Substantial gender gaps affect various social aspects of the Mediterranean region, such as lifestyles and education levels, political participation and women's empowerment. Development and gender inequality identify clusters of countries far apart.
Tobacco consumption, schooling, parliamentary seats occupied by women , the composite index to measure the effect of laws and regulations on women's economic opportunities, and finally the gender comparison through indexes of development and inequality.
Prevalence of current tobacco use, females (% of female adults)
Prevalence of current tobacco use, males (% of male adults)
Gross intake ratio to the last grade of lower secondary general education, female (%)
Gross intake ratio to the last grade of lower secondary general education, male (%)
Proportion of seats held by women in national parliaments (%)
Women Business and the Law Index (scale 1-100)
Gender Development Index (min=0, max=1)
Gender Inequality Index (min=0, max=1)
area_code
ordgeo
Countries
2022
2022
2021
2021
2024
2023
2022
2022
Portugal
20.7
30.5
100.8
100.5
36.5
100.0
1.0
0.1
A
1
Spain
27.5
29.4
96.6
93.0
44.3
100.0
1.0
0.1
A
2
France
33.7
35.5
99.7
99.8
37.3
100.0
1.0
0.1
A
3
Italy
19.1
25.7
99.8
100.8
32.3
97.5
1.0
0.1
A
4
Slovenia
18.5
21.8
97.0
94.4
37.8
96.9
1.0
0.1
A
5
Croatia
37.3
36.7
97.1
97.6
33.8
93.8
1.0
0.1
A
6
Greece
30.6
35.0
95.1
95.3
23.0
100.0
1.0
0.1
A
7
Malta
23.2
26.3
99.3
100.3
27.9
91.2
1.0
0.1
A
8
Cyprus
23.9
47.2
104.0
104.0
14.3
96.9
1.0
0.2
A
9
Serbia
39.1
39.9
97.7
96.9
38.0
93.8
1.0
0.1
B
10
Kosovo
..
..
..
..
..
91.9
..
..
B
11
Bosnia and Herzegovina
30.9
41.6
87.3
89.2
19.1
85.0
0.9
0.1
B
12
Montenegro
33.2
30.9
94.9
96.7
27.2
85.0
1.0
0.1
B
13
North Macedonia
..
..
87.0
86.8
42.5
85.0
0.9
0.1
B
14
Albania
6.0
37.8
93.8
101.2
35.7
91.2
1.0
0.1
B
15
Turkiye
19.8
41.2
93.0
93.7
19.9
82.5
0.9
0.3
C
16
Syrian Arab Republic
..
..
46.5
41.8
10.4
40.0
0.8
0.5
C
17
Lebanon
25.7
42.9
..
..
6.3
58.8
0.9
0.4
C
18
Jordan
13.6
57.6
67.8
67.4
13.1
59.4
0.9
0.5
C
19
Israel
13.8
27.0
94.3
93.2
25.0
80.6
1.0
0.1
C
20
West Bank and Gaza
..
..
93.2
88.2
..
26.2
0.9
..
C
21
Egypt, Arab Rep.
0.4
49.1
86.6
85.6
27.7
50.6
0.9
0.4
D
22
Libya
..
..
..
..
16.5
50.0
1.0
0.3
D
23
Tunisia
1.6
39.5
90.1
71.4
15.7
64.4
0.9
0.2
D
24
Algeria
0.7
41.8
93.1
76.4
7.9
57.5
0.9
0.5
D
25
Morocco
1.0
25.0
77.0
70.9
24.3
75.6
0.8
0.4
D
26
Prevalence of current tobacco use, females (% of female adults)
KosovoNo data available
North MacedoniaNo data available
Syrian Arab RepublicNo data available
West Bank and GazaNo data available
LibyaNo data available
Prevalence of current tobacco use, males (% of male adults)
KosovoNo data available
North MacedoniaNo data available
Syrian Arab RepublicNo data available
West Bank and GazaNo data available
LibyaNo data available
Gross intake ratio to the last grade of lower secondary general education, female (%)
KosovoNo data available
LebanonNo data available
LibyaNo data available
Gross intake ratio to the last grade of lower secondary general education, male (%)
KosovoNo data available
LebanonNo data available
LibyaNo data available
Proportion of seats held by women in national parliaments (%)
KosovoNo data available
West Bank and GazaNo data available
Gender Development Index (min=0, max=1)
KosovoNo data available
Gender Inequality Index (min=0, max=1)
KosovoNo data available
West Bank and GazaNo data available
Some highlighted topics
Lifestyles
The health status of countries is influenced by the lifestyle of their population. Tobacco consumption
is one of the main contributors to illness and death from non-communicable diseases in the population;
it is also considered in the context of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs, Figure 1).
Among the EU countries of the Mediterranean area, gender gaps in the indicator on tobacco consumption
are smaller than in the countries of the other macro-regions. Cyprus is the EU country with the
largest gap (23.9% for women and 47.2% for men), followed by Portugal (20.7% and 30.5% respectively)
and Italy (19.1% and 25.7%). However, the indicator levels are highest in Croatia, France, and Greece,
where they exceed 30% for both sexes. A situation of substantial equivalence in smoking habits also
concerns some Western Balkan countries: Serbia and Montenegro (in the latter the indicator value is
even higher for women). The most polarized situation occurs instead in the Middle Eastern countries
(except for Israel and Lebanon) and North Africa, where smoking habits affect in many cases more than
four out of 10 men, with the highest values in Jordan (57.6%) and Egypt (49.1%), while tobacco
consumption among women is much less widespread, especially in North African countries (with shares
not exceeding 2%).
Figure 1 - Tobacco use by gender. 2022 (% of women and men 15 years and over)
...
Schooling
Gender gaps in education are quite diverse by macro-region and country. A high ratio of the indicator
on admission to the last class of lower secondary education (as a percentage of the population at the
age of entry) also indicates a high degree of completion of current primary education (Figure 2). This
is a gross measure and can therefore exceed 100 per cent if there are many pupils who entered school
early or late and/or repeated previous years. It also reflects how policies on access and progression
through the early grades of primary or lower secondary education affect the final grade at that level.
Among the EU countries, there is a substantial gender balance at levels close to full schooling; in
Slovenia and Spain, however, the ratio is more favorable for women (97% vs. 94.4% and 96.6% vs. 93%,
respectively). In the Western Balkans, Albania lags in female schooling (93.8% vs. 101.2%), while in
the Middle East, it should be noted that West Bank and Gaza has a more favorable ratio for women than
for men (93.2% vs. 88.2%). This advantage of the female component is also particularly noteworthy in
three North African countries: Algeria, Tunisia, and Morocco.
Figure 2 – Gross intake ratio to the last grade of lower education by gender. 2021 (%)
...
Political participation and women's empowerment
Political participation reveals a smaller gender gap in most EU countries. In Spain, the indicator on
the number of seats occupied by women in national parliaments is quite high (44.3%, Figure 3). In
Slovenia, France and Portugal, the shares are also close to 40%. Similar levels apply in the Western
Balkans, North Macedonia, Serbia, and Albania. In the two European macro-regions, however, the female
parliamentary presence is more modest in the case of Cyprus, Bosnia-Herzegovina, and Greece. Among the
Middle Eastern countries, the highest value of the indicator is in Israel (25%), while in all the
other countries it is less than 20%. In North Africa, Egypt and Morocco experience an incidence of
parliamentary seats occupied by women of about a quarter of the total.
The Woman Business and Law Index is a composite index measuring the effect of laws and regulations on
women's economic opportunities (mobility, employment, pay, marriage, parenthood, entrepreneurship,
wealth, and retirement). Better performance in the issues measured by the Women, Business and the Law
index is associated with more women in the workforce, higher income, and better development outcomes.
Given the economic importance of women's empowerment, one of the goals of the Women, Business and the
Law Index is to encourage governments to reform laws that hinder women's access to the labor market.
On a scale from 1 to 100, the indicator shows on average higher values within the EU countries. In
2022 the highest values of the indicator reached for four countries (Portugal, Spain, France and
Greece) are the result of a strong upward dynamic over more than two decades (Figure 3). The
indicator's levels in the Western Balkans are higher on average (with a minimum value of 85) than
those recorded among the countries of the Middle East (which vary between 26 in Palestine and 82 in
Turkey) and North Africa (between about 50 and 75, with a maximum value for Morocco). Overall,
compared to 2001, it can be noted that the countries with the greatest increase in the value of the
index (by more than 30 points), in the direction of a reduction in gender discrimination, were Turkey,
Jordan, Morocco and Slovenia.
Figure 3 – Women Business and Law Index. 2001 and 2023 (scale 1-100)
...
Development and gender inequality
As part of the Human Development Reports published by the United Nations, among other measures updated every year in addition to
the overall human development indices (see page ‘Population and Society/Other Social Issues’),
two are specifically dedicated to the status of women. In particular, the Gender Development Index,
calculated as the ratio of the Women's Human Development Index to the Men's Human Development Index,
measures the achievement of equal human development of women compared to men in terms of health,
education and income; the Gender Inequality Index, on the other hand, measures gender disadvantage
based on indicators related to reproductive health, empowerment and the labour market.
The scatter plot of the two indicators places most EU countries in the bottom right quadrant (together
with Israel), corresponding to the highest values of gender development and the lowest values of
inequality (Figure 4). Among these countries, the value of 1 in gender development achieved by
Portugal and Slovenia stands out, while Cyprus deviates by a more pronounced gender inequality. In the
Western Balkans, gender development is close to that of the EU countries, with slightly higher levels
of the gender inequality index. In contrast, several countries in the Middle East and North Africa
occupy the upper left quadrant, with the least favorable values for both indicators: this is
especially the case for Syria, Morocco, Jordan, Algeria, and Egypt.
Figure 4 – Gender Development Index and Gender Inequality Index. 2022 (min=0, max=1)
...
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Metadata
Indicators
Definition
The percentage of the female population ages 15 years and over who currently use any tobacco product (smoked and/or smokeless tobacco) on a daily or non-daily basis. Tobacco products include cigarettes, pipes, cigars, cigarillos, waterpipes (hookah, shisha), bidis, kretek, heated tobacco products, and all forms of smokeless (oral and nasal) tobacco. Tobacco products exclude e-cigarettes (which do not contain tobacco), “e-cigars”, “e-hookahs”, JUUL and “e-pipes”. The rates are age-standardized to the WHO Standard Population.
Sources
WHO
Methodology
A statistical model based on a Bayesian negative binomial meta-regression is used to model prevalence of current tobacco use for each country, separately for men and women. A full description of the method is available as a peer-reviewed article in The Lancet, volume 385, No. 9972, p966–976 (2015). Once the age-and-sex-specific prevalence rates from national surveys were compiled into a dataset, the model was fit to calculate trend estimates from the year 2000 to 2025. The model has two main components: (a) adjusting for missing indicators and age groups, and (b) generating an estimate of trends over time as well as the 95% credible interval around the estimate. Depending on the completeness/comprehensiveness of survey data from a particular country, the model at times makes use of data from other countries to fill information gaps. When a country has fewer than two nationally representative population-based surveys in different years, no attempt is made to fill data gaps and no estimates are calculated. To fill data gaps, information is “borrowed” from countries in the same UN subregion. The resulting trend lines are used to derive estimates for single years, so that a number can be reported even if the country did not run a survey in that year. In order to make the results comparable between countries, the prevalence rates are age-standardized to the WHO Standard Population.
Notes
Tobacco products include cigarettes, pipes, cigars, cigarillos, waterpipes (hookah, shisha), bidis, kretek, heated tobacco products, and all forms of smokeless (oral and nasal) tobacco. Tobacco products exclude e-cigarettes (which do not contain tobacco), “e-cigars”, “e-hookahs”, JUUL and “e-pipes”. The rates are age-standardized to the WHO Standard Population. Estimates for countries with irregular surveys or many data gaps have large uncertainty ranges, and such results should be interpreted with caution.
The percentage of the male population ages 15 years and over who currently use any tobacco product (smoked and/or smokeless tobacco) on a daily or non-daily basis. Tobacco products include cigarettes, pipes, cigars, cigarillos, waterpipes (hookah, shisha), bidis, kretek, heated tobacco products, and all forms of smokeless (oral and nasal) tobacco. Tobacco products exclude e-cigarettes (which do not contain tobacco), “e-cigars”, “e-hookahs”, JUUL and “e-pipes”. The rates are age-standardized to the WHO Standard Population.
Sources
WHO
Methodology
A statistical model based on a Bayesian negative binomial meta-regression is used to model prevalence of current tobacco use for each country, separately for men and women. A full description of the method is available as a peer-reviewed article in The Lancet, volume 385, No. 9972, p966–976 (2015). Once the age-and-sex-specific prevalence rates from national surveys were compiled into a dataset, the model was fit to calculate trend estimates from the year 2000 to 2025. The model has two main components: (a) adjusting for missing indicators and age groups, and (b) generating an estimate of trends over time as well as the 95% credible interval around the estimate. Depending on the completeness/comprehensiveness of survey data from a particular country, the model at times makes use of data from other countries to fill information gaps. When a country has fewer than two nationally representative population-based surveys in different years, no attempt is made to fill data gaps and no estimates are calculated. To fill data gaps, information is “borrowed” from countries in the same UN subregion. The resulting trend lines are used to derive estimates for single years, so that a number can be reported even if the country did not run a survey in that year. In order to make the results comparable between countries, the prevalence rates are age-standardized to the WHO Standard Population.
Notes
Tobacco products include cigarettes, pipes, cigars, cigarillos, waterpipes (hookah, shisha), bidis, kretek, heated tobacco products, and all forms of smokeless (oral and nasal) tobacco. Tobacco products exclude e-cigarettes (which do not contain tobacco), “e-cigars”, “e-hookahs”, JUUL and “e-pipes”. The rates are age-standardized to the WHO Standard Population. Estimates for countries with irregular surveys or many data gaps have large uncertainty ranges, and such results should be interpreted with caution.
Number of new female entrants into the last grade of primary education or lower secondary general education, regardless of age, expressed as a percentage of the female population at the intended entrance age to the last grade of primary education or lower secondary general education.The intended entrance age to the last grade is the age at which pupils would enter the grade if they had started school at the official primary entrance age, had studied full-time and had progressed without repeating or skipping a grade.
Sources
UNESCO
Methodology
Data come from Population censuses and household surveys which collect data on the highest level of education or grade completed by children and young people in a household, through self- or household-declaration. In the former case, each household member above a certain age reports his or her own level of educational attainment. In the latter case, one person, usually the head of the household or another reference person, indicates the highest grade and/or level of education completed by each member of the household. Administrative data from ministries of education on the structure of the education system (entrance ages and durations) are also needed. Surveys can serve as a source of data if they collect information for the age groups of concern. In addition to national surveys, international sample surveys, such as Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS, http://dhsprogram.com) or Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys (MICS, http://mics.unicef.org), are another source. These surveys are designed to meet commonly agreed upon international data needs and aim to assure cross-national comparability, while also providing data for national policy purposes. These surveys are implemented on a regular basis in selected countries, on average every 3 to 5 years.
Notes
The number of new entrants in the last grade of the given level of education, regardless of age, is expressed as a percentage of the population of the intended entrance age to the last grade of that level of education. If data on new entrants are not collected directly, they can be calculated by subtracting the number of pupils repeating the last grade from total enrolment in the last grade. This is a gross measure and may therefore exceed 100% if there are large numbers of pupils who entered school either early or late and/or who have repeated earlier grades. The fact that the indicator can exceed 100% also makes it more difficult to interpret than the completion rate. Compared to the completion rate, the gross intake ratio to the last grade does not indicate how many children complete the last grade, only how many children enter that grade. If students in the last grade leave school before graduation, the gross intake ratio to the last grade overestimates completion. Data limitations preclude adjusting for students who drop out during the final year of lower secondary education. Thus this rate is a proxy that should be taken as an upper estimate of the actual lower secondary completion rate.
Number of new male entrants into the last grade of primary education or lower secondary general education, regardless of age, expressed as a percentage of the female population at the intended entrance age to the last grade of primary education or lower secondary general education.The intended entrance age to the last grade is the age at which pupils would enter the grade if they had started school at the official primary entrance age, had studied full-time and had progressed without repeating or skipping a grade.
Sources
UNESCO
Methodology
Data come from Population censuses and household surveys which collect data on the highest level of education or grade completed by children and young people in a household, through self- or household-declaration. In the former case, each household member above a certain age reports his or her own level of educational attainment. In the latter case, one person, usually the head of the household or another reference person, indicates the highest grade and/or level of education completed by each member of the household. Administrative data from ministries of education on the structure of the education system (entrance ages and durations) are also needed. Surveys can serve as a source of data if they collect information for the age groups of concern. In addition to national surveys, international sample surveys, such as Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS, http://dhsprogram.com) or Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys (MICS, http://mics.unicef.org), are another source. These surveys are designed to meet commonly agreed upon international data needs and aim to assure cross-national comparability, while also providing data for national policy purposes. These surveys are implemented on a regular basis in selected countries, on average every 3 to 5 years.
Notes
The number of new entrants in the last grade of the given level of education, regardless of age, is expressed as a percentage of the population of the intended entrance age to the last grade of that level of education. If data on new entrants are not collected directly, they can be calculated by subtracting the number of pupils repeating the last grade from total enrolment in the last grade. This is a gross measure and may therefore exceed 100% if there are large numbers of pupils who entered school either early or late and/or who have repeated earlier grades. The fact that the indicator can exceed 100% also makes it more difficult to interpret than the completion rate. Compared to the completion rate, the gross intake ratio to the last grade does not indicate how many children complete the last grade, only how many children enter that grade. If students in the last grade leave school before graduation, the gross intake ratio to the last grade overestimates completion. Data limitations preclude adjusting for students who drop out during the final year of lower secondary education. Thus this rate is a proxy that should be taken as an upper estimate of the actual lower secondary completion rate.
Percentage of parliamentary seats in a single or lower chamber held by women.
Sources
Inter-Parliamentary Union
Methodology
The data are provided by national parliaments and updated after an election or parliamentary renewal. National parliaments also transmit their data to the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) at least once a year and when the numbers change significantly. IPU member parliaments provide information on changes and updates to the IPU secretariat. After each general election or renewal, a questionnaire is dispatched to parliaments to solicit the latest available data. If no response is provided, other methods are used to obtain the information, such as from the electoral management body, parliamentary websites, or Internet searches. Additional information gathered from other sources is regularly crosschecked with parliament. Data are updated on a monthly basis, up to the last day of the month.
Notes
The number of countries covered varies with suspensions or dissolutions of parliaments. As of 1 February 2016, 193 countries are included. There can be difficulties in obtaining information on by-election results and replacements due to death or resignation. These changes are ad hoc events that are more difficult to keep track of. By-elections, for instance, are often not announced internationally as general elections are. The data excludes the numbers and percentages of women in the upper chambers of parliament. The information is available on the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) website at https://data.ipu.org/women-ranking. Parliaments vary considerably in their internal workings and procedures, however, generally legislate, oversee government and represent the electorate. In terms of measuring women’s contribution to political decision-making, this indicator may not be sufficient because some women may face obstacles in fully and efficiently carrying out their parliamentary mandate.
Composite index which measures how laws and regulations affect women’s economic opportunity. Overall scores are calculated by taking the average score of each index (Mobility, Workplace, Pay, Marriage, Parenthood, Entrepreneurship, Assets and Pension), with 100 representing the highest possible score.
Sources
World Bank
Methodology
Data are collected with standardized questionnaires to ensure comparability across economies. Questionnaires are administered to over 2,000 respondents with expertise in family, labor, and criminal law, including lawyers, judges, academics, and members of civil society organizations working on gender issues. Respondents provide responses to the questionnaires and references to relevant laws and regulations. The Women, Business and the Law team collects the texts of these codified sources of national law - constitutions, codes, laws, statutes, rules, regulations, and procedures - and checks questionnaire responses for accuracy. Thirty-five data points are scored across eight indicators of four or five binary questions, with each indicator representing a different phase of a woman’s career. Indicator-level scores are obtained by calculating the unweighted average of the questions within that indicator and scaling the result to 100. Overall scores are then calculated by taking the average of each indicator, with 100 representing the highest possible score.
Notes
The Women, Business and the Law methodology has limitations that should be considered when interpreting the data. All eight indicators are based on standardized assumptions to ensure comparability across economies. Comparability is one of the strengths of the data, but the assumptions can also be limitations as they may not capture all restrictions or represent all particularities in a country. It is assumed that the woman resides in the economy's main business city. In federal economies, laws affecting women can vary by state or province. Even in nonfederal economies, women in rural areas and small towns could face more restrictive local legislation. Such restrictions are not captured by Women, Business and the Law unless they are also found in the main business city.
Composite index which measures gender inequalities in achievement in three basic dimensions of human development: health, measured by female and male life expectancy at birth; education, measured by female and male expected years of schooling for children and female and male mean years of schooling for adults ages 25 years and older; and command over economic resources, measured by female and male estimated earned income. It is calculated as the ratio of women's Human Development Index (HDI) to men's value.
Sources
United Nations Development Programme
Methodology
It is a geometric mean of normalized indices and ratio between female and male values, based upon the following indicators: a) Life expectancy at birth: UN/DESA (2022a).b) Expected years of schooling: CEDLAS and World Bank (2022), ICF Macro Demographic and Health Surveys (various years), UNESCO Institute for Statistics (2022) and United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys (various years). c) Mean years of schooling for adults ages 25 and older: Barro and Lee (2018), ICF Macro Demographic and Health Surveys (various years), OECD (2022), UNESCO Institute for Statistics (2022) and UNICEF Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys (various years). d) Estimated earned income: Human Development Report Office estimates based on female and male shares of the economically active population, the ratio of the female to male wage in all sectors and gross national income in 2017 purchasing power parity (PPP) terms, and female and male shares of population from ILO (2022), IMF (2022), UN/DESA (2022a), United Nations Statistics Division (2022) and World Bank (2022).
Composite index which measures gender-based disadvantage in three dimensions—reproductive health, empowerment and the labour market—for as many countries as data of reasonable quality allow. It shows the loss in potential human development due to inequality between female and male achievements in these dimensions. It ranges from 0, where women and men fare equally, to 1, where one gender fares as poorly as possible in all measured dimensions.
Sources
United Nations Development Programme
Methodology
Values are computed using the association-sensitive inequality measure suggested by Seth (2009), which implies that the index is based on the general mean of general means of different orders—the first aggregation is by a geometric mean across dimensions; these means, calculated separately for women and men, are then aggregated using a harmonic mean across genders. The index is based upon the following indicators and sources: a) maternal mortality ratio : WHO, UNICEF, UNFPA, World Bank Group and United Nations Population Division (2019); b) adolescent birth rate : UN/DESA (2022a); c) share of parliamentary seats held by each sex : IPU (2022); d) population with at least some secondary education : Barro and Lee (2018), ICF Macro Demographic and Health Surveys (various years), OECD (2022), UNESCO Institute for Statistics (2022) and United Nations Children’s Fund Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys (various years); e) Labour force participation rate : ILO (2022).
Notes
Generally, the index takes values below 1, but it can also reach values above 1, in countries where the gaps between the status of women and men are closed overall.
