India retained the 131st rank on the Global Gender Gap Index 2026 released by the World Economic Forum on Wednesday (September 16, 2026), with Iceland, Finland and Norway maintaining their top three slots respectively.

Only 14 countries ranked below than India on the index of 145 countries. These include Papua New Guinea, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Tajikistan, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Morocco, Mali, Algeria, and Congo.

Chad was the lowest-ranked country in the index, with Iran and Pakistan joining it in the bottom three.

Geneva-based WEF said that nearly every economy tracked since 2006 by the index has advanced gender parity, but noted that full parity is still 120 years away.

Globally, 69.2% of the gender gap has now been closed, up by 0.4 percentage points over the last year, the WEF said. 100% representing full parity.

In India, the world’s most populous country with approximately 1.5 billion people, the progress towards gender parity stood at 64.5%, below the global average.

While India’s score improved slightly over the last year, its global ranking remained unchanged at 131st.

Overall, India’s gender parity increased by 4.3 percentage points since 2006, primarily due to gains in educational attainment.

In the Economic Participation and Opportunity subindex, India reported a 41.2% parity score, 0.5 higher than the previous edition but 3.5 percentage points lower from its best result in 2013.

Strong advances in professional and technical workers doubled parity from 26.6% in 2006 to 49.9% in 2026 in India.

Representation among legislators, senior officials and managers also improved by 10 percentage points since the 2006 edition but, it remains comparatively low at 13.1%.

Parity in labour-force participation saw a marginal improvement over the past two decades, standing at 44.1% in 2026.

In educational attainment subindex, India posted a 96.6% parity score, though it fell by 0.5 percentage points from the last year.

In ‘Health and Survival’, India improved its score from last year’s edition, reaching 95.6% parity.

Despite an upward trajectory since 2017, India’s sex ratio at birth in 2026 continued to stand nearly one percentage point lower than in 2006.

Political Empowerment was India’s highest ranked subindex in 2026, with 24.5% of the gap closed and a global rank of 67th.

India had one of the highest starting parity scores on the head-of-state indicator (42.9% in 2006), which increased to 72.3% over the index’s first decade, reflecting many years of female leadership within the indicator’s rolling 50-year reference period.

However, since 2021, the indicator’s score declined to its present 40.7%.

Across other indicators, parity remained comparatively lower in India, the WEF said.

In Parliament, a 16.1% gender gap was closed in 2026, marking an overall gain of 7 percentage points since 2006.

At the ministerial level, India has made an overall advance of 2.4 percentage points, from 3.5% in 2006 to 5.9% in 2026. However, it was sharply below the country’s highest score of 30% in 2019.

According to the report, political empowerment globally has seen the largest gains since 2006, but it has been on a reversal since 2016.

The share of economies led by a woman peaked in 2022, but it has now fallen back to 2016 levels, the WEF report noted.

Women have reached the C-suite and Cabinets but are underrepresented in roles carrying the greatest economic and political influence.

It said women hold 19.1% of chief executive officer roles, while only one in 10 ministerial portfolios held by women is considered of high influence.

Women accounted for fewer than one in five AI engineers and are underrepresented at every level in AI firms, it added.

Southern Asia was the lowest-scoring region in economic participation and opportunity. In its 20th year, the index benchmarked 145 economies across four dimensions: economic participation and opportunity, educational attainment, health and survival, and political empowerment.

“Twenty years of data show that gender parity is achievable. Economies at every income level have made progress, so the barrier is not a lack of resources,” said Saadia Zahidi, Managing Director, World Economic Forum.

“Parity is a foundation for growth and competitiveness, but it is not inevitable. To accelerate, governments and employers need to learn from the policies that work and apply them faster. A new economy demands a new approach to talent,” she added.

In the top ten, Namibia climbed four places to fourth, the highest-ranked country in Sub-Saharan Africa, followed by the United Kingdom, New Zealand, Sweden, Australia, Germany, and Ireland.

Australia entered the top 10 for the first time. Four economies have appeared in every top 10 since 2006: Iceland, Finland, Norway and Sweden.

Iceland was the only country to have closed more than 90% of the gender gap (93%).

Published – September 16, 2026 02:21 pm IST

The World Economic Forum said India’s economic parity score has trended upwards for the past four years.
| Photo Credit: AFP

India has slipped two places on the World Economic Forum’s (WEF) Global Gender Gap index to 129th place, while Iceland retained its top position in the rankings published on June 12.

Within South Asia, India was ranked fifth after Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Bhutan, while Pakistan was ranked last. Globally, Sudan was ranked last on the index of 146 countries, while Pakistan slipped three places to 145th.

India figured among the economies with the lowest levels of economic parity, alongside Bangladesh, Sudan, Iran, Pakistan, and Morocco. All of them registered less than 30% gender parity in estimated earned income.

However, India showed the best gender parity in terms of enrolment in secondary education, while it scored well on political empowerment of women at 65th rank globally. With regard to parity in the number of years with female/male heads of state for the last 50 years, India was ranked 10th.

With a population of more than 140 crore, India has closed 64.1% of its gender gap in 2024 and the decline of two places from 127th last year, mainly happened due to small declines in ‘Educational Attainment’ and ‘Political Empowerment,’ parameters, while ‘Economic Participation’ and ‘Opportunity’ scores slightly improved. The WEF said India’s economic parity score has trended upwards for the past four years.

“In the Political Empowerment subindex, India scored within the top-10 on the head-of-state indicator, but its scores for women’s representation at the federal level, in Ministerial positions (6.9%) and in Parliament (17.2%), remain relatively low,” it added.

Indian economy projected to grow 6.5% in 2024: UNCTAD

The WEF said the world has closed 68.5% of the gender gap, but at the current pace it will take another 134 years — equivalent to five generations — to achieve full gender parity. Since last year, the gender gap has closed by 0.1 percentage points.

“Despite some bright spots, the slow and incremental gains highlighted in this year’s Global Gender Gap Report underscore the urgent need for a renewed global commitment to achieving gender parity, particularly in economic and political spheres,” WEF Managing Director Saadia Zahidi said.

“We cannot wait until 2158 for parity. The time for decisive action is now,” she added. Iceland was followed by Finland, Norway, New Zealand and Sweden in the top five. The U.K. was ranked 14th, while the USA was at 43rd place.