New Zealand took top spot in the gender ranking, released on Monday, followed by Barbados, Trinidad and Tobago, Dominica and Seychelles.

Sierra Leone, Nigeria, Tonga, the Solomon Islands, Pakistan, Gambia and Bangladesh were among the lowest-ranked countries.

The study, by Plan International and the Royal Commonwealth Society, ranked the countries based on eight factors including women’s life expectancy, education, political involvement, sport and pay.

It looked at how women and girls compare with their counterparts in other countries, as well as how they compare with boys and men within their own country.

It also took economic prosperity into account to ensure wealthy countries did not get an unfair advantage.

As many poor countries did relatively well against the eight indicators, the report suggests advancing gender equality is "really about political will as opposed to economic wealth".

The report comes less than a week after countries around the world marked the 100th anniversary of International Women's Day.

Plan International has been pushing the United Nations to adopt an International Day of the Girl to address the "unique challenges" girls face and their "key role" in addressing poverty and development issues.