Global Gender Gap Report 2025

Why in news: India ranks 131 out of 148 countries in the Global Gender Gap Index 2025 by WEF, slipping two places.

• India’s gender parity score stands at 64.1%, making it one of the lowest in South Asia.
• India's global position declined, while the worldwide gender gap closed to 68.8%, but full parity is still 123 years away at current pace.
• Iceland topped the Index for 16th consecutive year, followed by Finland, Norway, the U.K., and New Zealand.
• Bangladesh emerged as South Asia’s best performer, jumping 75 places to 24th rank, due to significant progress in political empowerment and economic participation.
• Index evaluates gender parity in 4 categories: Economic Participation and Opportunity, Educational Attainment, Health and Survival, Political Empowerment.

Economic Participation and Opportunity

• India improved by +0.9 percentage points in this category.
• Estimated earned income parity rose from 28.6% to 29.9%.
• Labour force participation rate held steady at 45.9%, India’s highest so far.
• India’s economic score improved by 0.3 points.

Educational Attainment

• India achieved a score of 97.1%, showing positive shifts in female literacy and tertiary education enrollment.
• Indicates near full parity in access to education.

Health and Survival

• India recorded improvements in sex ratio at birth and healthy life expectancy, leading to a higher parity score.

Political Empowerment

• India declined in political empowerment. Female representation in Parliament dropped from 14.7% to 13.8%.
• Women in ministerial roles fell from 6.5% to 5.6%.

Other Important Indices:

• Gender Inequality Index (GII) is published by UNDP and measures reproductive health, empowerment, and labour market inequality; India’s GII score is 0.403, ranking 102 out of 172 countries (2023).
• Gender Development Index (GDI) by UNDP compares female and male HDI values in health, education, and income; India’s GDI is 0.874, with female HDI at 0.631 and male HDI at 0.722 (2023).
• Global Gender Parity Index (GGPI) is developed by UNDP and UN Women, covering life & health, education & skills, financial inclusion & labour, and decision-making participation.
• Women’s Empowerment Index (WEI) by UNDP and UN Women, measures empowerment in health, education, inclusion, decision-making, and violence against women; India scores 0.52, indicating moderate empowerment.

Inequality-adjusted Human Development Index (IHDI):

• Inequality-adjusted Human Development Index (IHDI) adjusts HDI by accounting for inequality in health, education, and income. Provides a more realistic measure of human development.
• IHDI = HDI when there is no inequality.
• IHDI < HDI when inequality rises, showing actual level of human development after disparities.
• India faced a 30.7% loss in human development due to inequality. In India, the poorest 40% population holds only 20.2% income share. The richest 10% population holds 25.5% income share.