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Overcoming barriers:
Human mobility and development

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Human Development Report 2009

KGender empowerment measure and its components
Year women received the right to stand for electionExcel

HDI Rank Country 1
1 Norway 1907, 1913
2 Australia 1902, 1962
3 Iceland 1915, 1920
4 Canada 1920, 1960
5 Ireland 1918, 1928
6 Netherlands 1917
7 Sweden 1919, 1921
8 France 1944
9 Switzerland 1971
10 Japan 1945, 1947
11 Luxembourg 1919
12 Finland 1906
13 United States 1788 2
14 Austria 1918
15 Spain 1931
16 Denmark 1915
17 Belgium 1921
18 Italy 1945
19 Liechtenstein 1984
20 New Zealand 1919
21 United Kingdom 1918, 1928
22 Germany 1918
23 Singapore 1947
24 Hong Kong, China (SAR) ..
25 Greece 1952
26 Korea (Republic of) 1948
27 Israel 1948
28 Andorra 1973
29 Slovenia 1946
30 Brunei Darussalam NA
31 Kuwait 2005
32 Cyprus 1960
33 Qatar 2003
34 Portugal 1931, 1976
35 United Arab Emirates 2006 3
36 Czech Republic 1920
37 Barbados 1950
38 Malta 1947
39 Bahrain 1973, 2002
40 Estonia 1918
41 Poland 1918
42 Slovakia 1920
43 Hungary 1918, 1945
44 Chile 1949
45 Croatia 1945
46 Lithuania 1919
47 Antigua and Barbuda 1951
48 Latvia 1918
49 Argentina 1947
50 Uruguay 1932
51 Cuba 1934
52 Bahamas 1961, 1964
53 Mexico 1953
54 Costa Rica 1949
55 Libyan Arab Jamahiriya 1964
56 Oman 1994, 2003
57 Seychelles 1948
58 Venezuela (Bolivarian Republic of) 1946
59 Saudi Arabia NA
60 Panama 1941, 1946
61 Bulgaria 1945
62 Saint Kitts and Nevis 1951
63 Romania 1929, 1946
64 Trinidad and Tobago 1946
65 Montenegro 1946 4
66 Malaysia 1957
67 Serbia 1946 4
68 Belarus 1918
69 Saint Lucia 1951
70 Albania 1920
71 Russian Federation 1918
72 The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia 1946
73 Dominica 1951
74 Grenada 1951
75 Brazil 1932
76 Bosnia and Herzegovina 1946
77 Colombia 1954
78 Peru 1955
79 Turkey 1930
80 Ecuador 1929
81 Mauritius 1956
82 Kazakhstan 1924, 1993
83 Lebanon 1952
84 Armenia 1918
85 Ukraine 1919
86 Azerbaijan 1918
87 Thailand 1932
88 Iran (Islamic Republic of) 1963
89 Georgia 1918, 1921
90 Dominican Republic 1942
91 Saint Vincent and the Grenadines 1951
92 China 1949
93 Belize 1954
94 Samoa 1948, 1990
95 Maldives 1932
96 Jordan 1974
97 Suriname 1948
98 Tunisia 1959
99 Tonga 1960
100 Jamaica 1944
101 Paraguay 1961
102 Sri Lanka 1931
103 Gabon 1956
104 Algeria 1962
105 Philippines 1937
106 El Salvador 1961
107 Syrian Arab Republic 1953
108 Fiji 1963
109 Turkmenistan 1927
110 Occupied Palestinian Territories ..
111 Indonesia 1945
112 Honduras 1955
113 Bolivia 1938, 1952
114 Guyana 1945
115 Mongolia 1924
116 Viet Nam 1946
117 Moldova 1924, 1993
118 Equatorial Guinea 1963
119 Uzbekistan 1938
120 Kyrgyzstan 1918
121 Cape Verde 1975
122 Guatemala 1946, 1965
123 Egypt 1956
124 Nicaragua 1955
125 Botswana 1965
126 Vanuatu 1975, 1980
127 Tajikistan 1924
128 Namibia 1989
129 South Africa 1930, 1994
130 Morocco 1963
131 Sao Tome and Principe 1975
132 Bhutan 1953
133 Lao People's Democratic Republic 1958
134 India 1935, 1950
135 Solomon Islands 1974
136 Congo 1963
137 Cambodia 1955
138 Myanmar 1946
139 Comoros 1956
140 Yemen 1967, 1970
141 Pakistan 1956
142 Swaziland 1968
143 Angola 1975
144 Nepal 1951
145 Madagascar 1959
146 Bangladesh 1935, 1972
147 Kenya 1919, 1963
148 Papua New Guinea 1963
149 Haiti 1957
150 Sudan 1964
151 Tanzania (United Republic of) 1959
152 Ghana 1954
153 Cameroon 1946
154 Mauritania 1961
155 Djibouti 1986
156 Lesotho 1965
157 Uganda 1962
158 Nigeria 1958
159 Togo 1945
160 Malawi 1961
161 Benin 1956
162 Timor-Leste ..
163 Côte d'Ivoire 1952
164 Zambia 1962
165 Eritrea 1955 5
166 Senegal 1945
167 Rwanda 1961
168 Gambia 1960
169 Liberia 1946
170 Guinea 1958
171 Ethiopia 1955
172 Mozambique 1975
173 Guinea-Bissau 1977
174 Burundi 1961
175 Chad 1958
176 Congo (Democratic Republic of the) 1970
177 Burkina Faso 1958
178 Mali 1956
179 Central African Republic 1986
180 Sierra Leone 1961
181 Afghanistan 1963
182 Niger 1948
Other UN member states
Iraq 1980
Kiribati 1967
Korea (Democratic People's Rep. of) 1946
Marshall Islands 1979
Micronesia (Federated States of) 1979
Monaco 1962
Nauru 1968
Palau 1979
San Marino 1973
Somalia 1956
Tuvalu 1967
Zimbabwe 1919, 1978


Notes :
1 - Data refer to the year in which the right to vote or stand for national election on a universal and equal basis was recognized. Where two years are shown, the first refers to the first partial recognition of the right to vote or stand for election. In some countries, women were granted the right to vote or stand at local elections before obtaining these rights for national elections; however, data on local election rights are not included in this table.
2 - No information is available on the year all women received the right to stand for election. As the country's constitution does not mention gender with regard to this right.
3 - In December 2006, the Federal National Council was renewed. Men and women were entitled to vote, under similar conditions. One woman was elected to the Council and 7 subsequently appointed.
4 - Serbia and Montenegro separated into two independent states in June 2006. Women received the right to vote and to stand for elections in 1946, when Serbia and Montenegro were part of the former Yugoslavia.
5 - In November 1955, Eritrea was part of Ethiopia. The Constitution of sovereign Eritrea adopted on 23 May 1997 stipulates that "All Eritrean citizens, of eighteen years of age or more, shall have the right to vote".


Sources :
IPU (2009). Correspondence on year women received the right to vote and to stand for election and year first woman was elected or appointed to parliament. June. Geneva.


Symbols :
.. Data not available
(.) Greater (or less) than zero but small enough to be rounded off to zero at the displayed number of decimal points
< Less than
- Not applicable
T Total