Nigeria ranks 16th worst country out of 177 nations of the world in terms of the status of women, according to the 2023 Women, Peace and Security (WPS) Index report.

The WPS Index report, which was launched Monday in New York, captures 13 indicators including education, employment, laws and organised violence, classified under three dimensions: inclusion, justice and security.

According to the report, all the bottom 20 countries, including Nigeria, have experienced armed conflicts between 2021 and 2022, noting that 2022 is the deadliest year on record for conflict-related deaths since the Rwandan genocide in 1994.

Denmark, Switzerland, Sweden, Finland and Iceland lead the 2023 rankings as the top five countries to live as a woman, while Afghanistan, Yemen, the Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and South Sudan are the worst five countries on the index.

The index was published by the Georgetown Institute for Women, Peace and Security (GIWPS) and the Peace Research Institute Oslo (PRIO).