India’s gender gap widens as it drops to 131st spot in Global Gender Gap Index 2025

India has been ranked 131 out of 148 countries in the World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Report 2025, slipping two places from its position last year.

Parity score among the lowest in South Asia

PTI reported that India’s gender parity score stands at just 64.1 per cent, placing it among the lowest-ranked countries in the South Asian region, according to the report released on Thursday. In the 2024 edition of the report, India was ranked 129.

The gender-parity score is a measure used to assess the relative equality or disparity between males and females in a particular region.

Dimensions assessed in the report

According to PTI, the Global Gender Gap Index evaluates gender parity across four key dimensions: economic participation and Opportunity, Educational Attainment, Health and Survival, and Political Empowerment.

The Indian economy’s overall performance showed a slight improvement in absolute terms, rising by 0.3 points.

Economic participation improves marginally

PTI reported that “one dimension where India increases parity is in Economic Participation and Opportunity, where its score improves by 0.9 per cent to 40.7 per cent. While most indicator values remain the same, parity in estimated earned income rises from 28.6 per cent to 29.9 per cent, positively impacting the subindex score.”

Labour force participation parity remained the same as last year at 45.9 per cent, India’s highest achieved to date.

Education attainment sees positive growth

In the dimension of educational attainment, India scored 97.1 per cent, reflecting improvements in female literacy and tertiary education enrolment. These gains positively influenced the subindex score.

Health indicators show progress

India also records higher parity in health and survival, driven by improved scores in sex ratio at birth and in healthy life expectancy.

However, the report noted that this parity was achieved despite a reduction in overall life expectancy in both men and women.

Political empowerment declines further

India recorded a slight drop in political empowerment, with parity dropping by 0.6 points since the previous edition. Female representation in Parliament fell from 14.7 per cent to 13.8 per cent in 2025, bringing the indicator score below 2023 levels for the second consecutive year.

Similarly, the share of women in ministerial positions fell from 6.5 per cent to 5.6 per cent, bringing the indicator score further from its peak of 30 per cent recorded in 2019, PTI reported.

Performance of India’s counterparts

Among South Asian countries, Bangladesh emerged as the best performer, jumping 75 ranks to reach the 24th position globally.

The report said the global gender gap has closed to 68.8 per cent, marking the strongest annual advancement since the COVID-19 pandemic, reported PTI.

Iceland continues to top the index for the 16th year running, followed by Finland, Norway, the United Kingdom and New Zealand.

PTI also reported that the progress made in the 19th edition of the report was driven primarily by steady progress in political empowerment and economic participation, while educational attainment and health and survival maintained the near-parity levels.

However, despite women representing 41.2 per cent of the global workforce, a stark leadership gap persists, with women holding 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 change, advancing gender parity represents a key force for economic renewal,” Saadia Zahidi, Managing Director, World Economic Forum, told PTI.

“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 said.