The best European countries for women to work and live in in 2025
A new study revealed that Denmark, Finland and Sweden are the top three among 16 European countries ranked by their favourability towards women in the workplace and living conditions in 2025.
The research from an online gaming company, CasinooftheKings, gathered data from Eurostat, OECD, the International Labour Organisation and the European Institute for Gender Equality to analyse gender-related economic and social indicators across 16 countries.
The 10 key indicators include the gender wage gap, bank account ownership and the share of women who are entrepreneurs.
Denmark leads the list, with a life score of 83, reflecting smaller gaps in employment and high gender equality.
The country offers the longest maternity leave in the ranking, with 18 months, and has a high gender equality index of 0.78.
Denmark also has the smallest gender gap in managerial positions, with 27.9%.
In second place is Finland, with a life score of 80.
The country has more female entrepreneurs than Denmark, at 1.9%, and the smallest employment gap in the ranking, at 1.5%.
However, it trails behind in maternal leave availability and the gender wage gap.
Sweden ranks third on the list of the best countries for women to work and live in 2025, scoring 79.
The country has the widest gender gap in managerial positions in the top 10, with 42.3%, but stands out with a small wage gap of 7.3% and a full year of maternity leave.
"The Nordic countries continue to dominate global rankings for gender equality in the workplace, demonstrating that comprehensive social policies can create environments where women thrive professionally," said a spokesperson from CasinooftheKings.
"These results highlight how structural supports like parental leave and wage transparency translate to measurable differences in women's lives, providing a blueprint for other nations seeking to improve gender equality."
On the other hand, Italy and Greece are at the bottom of the list, with life scores of 52 and 56.
Italy has the highest employment gap among all the analysed countries, followed by Greece.
Meanwhile, the UK has the smallest percentage of women entrepreneurs, and France has the widest median gender wage gap, at 22.2%.
The number of women hired to senior leadership positions has slowed for a third consecutive year, according to the World Economic Forum's Global Gender Gap Report published on Thursday.
The report, which covers 148 economies, says that despite women representing 41.2% of the global workforce, only 28.8% of them reach senior leadership roles.
Between 2015 and 2024, the share of women in top management rose from 25.7% to 28.1%, but progress has slowed post-2022.
"In many sectors, top-level gains are outpacing mid-level promotions, risking the sustainability of balanced talent pipelines. As cross-industry experience rises, particularly among women, nonlinear career paths are becoming more common," the report added.
Overall, the global gender gap has narrowed to 68.8%, the most significant improvement since the COVID-19 pandemic. But even at this rate, full parity is still 123 years away, the data suggested.
Iceland maintains its position as the world's most gender-equal economy for the 16th year in a row, with 92.6% of its gender gap closed.
Finland (87.9%), Norway (86.3%), the UK (83.8%) and New Zealand (82.7%) are also in the top five.
Saadia Zahidi, a Managing Director at the World Economic Forum, said that "economies that have made decisive progress towards parity are positioning themselves for stronger, more innovative and more resilient economic progress."
According to data fed into the report by global job website LinkedIn, which has 1 billion members, shutting women out of leadership roles has economic consequences.
At the same time, AI is reshaping the world of work and is demanding new skills from business leaders.
LinkedIn data suggests that women are 20% more likely to have varied careers, where they develop skills that mean they are now uniquely positioned to navigate, and lead in, the AI economy.
Sue Duke, Global Head of Public Policy at LinkedIn, said: "As the global economy is transformed, especially by AI, women must be empowered to deploy the skills and expertise they've developed over the course of their flexible careers."
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