In the European Institute for Gender Equality’s (EIGE) Gender Equality Index, Latvia this year ranks 24th among the 27 EU member states, the Ministry of Welfare (LM) reports.
By comparison, last year Latvia ranked 19th in this index.
This year, Latvia scored 56.7 points, down from 62.6 points the previous year.
While Latvia has seen improvements in certain areas of gender equality, the 2025 results show that the gap between Latvia and the EU average is widening.
The EU average score for 2025 is 63.4 out of 100 points.
Since 2015, Latvia’s index has improved by 3.7 points, and since 2020 – by 0.4 points. Most of this improvement is linked to the area of knowledge.
Latvia’s strongest performance is in the work domain, where it scores 77.6 points and ranks 3rd in the EU. This is mainly due to high overall employment rates among both women and men, where Latvia scores 91.0 points. The full-time equivalent (FTE) employment rate is 52% for women and 64% for men, reflecting an increase since 2015. However, male employment has improved slightly more, widening the gender gap.
Employment indicators are especially low for people with low education and for those born outside Latvia, while the gender gap is widest among people with secondary education.
Overall, labour market segregation in Latvia is lower than the EU average.
Women represent 27% of specialists in information and communication technologies and hold 43% of managerial positions.
At the same time, since 2015 income inequality among cohabiting couples has increased. The gap has grown particularly among couples with children and among those aged 25–49.
However, the share of employed people at risk of poverty has decreased. This risk affects 16% of women and 12% of men.
According to the findings, the knowledge domain needs the most improvement. Latvia ranks last in the EU in this category, with 43.5 points. The key factor driving this result is segregation in fields of education — Latvia ranks 27th in the EU with just 30.2 points. Since 2015, more than four out of five graduates in education, health and welfare, humanities and arts have been women. Meanwhile, in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM), only one in three graduates is a woman.
The proportion of women with higher education remains high — 57% in the 30–34 age group,
compared to 32% of men. Gender differences are especially large among persons with disabilities, LM notes.
Data also show that women continue to spend significantly more time than men on housework and childcare. Among women with children up to age 11, 41% spend at least five hours more on childcare than men, who do so in 15% of cases. In daily household tasks (cooking, cleaning, laundry), women participate in 56% of cases, compared to 29% among men.
Meanwhile, 46% of women and 53% of men rate their health as “good” or “very good”. At age 65, only 26% of women are expected to spend their older years in good health, compared to 32% of men — one of the lowest results in the EU.
Moreover, just 23% of women and 27% of men engage in regular physical activity or consume at least five portions of fruit and vegetables per day.
The Ministry notes that
the 2025 Gender Equality Index includes the first major methodological update since 2013.
It incorporates updated indicators, new data sources, and a stronger focus on individual rather than household-level data.
As a result, the index provides “a more accurate overview of the gender equality situation, reflecting changes in EU policy with increased emphasis on digitalisation, care, STEM fields and healthy ageing”, LM explains.
EIGE has applied the new methodology retroactively to previous years in order to track long-term trends.
The European Institute for Gender Equality is an independent EU agency established to promote and strengthen gender equality, including ensuring gender mainstreaming across all EU and national policy areas, fighting gender-based discrimination, and increasing public awareness. EIGE began operations in 2010, and the Gender Equality Index is published annually.
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