Context
• The World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Report 2025 has ranked India at 131 out of 148 countries, with a parity score of just 64.1%.
• The report released on Thursday puts India among the lowest-ranked countries in South Asia.
• India had ranked 129 out of 146 countries last year.
• The report said while the global gender gap has closed to 68.8%, marking the strongest annual advancement since the COVID-19 pandemic, full parity remains 123 years away at current rates.
• Iceland leads the rankings for the 16th year running, followed by Finland, Norway, the U.K. and New Zealand
• Bangladesh emerged as the best performer in South Asia, jumping 75 positions to rank 24 globally with notable gains in “political empowerment and economic participation”.
• The 19th edition of the report, which covers 148 economies, revealed both encouraging momentum and persistent structural barriers facing women worldwide.
• The Global Gender Gap Index measures gender parity across four key dimensions: economic participation and opportunity; educational attainment; health and survival; and political empowerment. The Indian economy’s overall performance improved in absolute terms by 0.3 points
IAS-2026 - OPTIONAL / GEOGRAPHY / PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION / SOCIOLOGY / ANTHROPOLOGY / ORIENTATION ON 03 & 04-10-2025 
