Akshay DidwaniyaIndia’s overall score actually improved slightly in 2025, but a two spot slip on the Global Gender Gap Index shows the country still sits deep in the bottom half of 148 nations, held back by weak numbers in politics and paid work.
India Slips Two Places Despite A Small Score Rise
India has been placed 131st out of 148 countries in the World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Index 2025. The country stood at 129th last year, so this marks a fall of two positions. Interestingly, India’s actual parity score went up by 0.3 percentage points compared to 2024. The rank still dropped because several other nations closed their own gaps faster this year. The Global Gender Gap Index is now in its 19th edition and tracks 148 economies worldwide. It has been published every year by the World Economic Forum since 2006, making it the longest running gender parity study of its kind.
Where India Stands Among Its South Asian Neighbours
Within South Asia, India comes in at fifth place out of eight nations. Bangladesh leads the region by a wide margin, jumping an impressive 75 ranks this year to reach 24th place globally. Bhutan, Nepal and Sri Lanka also sit above India on the list. Only the Maldives and Pakistan rank lower than India in the region. This regional gap highlights how uneven progress on gender parity has been across South Asia, even among countries with broadly similar economies and cultures.
Economic Participation Remains India’s Weakest Link
The index measures four broad areas. These are economic participation and opportunity, educational attainment, health and survival, and political empowerment. India’s score for economic participation and opportunity climbed by 0.9 percentage points this year, reaching 40.7 percent. Even with that gain, India still ranks 144th out of 148 countries on this measure, placing it among the five weakest performers worldwide. Low female labour force participation and a wide pay gap continue to drag this score down year after year.
Fewer Women In Parliament And Cabinet This Year
Political empowerment also dipped for India in this edition. The share of women in Parliament fell from 14.7 percent to 13.8 percent. The number of women holding ministerial positions dropped too, sliding from 6.5 percent to 5.6 percent. That figure is now far below the 30 percent high point India recorded back in 2019. These declines in political representation add extra pressure on India’s overall gender parity score, even as other categories show small gains.
Iceland Extends Its Sixteen Year Run At The Top
Iceland has held the number one position on the Global Gender Gap Index for sixteen years running. Its parity score of 92.6 percent makes it the only country to have closed over ninety percent of its gender gap so far. Finland, Norway, the United Kingdom and New Zealand round out the rest of the top five this year. European nations continue to dominate the upper rungs of the rankings, occupying eight of the top ten places overall.
Full Gender Parity Still Far Away At The Global Level
Globally, the gender gap has narrowed to 68.8 percent in 2025, up from 68.4 percent the previous year. Officials called this the strongest annual improvement recorded since the Covid pandemic hit progress worldwide. Even so, the World Economic Forum estimates that full gender parity remains 123 years away at the current pace of change. Women now make up 41.2 percent of the global workforce, yet they hold only 28.8 percent of top leadership positions. That leadership gap remains one of the toughest barriers left to close everywhere, including in India.
Mayur Mohta
Aditya Didwaniya
Pratik Agrawal