Global Gender Gap Index 2026

Why in the News?

The World Economic Forum (WEF) released the Global Gender Gap Index 2026, ranking 145 economies across four dimensions. India retained its 131st position. Iceland remained at the top.

Key Findings

• India’s overall gender parity: 64.5%
• Global average: 69.2%
• India has closed 4.3 percentage points of its gender gap since 2006.
• Globally, 69.2% of the gender gap has been closed.
• Iceland: 1st, with 93% of its gender gap closed.
• Top three:
  • Iceland
  • Finland
  • Norway
• Chad: lowest-ranked country.
• Iran and Pakistan were also among the bottom three.

Four Dimensions of the Index

1. Economic Participation and Opportunity

India’s parity score: 41.2%

• Improved by 0.5 percentage points from the previous edition.
• Still 3.5 percentage points below India’s best score in 2013.
• Professional and technical workers: parity increased from 26.6% in 2006 to 49.9% in 2026.
• Legislators, senior officials and managers: 13.1% parity.
• Labour-force participation parity: 44.1%.

2. Educational Attainment

• India recorded 96.6% parity.
• Declined by 0.5 percentage points from the previous year.
• Educational gains have been a major contributor to India’s improvement since 2006.

3. Health and Survival

• India’s parity score: 95.6%.
• Sex ratio at birth remained nearly one percentage point lower than in 2006.

4. Political Empowerment

• India’s highest-performing subindex.
• 24.5% of the gender gap closed.
• Global rank: 67th.
• Parliament: 16.1% of the gender gap closed in 2026.
• Ministerial level: 5.9%, compared with 3.5% in 2006.
• India’s ministerial parity had reached 30% in 2019, before declining.

Important Global Observations

• Southern Asia was the lowest-scoring region in Economic Participation and Opportunity.
• Globally, political empowerment recorded the largest gains since 2006, but has experienced a reversal since 2016.
• Women account for 19.1% of CEO roles globally.
• Women remain underrepresented in Artificial Intelligence (AI), accounting for fewer than one in five AI engineers.
• Australia entered the global top 10 for the first time.
• Iceland was the only country to cross 90% parity, at 93%.

Important Full Forms

• WEF: World Economic Forum
• AI: Artificial Intelligence
• CEO: Chief Executive Officer

Prelims Quick Revision

• Global Gender Gap Index: World Economic Forum
• 2026 edition: 145 economies
• India: 131st
• Top: Iceland
• India overall parity: 64.5%
• Global parity: 69.2%
• Four dimensions:
  1. Economic Participation and Opportunity
  2. Educational Attainment
  3. Health and Survival
  4. Political Empowerment
• India’s highest subindex: Political Empowerment
• India’s Economic Participation parity: 41.2%
• India’s Educational Attainment parity: 96.6%
• India’s Health and Survival parity: 95.6%
• Political Empowerment: 24.5% gap closed