ISLAMABAD – Pakistan has ranked at 126th out of 128 countries in the worldon equal treatment and absence of discrimination in a study conducted byWorld Justice Project and Gallup & Gilani Pakistan.

The global survey results are based on sub-factor 4.1 of the WJPFundamental Rights Index which measures whether individuals are free fromdiscrimination – based on socio-economic status, gender, ethnicity,religion, national origin, sexual orientation, or gender identity – withrespect to public services, employment, court proceedings, and the justicesystem.

In comparison, neighbouring South Asian countries scored better thanPakistan, including India (105th), China (107th), Iran (114th) andBangladesh (120th).

On the other hand, the developing countries – especially thesocial-democracies in Europe, ranked significantly higher than the Asiannations, including Denmark (7th), the United Kingdom (32th), and the UnitedStates (96th).

The study was compiled by using over 500 variables, drawn from over 130,000households, 4000 legal practitioners and experts across 128 countries andjurisdictions.

The study in Pakistan was conducted across the sample of 1,000 men andwomen in urban and rural areas throughout the country, in 2019.