LGBTI rights in Europe, in 7 interactive maps

Malta, Belgium, Luxembourg and Portugal are the European countries that most respect the rights of LGBTI people, and Russia, Armenia, Turkey and Azerbaijan, the least, according to the latest annual report of ILGA Europe, the European section of the International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transsexual, Transgender and Intersex Association, which reports that the whole continent has made very little progress in the last year.

Malta, at the top of the 49-country ranking for the sixth year in a row, is also one of the countries making the most progress this year, with new policies for asylum claims by LGBTI people. Northern Macedonia and Bosnia and Herzegovina also score points in this report because they have introduced improvements in the right to assembly.

Denmark, on the other hand, loses positions due to transgender depathologization criteria, which the report considers irregular; Georgia loses points for lack of clear processes for legal gender recognition and lack of protection for LGBTI rights activists; and Ukraine, for the ending of a governmental action plan.

In the overall score, after Portugal, several Nordic countries occupy leading positions, as well as Spain, in eighth place, and the United Kingdom, in tenth place. Poland, in 43rd place out of the 49 countries surveyed, is the worst-ranked in the European Union, and Hungary, which has passed new repressive legislation in recent daysis in 27th position in this ranking, with a score very similar to that of Andorra, which is 25th.

This report evaluates 71 indicators grouped into 7 major thematic categories. The block related to equality and non-discrimination is the only one in which the ranking is not led by Malta, which is sixth, and one of the blocks in which Spain has a worse result, tenth. Montenegro and Finland top the ranking. Andorra has a better score in this aspect, and is in thirteenth position.

In the category for family, Malta has the highest score, as does Belgium, and Spain also has a particularly high score: it ranks fourth. It is another aspect in which Andorra comes out relatively well off: it is in 17th place.

In the block for hate speech and hate crimes, Malta also has the highest score, but on the other hand Belgium does not get a pass mark, nor do the Netherlands. Spain has a good position, sixth, and on the other hand Andorra falls to the thirtieth.

In terms of legal recognition of gender and bodily integrity, Spain does not reach the pass mark, with an achievement rate of 47%, and neither do Sweden, Finland or the United Kingdom. Andorra also has a particularly low score.

While in the two previous blocks most countries have low scores, in the one that refers to civil society the vast majority reach 100%, including Spain and Andorra, and only six countries fail, among which Poland and Russia stand out.

In the last category, which is for asylum, Spain and Andorra obtain their lowest scores, 51% and 35%, respectively. However, both get better marks than leading countries in the global ranking, such as Portugal, Finland and Denmark, which get 33%.