The increase is thanks to "mild improvements" recorded in closing the gender gaps across the four main components of the index: Economic Participation and Opportunity, Educational Attainment, Health and Survival, and Political Empowerment.
In terms of closing the gap in Economic Participation and Opportunity, Vietnam is ranked 31st, behind countries like Sweden (5th), the US (22nd), and regional neighbours like Thailand or the Philippines, out of 146 countries assessed.
Vietnam only ranks in 88th place in terms of Educational Attainment, with the report commenting that the literacy rate increased by +0.005, which, in the absence of data for compulsory education enrolment, raised the sub-index score slightly.
The country is nearly at the bottom of the ranking for Health and Survival sub-index at 141st place (just above Qatar, Pakistan, Azerbaijan, China, and India).
The country is in 106th place in terms of Political Empowerment, with most European countries populating the highest places.
On Political Empowerment, Vietnam saw a 3.6 percentage points increase in the share of women in parliament, although men continue to hold 100% of ministerial roles./.
