Ireland has been ranked 17th out of 49 European countries in an annual report on LGBT+ people's human rights.

The Rainbow Europe report, published this week, gives Ireland an overall score of 47% in achieving LGBT+ rights.

This places us behind Portugal (at 66%), the United Kingdom (65%), France (63%) and Spain (60%) amongst others.

Malta receives the highest score of all European countries, at 90%.

This is followed by Belgium, Luxembourg, Finland and Denmark.

The countries with the lowest scores are Monaco (11%), Russia (10%), Armenia (6%), Turkey (5%) and Azerbaijan (3%).

In the Rainbow Europe report, Ireland scored just 13% for tackling hate crime and hate speech and 17% for supporting the rights of LGBT+ asylum-seekers.

We are scored somewhat higher for equality and non-discrimination, at 24%.

A rainbow flag flies at Dublin Pride in 2014 | Image: Mark Stedman/RollingNews.ie

While we are scored at 69% in the "Legal gender recognition and bodily integrity" category and 76% for marriage equality and the rights of LGBT+ families.

Ireland was also given a score of 100% for 'Civil Society Space'.

This refers to no State obstruction of freedom of assembly or enough protection for public events.

The report has made a number of recommendations to improve Ireland's score.

It said Ireland should update the existing legal framework for legal gender recognition, in accordance to the Gender Recognition Act 2015 review report, to ensure the process is free from age limits and explicitly includes intersex and non-binary people.

It also calls on the Government to adapt a comprehensive national action plan on LGBTI equality that "expressly mentions all SOGISC (sexual orientation, gender identity, sex characteristics) grounds and fully implement the actions outlined in the LGBTI+ Youth Strategy 2018-2020."

Rainbow Europe is made by ILGA-Europe: the European Region of the International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans & Intersex Association.

It is funded by the European Union.