New Delhi: In a significant development, India has fallen to the 131st position out of 148 countries in the World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Report 2025, released on June 12, 2025, in New Delhi. This marks a decline of two places from its 129th rank in 2024, placing India among the lowest-ranked nations in South Asia. With a gender parity score of 64.1%, India trails behind regional peers like Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal, and Sri Lanka, with only Maldives and Pakistan ranking lower.
India’s Overall Performance in 2025
The Global Gender Gap Index 2025, now in its 19th edition, benchmarks gender parity across 148 economies worldwide. India’s overall gender parity score of 64.1% reflects a marginal improvement of 0.3 points compared to 2024. However, this slight progress was overshadowed by stronger performances from other countries, contributing to India’s relative decline in rank. Globally, the gender gap has narrowed to 68.8%, up from 68.4% in 2024, marking the strongest annual advancement since the COVID-19 pandemic. Despite this, the World Economic Forum estimates that achieving full gender parity worldwide will take 123 years at the current pace.
India’s performance in 2025 reveals a mixed picture. While the country made gains in economic participation, education, and health, a notable decline in political empowerment dragged down its overall ranking. Below, we delve into each dimension to understand India’s progress and challenges.
Economic Participation and Opportunity: Marginal Gains
India’s score in Economic Participation and Opportunity improved by 0.9 percentage points, reaching 40.7% in 2025. Despite this uptick, India ranks 144th globally in this category, placing it among the bottom five economies alongside Sudan (31.3%), Pakistan (34.7%), Iran (34.9%), and Egypt (40.6%). These countries exhibit severe gender disparities, with women accessing less than one-third of the economic resources available to men.
Key indicators in this subindex include labor force participation, wage equality, and estimated earned income. India’s labor force participation rate for women remained steady at 45.9%, the highest level the country has achieved to date. Parity in estimated earned income rose from 28.6% in 2024 to 29.9% in 2025, positively impacting the subindex score. However, the report highlights that India, like other low-ranking economies, struggles with minimal gender parity in senior workplace roles, where female-to-male ratios do not exceed 0.4. This underscores persistent structural barriers preventing women from accessing leadership positions and equitable economic opportunities.
Educational Attainment: Positive Shifts
In Educational Attainment, India scored an impressive 97.1%, reflecting significant improvements in female literacy and tertiary education enrollment. These gains have bolstered the subindex score, positioning India closer to gender parity in education. The report notes that positive shifts in female shares for literacy and higher education enrollment are driving this progress. This achievement is critical, as education is a foundational pillar for empowering women and narrowing gender gaps in other areas like economic participation and political representation.
Health and Survival: Improved Parity Amid Challenges
India also recorded higher parity in Health and Survival, driven by improved scores in sex ratio at birth and healthy life expectancy. This progress is a step forward in addressing gender imbalances in health outcomes. However, the report cautions that this parity was achieved despite an overall reduction in life expectancy for both men and women. This decline in life expectancy highlights broader public health challenges that India must address to sustain and build on these gains.
Political Empowerment: A Concerning Decline
The most significant setback for India in 2025 came in Political Empowerment, where the country’s score dropped by 0.6 points compared to 2024. This decline was driven by reduced female representation in key political institutions. Female representation in Parliament fell from 14.7% to 13.8%, marking the second consecutive year of decline below 2023 levels. The 18th Lok Sabha, elected in 2024, includes only 74 women MPs, accounting for 13.6% of the total—a decrease from 14.4% in 2019.
Similarly, the share of women in ministerial roles fell from 6.5% to 5.6%, moving the indicator score (5.9%) further away from its peak of 30% in 2019. This regression in political representation is a stark reminder of the challenges India faces in ensuring women’s voices are adequately represented in decision-making processes. Political empowerment remains India’s weakest dimension, underscoring the need for targeted policies to boost female participation in governance.
India’s Ranking in Historical Context
India’s ranking in the Global Gender Gap Index has fluctuated in recent years. In 2022, the country ranked 135th, improving to 127th in 2023 before slipping to 129th in 2024 and now 131st in 2025. This yo-yo pattern reflects both domestic challenges and the relative progress of other nations. Within South Asia, India ranks fifth, behind Bangladesh (24th), Bhutan (97th), Nepal (125th), and Sri Lanka (118th), with only Maldives (138th) and Pakistan (148th) performing worse.
South Asian countries
Bangladesh emerged as the best performer in South Asia, making an extraordinary leap of 75 ranks to secure the 24th position globally. This progress was driven by notable gains in political empowerment and economic participation. Nepal, Bhutan, and Sri Lanka also outperformed India, highlighting the need for India to accelerate its gender equality efforts to remain competitive in the region.
Global Trends and Leadership
Globally, Iceland retained its position as the top-ranked country for the 16th consecutive year, followed by Finland, Norway, the United Kingdom, and New Zealand. These economies demonstrate consistent progress toward gender parity, particularly in political empowerment and economic participation. The global gender gap closed to 68.8% in 2025, with significant strides in political empowerment and economic participation driving this improvement. However, a persistent leadership gap remains, with women holding only 28.8% of top leadership positions despite comprising 41.2% of the global workforce.
Saadia Zahidi, Managing Director of the World Economic Forum, emphasized the economic benefits of gender parity, stating, “At a time of heightened global economic uncertainty and a low growth outlook combined with technological and demographic change, advancing gender parity represents a key force for economic renewal. The evidence is clear. Economies that have made decisive progress towards parity are positioning themselves for stronger, more innovative, and more resilient economic progress.”
Implications for India
India’s 131st ranking in the Global Gender Gap Index 2025 highlights both progress and persistent challenges. While improvements in economic participation, education, and health are encouraging, the decline in political empowerment is a significant concern. The report underscores the need for targeted interventions to address structural barriers, particularly in leadership roles and political representation. Policies such as the proposed 33% reservation for women in Parliament, expected to be implemented by the 2029 Lok Sabha elections, could be a game-changer in boosting political empowerment.
Additionally, India’s low ranking in economic participation calls for measures to enhance women’s access to senior roles, improve wage equality, and increase labor force participation. The country’s strong performance in educational attainment provides a foundation to build upon, but translating these gains into economic and political empowerment remains a critical challenge.
Conclusion
The Global Gender Gap Report 2025 paints a complex picture for India, with incremental progress overshadowed by a relative decline in global rankings. As the world moves toward greater gender parity, India must accelerate its efforts to close the gender gap, particularly in political empowerment and economic participation. By addressing these challenges, India can position itself for stronger, more inclusive economic growth and a more equitable future. The road to full gender parity may be long—123 years globally—but decisive action now can significantly shorten that timeline for India.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
1.What is India’s ranking in the Global Gender Gap Index 2025, and how does it compare to previous years?
India ranks 131st out of 148 countries in the World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Index 2025, slipping two places from its 129th position in 2024. Historically, India ranked 135th in 2022 and improved to 127th in 2023 before declining to 129th in 2024 and now 131st in 2025. Despite a marginal improvement in its gender parity score from 64.1% to 64.4%, India’s relative decline is attributed to stronger performances by other countries.
2.What are the four key dimensions evaluated by the Global Gender Gap Index?
The Global Gender Gap Index assesses gender parity across four dimensions: Economic Participation and Opportunity (labor force participation, wage equality, earned income, etc.), Educational Attainment (literacy and enrollment rates), Health and Survival (sex ratio at birth and life expectancy), and Political Empowerment (representation in parliament and ministerial roles). These dimensions provide a comprehensive view of gender equality progress.
3.How did India perform in the Economic Participation and Opportunity dimension in 2025?
India’s score in Economic Participation and Opportunity improved by 0.9 percentage points to 40.7%, but it still ranks 144th globally, among the bottom five countries. The labor force participation rate for women remained steady at 45.9%, India’s highest to date, and parity in estimated earned income rose from 28.6% to 29.9%. However, women in India access less than one-third of the economic resources available to men, and gender parity in senior workplace roles remains low.
4.Why did India’s ranking drop in the Political Empowerment dimension?
India’s Political Empowerment score declined by 0.6 points in 2025 due to reduced female representation in key political roles. Female representation in Parliament fell from 14.7% to 13.8%, with the 18th Lok Sabha (elected in 2024) having only 13.6% women MPs. Additionally, the share of women in ministerial positions dropped from 6.5% to 5.6%, moving further from its peak of 30% in 2019, contributing to India’s overall ranking decline.
5.How does India’s gender parity score compare to other South Asian countries in 2025?
India’s gender parity score of 64.1% places it among the lowest in South Asia, ranking fifth in the region behind Bangladesh (24th globally), Bhutan (97th), Nepal (125th), and Sri Lanka (118th). Only Maldives (138th) and Pakistan (148th) rank lower. Bangladesh’s remarkable 75-rank jump to 24th, driven by gains in political empowerment and economic participation, highlights the region’s varying progress toward gender equality.
