According to the 2023 Women, Peace, and Security (WPS) Index, several African countries score in the worst 177 in terms of women’s inclusion, justice, and security.
Notably, all of the countries at the bottom of this list have one thing in common: they were involved in military wars between 2021 and 2022. The year 2022 is particularly worrisome, with the greatest documented casualties from conflict-related incidents since the Rwandan genocide in 1994.
Surprisingly, no country achieved perfection on the WPS Index, and the results show large differences between countries and regions. The WPS Index provides a tool for determining where resources and accountability are most required to promote women’s status, which benefits all of us.
Here are Africa’s worst countries for women to live in.
| Rank | Country | Global rank | Score |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Central African Republic | 175 | 0.378 |
| 2 | Democratic Republic of the Congo | 174 | 0.384 |
| 3 | South Sudan | 173 | 0.388 |
| 4 | Burundi | 172 | 0.394 |
| 5 | Eswatini | 170 | 0.415 |
| 6 | Somalia | 169 | 0.417 |
| 7 | Niger | 166 | 0.442 |
| 8 | Chad | 163 | 0.462 |
| 9 | Nigeria | 162 | 0.465 |
| 10 | Cameroon | 161 | 0.466 |