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 America 12 countries	61	73	49
Europe 50 countries	59	72	46
North America 23 countries	44	54	34
Oceania 14 countries	39	42	44
Asia 44 countries	30	30	32
Africa 54 countries	24	25	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 Countries 5 countries	83	91	76
Australia and New Zealand 2 countries	79	95	63
Western Europe 9 countries	72	83	60
North America 3 countries	71	85	58
British Isles 2 countries	67	77	57
South America 12 countries	61	73	49
Southern Europe 16 countries	61	76	47
Baltic Countries 3 countries	51	66	36
Eastern Asia 6 countries	48	53	45
Central America 7 countries	47	55	39
Southern Africa 5 countries	46	52	40
Eastern Europe 11 countries	44	57	30
Southeast Asia 11 countries	38	34	46
Micronesia 5 countries	38	40	16
Caribbean 13 countries	36	46	25
Melanesia 4 countries	35	36	34
Central Africa 9 countries	29	34	20
Southern and Central Asia 14 countries	28	29	27
Eastern Africa 17 countries	23	24	24
Middle East 17 countries	21	23	20
Western Africa 16 countries	18	20	17
Polynesia 3 countries	18	18	Not enough data
Northern Africa 7 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	40	71	+31
2. Guyana	24	53	+29
3. Cape Verde	56	80	+24
4. Myanmar	15	38	+23
5. Malaysia	7	27	+21
6. United Arab Emirates	2	23	+20
7. Iraq	3	22	+20
8. China	47	66	+19
9. Bangladesh	14	33	+19
10. Syria	9	27*	+19

Legal Progress Ahead of Public Opinion

Country	Legal Index	Public Opinion Index	Difference
1. Moldova	65	8	-57
2. Greece	91	40	-51
3. Bolivia	87	38	-49
4. Croatia	81	33	-48
5. Ecuador	86	42	-44
6. Antigua and Barbuda	60	17*	-44
7. Mongolia	60	17	-42
8. Colombia	92	50	-42
9. Armenia	46	5	-41
10. Albania	68	28	-41

World Equality Index

Download / API

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

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

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.

Equality Index

Average of Legal Index and 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. 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 uncertain	×0.20
		Male illegal, female legal	×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
		Sexual orientation only	×0.50
		Gender identity 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
Bathroom access	20	Protected	×1.00
		No explicit protections	×0.80
		Partially restricted	×0.50
		Restricted	×0.20
		Restricted (enforced with penalties or fines)	×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 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.

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.