9% Economic Participation and Opportunity subindex. of the gender gap. The United Arab Emirates and This marks a 0.2 percentage-point increase in the Egypt have registered increases in both the share parity score since the last edition. Canada improved of women senior of昀椀cer positions and the share by 0.5 percentage points and the United States of women in technical positions. Further 10 out of by 0.2 percentage points. Parity in wage equality 13 countries in the region have advanced towards for similar work and estimated earned income parity in estimated earned income by at least 0.5 increased in both countries. percentage points. Regional parity on the Educational Attainment The Middle East and North Africa is at 95.9% parity subindex stands at 99.5%. While Canada has on the Educational Attainment subindex, and Israel achieved full parity, the United States, barring is the only country in the region to have full parity. enrolment in secondary education, is virtually Kuwait, Bahrain and Jordan come close, with more at parity for literacy rate, enrolment in primary than 99% gender parity. Relatively more populous education and enrolment in tertiary education. countries such as Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia and Egypt have the lowest parity on this subindex, and Global Gender Gap Report 2023 23