India's Gender Gap Ranking Remains Low in Global Index 2026

India's position in the Global Gender Gap Index 2026 remains concerning, ranking 131st out of 148 countries. Despite slight improvements in scores, significant challenges persist in achieving gender parity. The report highlights advancements in educational attainment but underscores the need for further progress in economic participation and political empowerment. With a gender parity score of 64.5%, India still lags behind the global average. The findings reveal a complex landscape of gender equality, prompting discussions on necessary reforms and initiatives to bridge the gap.

By Narendra Chaudhary Sep 16, 2026, 16:38 IST

India's Position in the Global Gender Gap Index

New Delhi/Geneva, Sept 16: According to the World Economic Forum (WEF), India has been placed 131st out of 148 nations in the Global Gender Gap Index 2026, remaining near the bottom of the list. The top three positions are held by Iceland, Finland, and Norway.

Only 14 countries are ranked lower than India, which includes Papua New Guinea, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Tajikistan, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Morocco, Mali, Algeria, and Congo.

Chad occupies the last position, with Iran and Pakistan also among the bottom three.

The WEF, based in Geneva, noted that while nearly all economies monitored since 2006 have made strides towards achieving gender parity, full equality is still projected to be 120 years away.

On a global scale, 69.2% of the gender gap has been bridged, reflecting an increase of 0.4 percentage points from the previous year, with 100% indicating complete parity.

In India, which has a population of around 1.5 billion, gender parity is at 64.5%, falling short of the global average.

Despite a slight improvement in India's score compared to last year, its global ranking has not changed, remaining at 131st.

Since 2006, India's overall gender parity has increased by 4.3 percentage points, primarily due to advancements in educational attainment.

In the Economic Participation and Opportunity subindex, India achieved a parity score of 41.2%, which is a 0.5 percentage point increase from the previous report but still 3.5 percentage points lower than its peak in 2013.

Parity among professional and technical workers has nearly doubled, rising from 26.6% in 2006 to 49.9% in 2026. Additionally, representation among legislators, senior officials, and managers has improved by 10 percentage points since 2006, although it remains low at 13.1%.

Labour-force participation has seen a slight increase over the last two decades, reaching 44.1% in 2026.

In the Educational Attainment subindex, India's parity score is 96.6%, a decrease of 0.5 percentage points from the previous year.

In terms of Health and Survival, India improved its score to 95.6% parity compared to the last edition.

Despite a positive trend since 2017, India's sex ratio at birth in 2026 is still nearly one percentage point lower than it was in 2006.

Political Empowerment is the highest-scoring subindex for India in 2026, with 24.5% of the gender gap closed, ranking 67th globally.

India had a strong starting parity score for head-of-state indicators at 42.9% in 2006, which increased to 72.3% over the first decade of the index, reflecting years of female leadership during the reference period.

However, since 2021, this score has dropped to 40.7%.

According to the WEF, gender parity remains relatively low across other indicators in India.

In Parliament, India has closed 16.1% of the gender gap in 2026, achieving an overall gain of 7 percentage points since 2006.

At the ministerial level, there has been an improvement of 2.4 percentage points, rising from 3.5% in 2006 to 5.9% in 2026, yet this is significantly below the highest score of 30% recorded in 2019.