The UN index ‘We are the World’ for 2021 placed Kuwait 43 places below to rank fourth in the Gulf and 91 globally. The index “ReliefWeb”, a unit of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs measures women’s and children’s rights.
The ‘We are the World’ index measures the level of rights and integration of children, adolescents and women in society, based on the pillars of health, education, economy and society.
The report also ranks countries according to 5 inclusion categories, starting with “good inclusion” and ending with very severe exclusion, says Al-Rai daily.
Kuwait came within the category of “insufficient inclusion” for women and children, along with Qatar, Oman, Libya, Tunisia, Bahrain, Lebanon, Algeria, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Palestine and Morocco.
The report stated that, in general, in every country, if there is economic growth without broad and deep social reforms, there is a conflict between “male” power and “female” power, as is the case in Kuwait, Brazil and South Africa.
Kuwait ranked ‘very late’ in the political representation of women, as it was among the lowest 5 countries in the world in terms of the percentage of women in parliament (number of seats for women).
The index added that despite the high per capita GDP in Kuwait of $32,000, the country lags behind in the women and children index in social progress.
On the other hand, Kuwait came among the most polluted countries, as it ranked second globally in per capita carbon dioxide emissions after Qatar, and it ranked third in the world in per capita internet usage after Bahrain and Qatar.