India has slipped to the 131st position in the World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Index 2025, dropping two places from the previous year. The index measures gender parity across economic participation, education, health, and political empowerment, and India’s ranking reflects both incremental progress and persistent challenges in achieving gender equality.
The Global Gender Gap Index aims to provide a comparative framework for evaluating gender disparities worldwide, offering insights into where countries stand in closing the gender gap. India’s latest ranking highlights gains in economic participation but declines in political empowerment, influencing its overall performance.
India’s Performance in Key Indicators
Economic Participation and Opportunity
India showed marginal improvement, with its economic participation score rising to 40.7%—an increase of 0.9 percentage points from the previous year.
- Estimated earned income parity improved from 28.6% to 29.9%, signaling better wage equity.
- Labor force participation rate reached 45.9%, marking India’s highest recorded level in this category.
Educational Attainment and Health
India maintained strong parity in education, scoring 97.1%, indicating significant progress in literacy rates and higher education enrolment.
- Health parity showed a slight uptick, driven by an improved sex ratio at birth and higher female life expectancy.
- However, overall life expectancy declined, mirroring trends observed in other developing economies.
Political Empowerment Decline
India’s score in political empowerment fell by 0.6 points, contributing to its ranking drop.
- Female representation in Parliament decreased from 14.7% to 13.8%, marking the second consecutive year of decline.
- Women in ministerial roles fell from 6.5% to 5.6%, moving further away from its peak of 30% in 2019.
Regional and Global Comparisons
India’s ranking places it among the lower-performing countries in South Asia, with some neighboring nations showing better improvement:
- Bangladesh made a significant leap, moving 75 places to rank 24th globally.
- Nepal (125th), Sri Lanka (130th), Bhutan (119th), Maldives (138th), and Pakistan (148th) had varied progress in gender parity.
- Iceland retained its top position globally for the 16th consecutive year, followed by Finland, Norway, the UK, and New Zealand.
Global Trends in Gender Equality
The Global Gender Gap Index 2025 highlights an overall closure of gender disparity worldwide to 68.8%, marking the strongest progress since the COVID-19 pandemic.
However, despite advancements, full gender parity is still estimated to be 123 years away.
Conclusion
India’s ranking in the Global Gender Gap Index 2025 reflects a mix of progress and setbacks. While economic participation and education indicators have improved, political representation continues to decline, affecting the country’s overall standing. The report suggests that targeted policy reforms and stronger political inclusion efforts could accelerate India’s path toward gender equality.
