The annual ILGA-Europe Rainbow Map has once again redrawn the landscape of rights for lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, queer, intersex and asexual people across Europe. In the 2026 edition the survey evaluates 49 countries and uses a scoring scale from 0-100% to reflect the extent to which national laws and policies protect and include LGBTQIA+ communities. At the head of the list is Spain with 89%, while the United Kingdom occupies 22nd place on 44%, marking a substantial fall from positions it held earlier in the decade.
The Rainbow Map applies a detailed methodology based on 76 criteria grouped into seven thematic categories that affect daily life and legal status. These areas include legal gender recognition, intersex bodily integrity and freedom of civil society, among others. Scores are built from extensive country consultations with activists, lawyers and policy specialists, producing an evidence-based snapshot that highlights both progress and persistent gaps across the continent.
Why Spain moved to the top
Spain’s advancement reflects a concentrated legislative push and institutional follow-through. The government enacted comprehensive LGBTI and trans laws and introduced mechanisms such as an independent authority for equal treatment. Medical and legal reforms included the full depathologisation of trans identities in healthcare, a change that removes pathologising language from clinical pathways and aims to ease access to care. Spain’s national authorities also intervened to prevent regional rollbacks of protections, increasing the number of subnational jurisdictions with explicit LGBTI safeguards. These combined steps generated a sizable gain in the scoring matrix and pushed Spain above long-time frontrunners.
The UK’s position and concerns over trans rights
The United Kingdom scoring at 44% and ranking 22nd exposes growing anxieties around the treatment of trans people in law and public life. Observers link part of the decline to recent high court and Supreme Court decisions that have affected legal interpretations of gender and single-sex services, with advocates warning of a rise in anti-trans rhetoric. Policy advisers and rights defenders argue that without a reset in approach—particularly on timely access to trans-specific healthcare and robust legal gender recognition—the record could worsen. ILGA-Europe’s recommendations include ensuring compliance with human rights standards, banning harmful conversion practices and tackling excessive waiting times for care.
Top performers, laggards and systemic patterns
Behind Spain, the highest-ranked countries include Malta (88%), Iceland (86%), Belgium (85%) and Denmark (85%), reflecting varied mixes of progressive laws and sustained policy attention. At the opposite end, Russia and Azerbaijan both score just 2%, driven by harsh restrictions on civil society and direct state actions against LGBTQIA+ organising. Turkey is also near the bottom with 5%. Among EU member states, Romania remains low-scoring at 19%, illustrating how membership of regional institutions does not guarantee consistent national protections. The report further notes that only a minority of countries permit legal gender recognition based on self-determination, and a small set of states have banned unnecessary medical interventions on intersex children.
Methodology, outreach and the path ahead
The Rainbow Map is produced through a collaborative process involving more than 200 country experts and civil society partners who verify legislative texts and policy developments. The scoring aggregates legal data across the seven thematic categories to provide a comparative index that is both granular and transparent. ILGA-Europe pairs the ranking with concrete calls to action: restore access to puberty blockers in appropriate clinical contexts, strengthen legal gender recognition consistent with international human rights, and outlaw practices that aim to change a person’s sexual orientation or gender identity. The data underline that political will and legal design can reverse backsliding and create durable protections when governments choose to act.
What readers should watch next
Policymakers, activists and service providers will watch whether high-scoring countries maintain momentum and whether mid-ranked states respond to targeted recommendations. For lower-scoring states, the map documents both the urgency and the obstacles for future reform. The Rainbow Map’s interactive resources allow users to explore the full dataset and read country summaries, offering a practical tool for advocacy and comparison as the conversation about rights and recognition continues across Europe.