Member states of the European Union (EU) are leading the way in diversity and inclusion (D&I) practices, according to a recent report by Refinitiv.
The statistics used in the report are from Refinitiv D&I ratings, which are powered by the firm’s ESG data. They are designed to measure the relative performance of companies transparently and objectively against factors that define diverse and inclusive workplaces.
Italy is the highest-ranked country for D&I combined, according to Refinitiv’s D&I score, closely followed by France and Spain. A third EU member state – Germany – makes it into the 10 ten, in eighth position.
European countries, both EU and non-EU, rank highly for the best singular score for diversity, with eight European countries making it into the top 10, headed by Denmark.
The singular score for inclusion has a more varied top 10 composition than the diversity score, with South Africa considered to have the best inclusion score, followed by Japan and Italy.
Europe and Asia are the top-ranking regions for the singular inclusion score: of the top 10 countries in this ranking, four are European and four are Asian.
Movement on board cultural diversity is sluggish
Global stats on board members with a cultural background different from the location of the corporate headquarters are flat, with Africa, Asia and Europe all making slight progress in 2020.
Africa has jumped to 22.05 percent in 2020 from 20.41 percent in 2019. Over the same period, Asia has had a slight rise to 22.43 percent from 21.97 percent and Europe has seen a very small rise to 32.9 percent from 32.23 percent.
The global average for board cultural diversity has also risen slightly, from 25.86 percent in 2019 to 26.18 percent in 2020.
But the Oceania region has experienced a slight drop from 16.12 percent in 2019 to 15.9 percent in 2020.
