Turkmenistan’s 2023/24 WPS Index ranking shows slight improvements in gender equality and overall rank being ahead of other Central Asian countries: lowest maternal mortality rate in the region (5.2 deaths per 100,000 live births) and women’s political participation rising to 25.9%. However, significant challenges remain, with the country scoring just 0.66 out of 4 in access to justice and women’s financial inclusion stagnating at 35.5%, both indicators are the lowest in the region.
The Georgetown Institute for Women, Peace and Security and a resource hub for gender research at the Peace Research Institute Oslo (PRIO) – the PRIO Centre on Gender, Peace and Security (PRIO GPS Centre), released the 2023/24 edition of the global Women Peace and Security Index (WPS Index). The 2023/24 WPS Index scores and ranks 177 countries on women’s inclusion, justice, and security. The WPS Index identifies where resources and accountability are most needed to advance women’s status. According to the WPS Index website, no country scored perfectly in 2023, revealing wide disparities across countries, regions, and indicators.
In the 2023 WPS Index, Turkmenistan ranked 58 out of 177 countries with the index score of 0.75, showing a slight increase from the 2021/22 and 2019/20 editions, where it ranked 60 with a score of 0.76. Among Central Asian countries, Turkmenistan ranks first, followed by Kazakhstan (70), Tajikistan (90), Uzbekistan (94), Kyrgyzstan (95), and neighboring countries Iran (140), Afghanistan (177), as well as Türkiye (99), and Azerbaijan (97).
Financial inclusion
In 2023, women’s financial inclusion in Turkmenistan stagnated at 35.5%, unchanged since 2019, reflecting on the percentage of women ages 15 and older who reported having an individual or joint account at a bank or other financial institution or who reported using a mobile money service in the past year. Despite a jump from 1.6% in 2017, Turkmenistan remains the lowest in Central Asia, with Tajikistan (39.4%) and Uzbekistan (38.8%) slightly above. Kazakhstan leads the region, with 83.6% of women aged 15 and older having an individual or other financial institution or who reported using a mobile money service in 2023. Women’s cellphone use in Turkmenistan rose from 82.4% in 2019 to 89% in 2023, though it still lags behind Kyrgyzstan (94%) and Kazakhstan (93%).
Political participation and education
The percentage of women in Turkmenistan’s parliament also increased from 25% in 2021 to 25.9% in 2023. The Central Asian region generally has low female parliamentary representation, with Uzbekistan having the highest at 30% and Kyrgyzstan the lowest at 20%. Turkmenistan’s women’s mean years of schooling was 10.9 years in 2023, similar to Tajikistan and the lowest in Central Asia. Kazakhstan has the highest at 12.4 years, with Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan above 11. Data on women’s employment in Turkmenistan for 2023 was unavailable, though it was 46.6% in 2021/22.
Access to justice
There is no data on legal discrimination in Turkmenistan, while for access to justice out of 4, Turkmenistan scored only 0.66 – the lowest in Central Asia, and just above Afghanistan (0.37). Kazakhstan had the highest score at 2.3, reflecting women’s ability to exercise their rights, including access to courts, fair trials, and legal redress.
Maternal mortality
Turkmenistan has the lowest maternal mortality rate in Central Asia, with 5.2 pregnancy-related deaths per 100,000 live births, followed by Kazakhstan (13.4), Tajikistan (16.6), Uzbekistan (30), and Kyrgyzstan (50). The male-to-female birth ratio (son bias) in Turkmenistan was 106.7 males per 100 females, an increase from 105 in previous years. The regional average is 105/106, with the highest skew in Azerbaijan (112) and Uzbekistan (108).
Violence and conflict
In terms of political violence and proximity to conflict, Turkmenistan performed well, scoring 0 in each category. For the current intimate partner violence, the data for Turkmenistan was based on the modeled estimates by the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, and was 7.2% of women who reported experiencing physical or sexual violence from an intimate partner in the past 12 months, similar to 2021 and 2019 data. The percentage is similar to the data in 2021 and 2019. In Central Asia, Turkmenistan ranks slightly behind Kazakhstan (6%) and ahead of Uzbekistan (7.3%), Kyrgyzstan (13%), and Tajikistan (14%).
Community safety
Finally, women’s perception of community safety has fluctuated in Turkmenistan since 2017 from 83% to 92.6% in 2021/22 and to 91% in 2023 of women ages 15 years and older reporting feeling safe walking alone at night, thus making Turkmenistan best in the region, with worst being Kazakhstan (58%).
