Global gender gap edges forward, but parity still 120 years away: WEF

The world inched closer to gender parity in 2026, but the pace of progress suggests it will take another 120 years to close the gap entirely, the World Economic Forum's Global Gender Gap Report 2026 has found.

Marking the 20th edition of the index, the report covered 145 economies and put the global gender gap at 69.2 per cent closed, a gain of 0.4 percentage points over the previous year among economies tracked in both editions. Among 97 economies followed consistently since 2006, the parity score rose 5.2 percentage points, from 64.2 per cent to 69.4 per cent — its highest level yet.

The shortfall remains sharpest in economic and political life. Just 61.7 per cent of the Economic Participation and Opportunity gap has been closed worldwide, while Political Empowerment trails far behind at 22.1 per cent. Educational Attainment, at 96.9 per cent, and Health and Survival, at 96.2 per cent, are far closer to parity.

At the current rate, the report estimates that economic parity is 129 years away and political parity 194 years away, while educational parity could be reached in eight years.

India closed 64.5 per cent of its overall gender gap and held the 131st spot among 145 economies. Its weakest showing was in Economic Participation and Opportunity, where it ranked 143rd with a parity score of 41.2 per cent — a marginal 0.5 percentage-point improvement over the previous edition but still below its best result, recorded in 2013. Labour-force participation parity stood at 44.1 per cent and estimated earned-income parity at 35.1 per cent.

Southern Asia ranked seventh among eight regions, having closed 64.5 per cent of its gender gap. The region is an estimated 149 years from full parity and remains the lowest-ranked in Economic Participation and Opportunity, with 40.9 per cent of that gap closed.

Iceland topped the index for the 17th year in a row, with 93 per cent of its gender gap closed. Finland and Norway followed, while Namibia placed fourth and was the highest-ranked economy from Sub-Saharan Africa.