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WEF Gender Gap Index 2025: Top 10 best and worst countries for gender parity

WEF Global Gender Gap Index 2025 By Country: Gender parity has been a global discussion for decades, yet at the present rate, it will take 132 years estimatedly to eliminate gender gap and achieve full parity.

WEF Global Gender Gap Index 2025 By Country Global Gender Gap Index Ranking

WEF Global Gender Gap Index 2025: Find out the top and bottom 10 countries in terms of gender parity. India's rank revealed. (Designed by Cherry Gupta/Indian Express on Canva)

WEF Global Gender Gap Index 2025: According to the WEF Global Gender Gap Report 2025, the global gender gap has marginally narrowed in 2025, from 68.4% in 2024 to 68.8% in 2025, in 148 economies that were surveyed. However, the overall pace still lags behind pre-pandemic trends.

Global Gender Gap 2025 progress is mostly driven by improvements in Political Empowerment (0.7 percentage points, from 22.5% to 23.2%) and Economic Participation and Opportunity (0.4 percentage points, from 60.3% to 60.7%).

Global Gender Gap Index 2025: Top 10 best and worst countries for gender parity

At the aggregate level, high-income economies have closed 74.3% of their gender gap, slightly higher than the averages recorded in lower-income groups; however, the best performers in the three lower-income categories have narrowed a larger percentage of their gender disparities than more than half of the high-income countries.

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Notably, Saudi Arabia, Mexico, Ecuador, Bangladesh, and Ethiopia have shown to be the most effective economies in overcoming gender inequalities across each income level.

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Top 10 countries closing the gender gap in 2025

The top 10 economies in the Global Gender Gap Index 2025 have succeeded in minimising gender gaps by at least 80%.

Iceland retains the world’s most gender-equal economy for the 16th consecutive year, closing 92.6% of the gender gap – the only economy to reach 90% parity.

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European countries account for eight of the top ten rankings; Iceland, Finland, Norway, and Sweden have all been in the top ten since 2006.

Rank 2025	Country	Score 2025 (0-1, 1 = parity)
1	Iceland	0.926
2	Finland	0.879
3	Norway	0.863
4	United Kingdom	0.838
5	New Zealand	0.827
6	Sweden	0.817
7	Republic of Moldova	0.813
8	Nambia	0.811
9	Germany	0.803
10	Ireland	0.801

Source: World Economic Forum – The Global Gender Gap Index 2025 Rankings

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Top 10 countries widening the gender gap in 2025

The bottom 10 countries in the Global Gender Gap Index 2025—led by Pakistan, Sudan, Chad, and Iran—continue to show the widest gender disparities globally.

Rank 2025	Country	Score 2025 (0-1, 1 = parity)
148	Pakistan	0.567
147	Sudan	0.570
146	Chad	0.571
145	Iran (Islamic Republic of)	0.583
144	Guinea	0.595
143	Democratic Republic of the Congo	0.601
142	Niger	0.613
141	Algeria	0.614
140	Mali	0.617
139	Egypt	0.625

Source: World Economic Forum – The Global Gender Gap Index 2025 Rankings

Where does India stand globally on the Gender Gap Index 2025?

In 2025, India ranked 131st in global gender parity out of 148 countries, with a score of 64.4%, down three positions from the previous year.

While it’s way behind its neighbours – Bhutan (119th), Nepal (125th) and Sri Lanka (130th) – it saw an improvement in economic participation and opportunity.

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The score rose to 40.7%, supported by an increase in estimated earned income from 28.6% to 29.9%, while labour-force participation remained steady at 45.9%.

In educational attainment, India scored 97.1%, reflecting gains in female literacy and tertiary education enrolment.

READ | Top 10 Indian states/UTs with highest and lowest literacy rates

Health and survival also improved due to a better sex ratio at birth and increased healthy life expectancy. However, political empowerment declined, with women’s representation in parliament dropping from 14.7% to 13.8%.

Cherry Gupta

Cherry Gupta is an Assistant Manager – Content at The Indian Express. She leads the Top 10 section, curating list-based features on key national and international developments, and manages daily news content. She also produces SEO-driven articles and collaborates with the Lifestyle team to conduct interviews with notable artists and write workplace culture features. ... Read More