- Released by: WEF (World Economic Forum).
- India Rank: India held its rank of 131 out of 145 economies.
- Overall Gender Parity: India closed 64.5% of its gender gap, compared with the global average of 69.2%
- Four Dimensions: Economic Participation and Opportunity, Educational Attainment, Health and Survival, and Political Empowerment.
- Educational Attainment: India attained 96.6% parity.
- Economic Participation: India recorded 41.2% parity.
- Labour-Force Participation: Gender parity stood at 44.1%.
- Health and Survival: India achieved 95.6% parity.
- Political Empowerment: India closed 24.5% of the gap and ranked 67th globally on this sub-index.
- Long-Term Trends: India has improved its overall gender parity score since 2006 by a modest 4.3 percentage points (85.0% now vs. 80.7% in 2006), as educational attainment has driven much of the progress.
- Global Gender Gap: The gender gap in the world continues to close, amounting to 69.2% of the global gender gap closed in 2026.
- Global Top Scorer: Iceland, followed by Finland and Norway.
- Time to Parity: Full parity between women and men worldwide is predicted not to be reached for a further 120 years at the current rate of progress.
- Global Rank: India was ranked 131st out of 145 economies surveyed.
UPSC Prelims Question
Q1. Read the following statements about the Global Gender Gap Index 2026:
1. It is published by the World Economic Forum.
2. It plots gender gaps across the four dimensions.
3. India was placed as the worse performer at 131 among 145 economies.
4. The Index measures dimensions including Political Empowerment.
Which of the above statements are correct?
(a) 1 and 2 only
(b) 1, 2 and 3 only
(c) 1, 3 and 4 only
(d) 1, 2, 3 and 4
Answer: (d)
Note: This ranking is based on the WEF Global Gender Gap Index and covers Economic Participation and Opportunity, Educational Attainment, Health and Survival, and Political Empowerment. In 2026, India was ranked 131st of 145 economies.
Ravi Raaz
Hassan Khan
Shadab Ali