Saudi Arabia is the number one country in the Middle East for women to live in, according to a new survey.
Conducted by New York-based publication nearly 256,700 women were surveyed from across the globe.
Overall, Sweden ranked top as the best place to live for women, followed by Denmark (2), The Netherlands (3), Norway (4) and Canada (5).
Rounding off the top 10 came Finland (6), Switzerland (7), New Zealand (8), France (9) and Germany (10).
While Saudi Arabia was quite a bit further down the list coming in at number 89, it was the highest-ranked Middle Eastern country.
Following after Saudi Arabia was Oman ranking 91, Jordan ranking 96, followed by the UAE in spot 100. Kuwait ranked 111 in the list, Lebanon 116 and Bahrain 128.
In recent years, Saudi Arabia has celebrated many milestones when it comes to women’s rights and female empowerment. The Kingdom recently crossed another milestone, which sparked immense pride on social media.
After Moaid Mahjoub, Director of Government Affairs, External Relations and Protocol at Princess Jawahar Al Saud’s Private Office, posted a photo on Twitter over the weekend of a female member of the Saudi Royal Guard performing her duties, which is a history-making moment.
“Historical moment at Saudi Royal Guard Regiment. Thanks to The Crown Prince, His Royal Highness Mohammed Bin Salman Bin Abdulaziz Al Saud,” Mahjoub captioned the photo.
It was announced in October last year women would be able to start joining the military and land forces in the Kingdom in a wide range of positions including corporals and sergeants. This could be across any of the armed forces in Saudi Arabia including the Strategic Missile Forces, Armed Forces Medical Services, Saudi Arabian Navy and the Air Force.
This move is part of the many initiatives under Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s Vision 2030 scheme, an ambitious post-oil economic plan, which has a major focus on women’s rights in the Kingdom.
