Global Gender Gap Index 2025: India’s Ranking, Insights & Roadmap

The World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Report 2025, released in mid-2025, underscores persistent gender disparities worldwide. It finds that about 68.8% of the global gender gap has been closed – an improvement that shortens the projected time to full parity to roughly 123 years. India’s situation remains challenging: its gender parity score is around 64%, with a 131st rank among 148 countries (down from 129th in 2024). This recent report highlights that, despite modest gains in education and health for women, India still lags many countries, emphasizing the urgent need to address gaps in workforce participation, political representation and social norms.

What is the Global Gender Gap Index and how is it defined?

• The Global Gender Gap Index (GGGI) is an annual benchmark by the World Economic Forum since 2006 that measures gender parity across countries.
• It evaluates four key dimensions: Economic Participation and Opportunity, Educational Attainment, Health and Survival, and Political Empowerment. Each dimension includes several indicators (for example, workforce participation and wages in the economic category; literacy and enrollment in education; life expectancy and sex ratio at birth in health; and shares of women in parliament and ministerial roles in politics).
• Each dimension is scored between 0 and 1 (1.0 = full parity, 0 = complete inequality). The overall index is the average of these four sub-scores, expressed as a percentage (e.g. 0.688 = 68.8% parity closed). A higher score means smaller gender gaps.
• The index is purely comparative – it tracks relative gaps, not absolute welfare. It is designed as a strategic tool for countries to assess where gender disparities remain largest and to set priorities accordingly. It does not award points for higher female outcomes unless compared to male outcomes, and it aims to isolate gender-based differences regardless of a country’s development level.

Why is the Global Gender Gap Index important for India and globally?

• The index provides a global benchmark on gender equality. For India, it offers a way to compare progress with other nations and with the global average. It highlights the specific fields where India is falling behind (for instance, by revealing that India’s economic parity is very low) and where it is doing well (such as education, where India’s parity is high).
• By linking to international goals (e.g. UN Sustainable Development Goal 5 on gender equality), the index helps monitor global commitments. It signals to policymakers and the public how far India is from these targets. For example, it showed that the global community is at least a century away from full gender parity, a sobering reminder of the scale of the task.
• The GGGI draws attention to often invisible gaps – wage inequality, low female labor force share, underrepresentation in leadership – in a quantifiable way. This data-driven approach helps justify and tailor policy interventions. For instance, India’s low rank (among the lowest in South Asia) underscores the need to improve women’s participation in the workforce and politics.
• Furthermore, countries with higher gender parity tend to have stronger economies and more sustainable growth. The index thus underlines that advancing gender equality is not just a social issue but also crucial for economic resilience. It encourages public discourse and can motivate governments, businesses and civil society in India to prioritize women’s empowerment (e.g. through laws, schemes and corporate diversity initiatives).

Where does India stand in the Global Gender Gap Index 2025?

• In 2025 India’s overall score is about 64.4%, with a rank of 131 out of 148 countries. This is slightly below the global average (approximately 68.8%), meaning India has closed less of its gender gap than most countries do on average.
• India’s rank fell two places from 2024 despite a small increase (about 0.3 points) in its score, indicating other countries made faster gains. For context, India was 135th in 2022, jumped to 127th in 2023, then slipped to 129th in 2024 and 131st in 2025.
• Compared to neighbours and peers, India trails in South Asia. Bangladesh leads the region at 24th globally (parity ~77.5%, the highest in South Asia). Bhutan is 119th, Nepal 125th, Sri Lanka 130th, then India. The South Asia regional average parity is only ~64.6%.
• Globally, the top countries are all around 80–92% parity: Iceland (#1) with ~92.6%, followed by Finland, Norway, UK and New Zealand. In contrast, India’s 64% score shows much larger remaining gaps. The table below summarizes key comparisons for 2025:

When was the Global Gender Gap Index introduced and how frequently is it updated?

• The GGGI was launched in 2006 by the World Economic Forum. It has been published annually since then. The 2025 report was the 19th edition, typically released in June each year (covering data up to the previous year).
• The 2025 report notes that after the disruptions of the COVID-19 pandemic, global gender parity made its fastest post-pandemic progress yet (gaining almost 11 years towards parity in one year). This context shows how external shocks and policy responses can influence the trajectory.
• India’s own historical trend (as seen in recent reports) shows little overall improvement: the country improved slightly in some years but others overtook it. For example, India’s rank was 135th in 2022, then improved to 127th in 2023, before slipping to 129th and 131st in 2024-25. Its score has risen by only ~3 points in two decades.
• The index makes it clear that under the current slow rate of change, neither India nor the world will reach full parity anytime soon. Even with steady improvements in several fields, India (like other countries) is still decades away from closing its remaining gaps.

Who compiles the Global Gender Gap Index and who are its key stakeholders?

• The GGGI is compiled by the World Economic Forum (WEF), an international non-governmental organization. The research is conducted by WEF’s equity, diversity and inclusion team, with input from academics and international agencies. Leading experts (often including women leaders like those in WEF’s Global Gender Gap reports) analyze national statistics to generate the index.
• Data sources include publicly available information from bodies like the United Nations, World Health Organization, UNESCO, ILO, and national statistics offices. The Index also incorporates global surveys and data modeling where needed, but it mainly relies on official ratios (women vs men) for each indicator.
• Key stakeholders who use the index: Governments and policymakers use it to assess their country’s progress and to identify priority areas (e.g., formulating gender-focused policies or allocating budgets). Civil society, researchers and media refer to it for advocacy and analysis. Businesses and investors sometimes use it to gauge a country’s social environment (gender-equal societies may offer more stable markets).
• For India, the government may cite this index in reports or consider it when shaping schemes. International organizations (e.g. UN agencies) also use it alongside other indices. While the Index has no enforcement power, it shapes dialogue: governments are often keen to improve their rank, which creates pressure to address glaring gaps (for example, by legislating women’s reservation).

How is the Global Gender Gap Index calculated and how do India’s scores break down?

• The GGGI aggregates 14 indicators into the four sub-index scores, then averages them. Each indicator is typically the ratio of the female to male value (e.g., female to male income). In each sub-index, 1.0 means exact parity. The overall index score is the (unweighted) average of the four sub-indexes.
• India’s 2025 sub-scores (approximate) are:
  • Economic Participation & Opportunity: ~0.407 (40.7%). This is very low globally; only a few countries are lower. It improved by 0.9 points from 2024. Components include labour force participation (about 45.9% of women vs 62% of men worked in 2023), wage equality (still far below parity), and representation in leadership positions (very low).
  • Educational Attainment: ~0.971 (97.1%). This is high parity, reflecting nearly equal access to basic and tertiary education. India’s strong score comes from narrowing the gender gap in literacy and school enrollment (mostly due to large gains among girls).
  • Health and Survival: ~0.954 (95.4%). Reflects near-equal life expectancy and sex ratio at birth. Recent improvements in female mortality and births have boosted this score. India has reached nearly full parity in these health metrics.
  • Political Empowerment: ~0.245 (24.5%). This is India’s weakest dimension and it fell by 0.6 points. It accounts for women’s share of years as head of state (small), parliamentary seats (13.8% in 2024 vs 14.7% in 2019), and cabinet/ministry positions (dropped from 6.5% to 5.6%).
• The overall score (~0.644 or 64.4%) arises from these. In practical terms, it means India has closed about two-thirds of its gender gaps, leaving over one-third unclosed. The particularly low economic and political scores indicate large gaps: India has only about 41% income parity and 24% political representation parity for women.
• Year-over-year changes in India’s scores: education and health have been consistently high or improving, while political empowerment has stagnated or declined. Economic participation saw a rise due to more women working, but still remains near the bottom globally (fifth lowest score). These numbers clearly show where India needs focus: boosting women’s workforce participation and leadership roles to lift the overall index.

What is the significance of the Global Gender Gap Index for India’s socio-economic development?

• The index’s significance lies in quantifying the extent of gender inequality across key sectors. For India, each component has links to broader development:
  • Economic growth: A larger gender gap in the workforce and income implies lost productivity. The index reveals that only about 41% of India’s economic gender gap is closed, meaning huge potential gains if women were fully included. Globally, studies (and the WEF) note that economies with smaller gender gaps tend to be more competitive and resilient.
  • Education and human capital: India’s high educational parity (97%) is encouraging, signaling that past efforts (like Beti Bachao Beti Padhao) have paid off in narrowing school enrollment gaps. This bodes well for future skilled workforce participation by women. The index highlights this success while reminding that that must translate into jobs and careers.
  • Health and population: Near full parity in health indicates progress on maternal and child health; however the index also implicitly warns of underlying issues (e.g. recent declines in sex ratio at birth). Achieving and maintaining parity in these areas is critical to sustainable demographic balance.
  • Governance and representation: The low political empowerment score (24.5%) underscores a major democratic deficit. For a country striving for inclusive governance, this is significant. The index here pressures India to reform – for instance, through constitutional amendments and local reservation schemes – to ensure women’s voices in lawmaking.
• In policy terms, the index influences planning: governments often cite such rankings to justify initiatives. For UPSC aspirants, it is notable that India has launched new policies (e.g., 33% women’s reservation, girl-focused education schemes) partly in response to recognizing these gaps.
• Moreover, the index’s findings feed into international perception. A low ranking can be a diplomatic embarrassment but also an impetus for change. It is often discussed alongside India’s performances in other international indices (e.g. Gender Inequality Index by UNDP), providing a comparative context.
• Socially, public awareness of these numbers can galvanize citizens and NGOs to advocate for change. For example, data from the index can fuel campaigns against gender discrimination in workplaces or politics. In sum, the GGGI acts as a mirror and a motivator: it reveals shortfalls in gender parity that are essential to India’s overall social justice and economic potential, and thereby gives policymakers clear targets for improvement.

What are the limitations of the Global Gender Gap Index and major challenges in gender parity?

• Limitations of the Index:
  • Relative measure: The index is based on ratios of women’s outcomes to men’s. Thus it ignores absolute levels. In health, for example, countries with very low life expectancies can score well if women live slightly longer than men. Critics point out this can lead to paradoxical rankings (e.g. Rwanda outranking Denmark). This means a high score doesn’t always mean women are well off – it may reflect equally poor conditions for men.
  • Focus on formal metrics: It overlooks issues like violence against women, unpaid care work, and legal inequalities that are hard to quantify. India’s struggles with domestic violence, trafficking or unequal property rights aren’t captured by the index, though they severely affect gender equality on the ground.
  • Data quality and scope: The index relies on available data, which may be outdated or inaccurate, especially in developing contexts. Informal employment, a large part of India’s economy, is not well reflected. Also it gives equal weight to each country’s score, but large countries like India and small ones like Bhutan are treated the same in ranking.
  • Cultural/contextual factors: The index doesn’t account for regional or intersectional disparities (e.g. by caste, religion, urban-rural). A country might appear to have high parity overall, while large subsets (tribal women, rural poor) remain marginalized. India’s national average misses these nuances.
• Major Challenges in India:
  • Patriarchal norms and social barriers: Traditional mindsets favoring male education and employment still prevail in many areas. Practices like child marriage and son preference hinder girls’ opportunities. For instance, female literacy (65%) lags male literacy (82%) per Census 2011 – a 17-point gap, which contributes to a still incomplete gender gap.
  • Low female labour participation: Cultural norms, safety concerns and caregiving responsibilities limit women’s work outside home. India’s female labour force participation rate (41.7% in 2023-24) remains much lower than men’s (~80%). This drags down the economic parity sub-score. The enormous burden of unpaid domestic work (women do 2–3 times the household work) is another hidden challenge not captured by the index.
  • Underrepresentation in leadership: With only ~14% women in Parliament and ~6% in ministers, India far misses political parity. Social acceptance and institutional barriers (e.g. party candidate selection) are hurdles. The index highlights political empowerment as the biggest gap, which ties directly to the challenge of getting women into decision-making roles.
  • Implementation Gaps: Even though India has many gender-focused laws and programs, poor implementation is a chronic problem. For example, schemes to improve girls’ education or women’s health may be hindered by funding gaps or lack of gender-sensitive data. This means the effective empowerment of women lags behind what the index numbers might suggest it should be.
  • Regional Disparities: Certain Indian states (like Kerala) perform much better on gender measures than others (like Bihar or Rajasthan). National indices (including GGGI) mask this variation. Overcoming deep-rooted inequality in lagging regions is a key challenge beyond what the global index can show.

What is the way forward to improve India’s performance in the Gender Gap Index?

• Economic Inclusion:
  • Increase women’s workforce participation with supportive policies: compulsory crèches and flexible hours in workplaces, stronger maternity/paternity benefits. For example, making daycare widely available can help mothers stay employed.
  • Recognize and reduce unpaid care work: expand social security or pension benefits for homemakers and caregivers (as some states have begun), and conduct regular time-use surveys to track this invisible work.
  • Encourage female entrepreneurship and leadership: expand initiatives like Stand-Up India (loans for women-led businesses) and Mahila e-Haat (digital marketplace for women entrepreneurs). Promote corporate gender diversity by offering incentives (e.g. tax benefits) to companies with women in leadership roles.
  • Skill development and education for employability: scale up programs that train girls in vocational and STEM fields (e.g. Vigyan Jyoti, engineering/tech scholarships). Bridge the digital gender gap through schemes like PMGDISHA to ensure women have internet access and digital skills.
• Educational Advancement:
  • Improve girls’ retention in school by addressing dropouts: build and maintain girl-friendly infrastructure (safe toilets, scholarship funds). The Parakram initiative or free transport for girls can help. Result: India’s female gross enrollment in higher education has risen from ~42.5% (2017–18) to 46.3% (2022–23). Continuing such trends will further boost the education parity score.
  • Emphasize quality and higher education: aim not just for enrollment parity but also for women’s participation in emerging fields (AI, biotechnology) through specialized grants and mentorship.
• Political Empowerment:
  • Fast-track the remaining aspects of the 106th Constitutional Amendment by organizing elections for women’s reserved seats if those are vacant. Strengthen local governance: support Mahila Shakti Kendra centers to train and mentor elected women representatives at village level.
  • Encourage political parties to nominate more women, and launch awareness campaigns on the importance of women’s leadership. Mentoring young female politicians can build future leadership.
• Social Reforms and Safety:
  • Run nationwide campaigns to change gender norms (e.g. fathers sharing child care, celebrating girls’ education). School curricula should include gender sensitivity.
  • Enhance women’s safety in public: continue investing in better street lighting, women-only transport options, and responsive policing (like Mahila Police Volunteers scheme). Safety can greatly influence women’s mobility and willingness to work or study.
• Health and Welfare:
  • Expand access to reproductive and maternal healthcare: strengthen Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandana Yojana and National Health Mission efforts. Ensure nutrition programs (like POSHAN Abhiyaan) reach adolescent girls to improve long-term health outcomes.
  • Campaigns against prenatal sex selection must persist, to improve the girl child ratio at birth (even though the index does not count boys’ advantage, skewed sex ratio is a broader concern).
• Policy Implementation and Data:
  • Strengthen gender-responsive budgeting: ensure ministries allocate and spend adequate funds on women’s schemes. Instituting gender budget cells in every department can track this.
  • Improve data collection: regular, detailed sex-disaggregated data (e.g., in labor force surveys, health metrics) will allow better targeting and enable analysis at state/district levels. The index itself will reflect improvements more accurately if quality data is available.
• Leverage Positive Trends: India has seen successes (for instance, female labour force up from ~23% in 2017 to ~42% by 2023, and a drop in Maternal Mortality Rate from 174 to 97 per 100,000 between 2013–15 and 2018–20). Building on these, the country should scale up what works: more mid-day meal and scholarship schemes for girls, more skilling programs for women in growth sectors, and continuous review of laws like the Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam (2023) to ensure they achieve their goals.

In conclusion, the Global Gender Gap Index 2025 offers a comprehensive snapshot of India’s gender equality status. It confirms that while India has made some strides (notably in education and health), it lags significantly in empowering women economically and politically. The Index is significant for India as it provides clear metrics for gender-based disparities that align with policy agendas such as the Sustainable Development Goals. However, its limitations mean it should be complemented by domestic analyses of gender issues. To truly close its gender gap, India must pursue holistic reforms: from enforcing existing laws and expanding women’s representation, to shifting social norms and boosting women’s economic participation. Only with sustained effort across all these dimensions can India improve its future rankings and ensure that the vast potential of its women fully contributes to national development.

Q. Why did India’s Global Gender Gap Index rank decline in 2025 despite gains in some sectors like education and health? (250 words)