TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Taiwan ranks top in Asia for gender equality according to the latest Gender Inequality Index (GII) published by the United Nations Development Program (UNDP).

Switzerland comes out first in the rankings with 0.037, trailed by Denmark (0.04) and Sweden (0.04). Taiwan scores 0.053, the ninth in the world and first in Asia, followed by South Korea (0.058), Singapore (0.065), and Japan (0.099).

The GII index uses indicators including reproductive health, empowerment, and labor market equality to gauge a country's performance in promoting sexual equality. The latest survey was conducted based on 2018 data collected from 163 countries, said the Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA).

A breakdown of the statistics finds that 36.8 percent of business owners at small and medium enterprises were women, 20 percent higher than that in Japan. Regardless of company scale, Taiwan had 35.6 percent female business owners, lower than South Korea (38.4 percent) and the U.S. (40 percent).

In addition, women accounted for 44.5 percent of Taiwan’s labor market, and the gap between the number of male and female workers in the job market is closing, wrote CNA. While the ratio was lower than the equivalent in the U.S., it was higher than Japan’s 44.2 percent and South Korea’s 42.7 percent.