India Ranks 131st in 2026 Global Gender Gap Index

India has retained the 131st position in the 2026 Global Gender Gap Index released by the World Economic Forum (WEF). Of the 145 economies assessed, only 14 are ranked below India. The index measures gender parity across economic participation and opportunity, educational attainment, health and survival, and political empowerment. Iceland retained the top position, followed by Finland and Norway in second and third places, respectively. Chad ranked last at 145th. India closed 64.5 per cent of its overall gender gap in 2026, showing a slight improvement from the previous edition. The WEF estimates that full global gender parity remains 120 years away if progress continues at the current pace. In the Economic Participation and Opportunity subindex, India recorded a parity score of 41.2 per cent, an increase of 0.5 percentage points from the previous edition. However, the score remains 3.5 percentage points below India's best performance of 44.6 per cent recorded in 2013. India's overall progress in closing the gender gap since 2006 stands at 4.3 percentage points, with much of the improvement coming from educational attainment. The country recorded a 96.6 per cent parity score in education and 95.6 per cent in health and survival. Its political empowerment score stood at 24.5 per cent.