Data

Women, Business and the Law Data

Two sets of data are now available: Women, Business and the Law 1.0 and an expanded version, Women, Business and the Law 2.0. Women, Business and the Law 1.0 updates its index of eight indicators and is available for the period from 1971 to 2024 (calendar years 1970 to 2023). Women, Business and the Law 2.0 introduces a new framework for measuring the implementation gap. It analyzes laws and also examines the existence of frameworks supporting implementation of the law and gauges experts’ opinions on the outcome of the law for women.

Please cite the data as follows: "World Bank. 2024. Women, Business and the Law 2024. Washington, DC: World Bank."

The Women, Business and the Law team will not publish a report in 2025. The team is working to enhance its strategic direction and ensure the quality, scope, and impact of the Women, Business and the Law reports in the long term. The next data update and report is expected to be published in March 2026.

Explore Our Data

Economy Snapshots

Download economy snapshots containing data by indicator, areas of improvement, and scores.

Women, Business and the Law 1.0 | Women, Business and the Law 2.0

Women, Business and the Law 1.0 Data for 1971-2024

Explore WBL 1.0 data over time with annual data for 190 economies during the period from 1971 to 2024 (calendar years 1970 to 2023).

Excel | Stata | Data revision | Read the report | Economy snapshots (WBL 1.0)

Women, Business and the Law 2.0 Data for 2024

Discover WBL 2.0 through comprehensive data encompassing legal frameworks, supportive frameworks, and expert opinions. Delve into new areas of safety and childcare with detailed information.

Women, Business and the Law Pilot Research Data (2021-2023)

Explore the archived pilot research datasets on topic pages.

Measuring the Legal Environment in Practice | Toward Available, Affordable, and Quality Childcare Services

National Financial Inclusion Strategies

Explore a dataset on the emerging trends in national financial inclusion strategies that support women’s entrepreneurship in 190 economies. Fifty-two economies worldwide had valid financial inclusion strategies in force as of June 30, 2022. Also, an increasing number of financial inclusion strategies are now highlighting the need to promote women’s financial inclusion. This research was conducted in collaboration with CGAP based on data collected with the help of Women, Business, and the Law’s network of local experts.

Download file (Excel) | Read the study

The Rights of Women with Disabilities

Explore a data set on the Rights of Women with Disabilities in 190 economies. The 11 non-scored questions explore how laws include or exclude women with disabilities from accessing economic opportunities. The research was designed in collaboration with disability rights experts and data was collected with the help of Women, Business and the Law’s network of local legal experts.

Download file (Excel) | Visit the topic page | Read the study

Data Archive

Our Data Out There

SDG 5: Achieve Gender Equality and Empower All Women and Girls

The World Bank's Women, Business, and the Law project, UN Women, and the OECD Development Centre, collectively serve as co-custodians for SDG Indicator 5.1.1, whether or not legal frameworks are in place to promote, enforce and monitor equality and non-discrimination on the basis of sex.

Representation Matters: Women Political Leaders

New research indicates that a higher rate of women's political representation is closely linked to legal equality, as measured by the WBL score.

Equal Measures 2030 report

The 2024 SDG Gender Index provides a snapshot of where the world stands on the vision of gender equality embedded in the 2030 Agenda, benchmarking gender equality across 139 countries and 56 issues across 14 of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals.

Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation: Expanding Women’s Access to Capital

Africa has the highest share of female enterprises in the world, but women face more challenges in accessing capital for starting or growing their businesses compared to men. Read the potential impact of closing the gender gap in entrepreneurship on global GDP.

The Legal Barriers to Women's Rights and Opportunities

This course examines the legal and regulatory barriers hindering women’s rights and access to equal economic opportunity. These laws codify discriminatory practices that put women at risk of harassment and violence as well as prevent women from fully participating in the economy.

WBG Gender Data Portal

The Gender Data Portal is the World Bank Group’s comprehensive source for the latest sex-disaggregated data and gender statistics covering demography, education, health, access to economic opportunities, public life and decision-making, and agency.

Our World in Data: Women's Rights

This page contains data and visualizations on how the protection of women’s rights has changed over time, and how it differs across countries.

Breaking barriers: the path to equality

Women have been disproportionately impacted by COVID-19. And gender equality is critical to recovery from the pandemic. Yet women in many countries still face barriers throughout their working lives. But what barriers? Where? And how big is the economic cost?