( CNN ) -- How narrow is the gender gap in the United States compared to some other countries ? Check out how the U.S. stacks up on the 40th anniversary of `` Women 's Equality Day '' -- established by the U.S. Congress as every August 26 ( the day the Constitutional amendment giving women the right to vote was passed ) . Four Nordic countries rank at the top of the Global Gender Gap Index released last year by the World Economic Forum . Iceland , Norway , Finland and Sweden were considered to have the smallest gap between men and women when four key areas were taken into account : economic participation and opportunity , educational attainment , health and survival , and political empowerment . No . 1 Iceland scored a 0.8496 on a scale of 0-1 , with 1 being perfect equality between men and women . The lowest country on the list , Yemen , scored a 0.4603 . The United States came in near the top of the overall index , ranking 19th out of 134 countries . It tied for first with 21 other countries that received a perfect score in the educational attainment category . It also ranked sixth in economic participation and opportunity . Where it might have room for improvement , however , is in health and survival ( 38th ) and political empowerment ( 40th ) . The health and survival category looks at the gaps between life expectancies and sex ratios within a country . The political empowerment category measures female representation in government and other decision-making structures . Many of the countries that rank near the bottom of the Global Gender Gap Index are Muslim-majority countries in the Middle East and North Africa . More comparisons : Where is the Internet most popular ? Where are the undernourished ? Where do people live the longest ? Which countries have the most vacation days ? Who requires the most education ? Who 's got the highest ( and lowest ) unemployment rates ?
Iceland has more gender equality than any country , according to the World Economic Forum . The United States ranks 19th out of 134 countries in the 2010 Global Gender Gap Index . Comment: