India slips to 131st position in Global Gender Gap Index 2025

India has ranked 131 out of 146 countries in the World Economic Forum's Global Gender Gap Report 2025, slipping two places from its position last year.

With a parity score of just 64.1 per cent, India is among the lowest-ranked countries in South Asia, according to the report released on Thursday (June 12). India was ranked 129th last year.

The Global Gender Gap Index measures gender parity across four key dimensions: Economic Participation and Opportunity, Educational Attainment, Health and Survival, and Political Empowerment.

The Indian economy's overall performance improved in absolute terms by +0.3 points.

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Where India stands

“One of the dimensions where India has increased parity is Economic Participation and Opportunity, where its score improved by +0.9 percentage points to 40.7 per cent. While most indicator values remained the same, parity in estimated earned income rose from 28.6 per cent to 29.9 per cent, positively impacting the subindex score,” the report said.

Scores in labour force participation rate remained the same (45.9 per cent) as last year — India’s highest level to date. In Educational Attainment, the report noted that India scored 97.1 per cent, reflecting positive shifts in female shares for literacy and tertiary education enrollment, resulting in improvements in the subindex score.

“India also recorded higher parity in Health and Survival, driven by improved scores in sex ratio at birth and healthy life expectancy,” it said.

However, similar to other countries, parity in healthy life expectancy was achieved despite an overall reduction in life expectancy for both men and women, the report added.

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Political empowerment drops

“India recorded a slight drop in parity (-0.6 points) since the last edition is in Political Empowerment. Female representation in Parliament fell from 14.7 per cent to 13.8 per cent in 2025, lowering the indicator score for the second year in a row below 2023 levels,” the report said.

Similarly, the share of women in ministerial roles declined from 6.5 per cent to 5.6 per cent, pulling the indicator score (5.9 per cent) further away from its highest level of 30 per cent in 2019.

With notable gains in political empowerment and economic participation, Bangladesh emerged as the best performer in South Asia, jumping 75 ranks to secure the 24th position globally. Nepal ranked 125, Sri Lanka 130, Bhutan 119, Maldives 138, and Pakistan 148.

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Gender parity a distant dream

The report said the global gender gap has closed by 68.8 per cent, marking the strongest annual progress since the COVID-19 pandemic. Yet, at current rates, full parity remains 123 years away.

Iceland led the rankings for the 16th consecutive year, followed by Finland, Norway, the United Kingdom, and New Zealand.

The 19th edition of the report, covering 148 economies, revealed both encouraging momentum and persistent structural barriers that women worldwide face.

Progress in this edition was driven primarily by advances in political empowerment and economic participation, while educational attainment and health and survival maintained near-parity levels above 95 per cent.

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Parity fuels progress

However, despite women comprising 41.2 per cent of the global workforce, a significant leadership gap remains — women hold only 28.8 per cent of top leadership positions, the report said.

“At a time of heightened global economic uncertainty and a low growth outlook, combined with technological and demographic changes, advancing gender parity represents a key force for economic renewal,” said Saadia Zahidi, managing director, World Economic Forum.

“The evidence is clear. Economies that have made decisive progress towards parity are positioning themselves for stronger, more innovative, and more resilient economic progress,” Zahidi added.