India slips to 131 position on the Global Gender Gap Index 2025

The World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap report 2025 was released recently. In its 19th edition, it is the longest-standing index which tracks how 148 countries fared in closing the gender gap. In 2025, the global index stands at 68.8 percentage points (to be read as the percentage of the gender gap that has been […]

By: Anupama Bijur

Published On: August 7th, 2025

The World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap report 2025 was released recently. In its 19th edition, it is the longest-standing index which tracks how 148 countries fared in closing the gender gap. In 2025, the global index stands at 68.8 percentage points (to be read as the percentage of the gender gap that has been closed, numbers rounded) compared to 68.4 % for 2024. Among individual countries, Iceland occupies the top spot with 92.6% gender parity and has held the top rank for 16 consecutive years. Eight European economies dominate the top 10 ranks, with the exception of New Zealand (5th rank) and Namibia (8th rank).

The Global Gender Gap report looks at developments in four sub-indexes – Health and Survival gender gap, Educational Attainment, Economic Participation and Opportunity gap, and the Political Empowerment gap. Where is India? India is ranked 131st out of 148 economies with a score of 64.4%, down by three whole positions from 2024. Not just that, India is behind its neighbours on the Index. Bhutan is ranked 119th, Nepal at 125th and Sri Lanka at 130th. Bangladesh is ranked 24 and appears in the top 50 ranks, with 77.5 % gender parity.

The only silver lining is that India saw an improvement in economic participation and opportunity (40.7%) and educational attainment (97.1%) since 2024 Health and survival improved too but political empowerment has declined, with women’s representation in Parliament dropping from 14.7% to 13.8%. Fewer women in Parliament and even fewer are ministers. This is a big problem that India must address because without women in leadership, real change is slow. If we want a fairer future for women, we need to act now.

Zooming out for the big picture on the blue planet, the report says that these latest figures mark “the strongest annual advancement since the Covid-19 pandemic. Yet full parity remains 123 years away.”

InkSights is a monthly art series by NWMI member Anupama Bijur viewing current affairs through a gender and news lens.