India has managed to bring women closer to men in education, but that progress is not showing up in the same way in jobs, income or decision-making. The World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Report 2026 shows a wide difference across the four areas used to measure gender parity.
Sri Lanka, ranked 129th, is just ahead of India. Nepal and Pakistan rank lower, at 138th and 143rd, respectively. For India, the biggest gap appears in Economic Participation and Opportunity, where India has ranked 143rd. In Health and Survival, India ranked 136th.
India has closed 64.5 per cent of its overall gender gap, leaving it at 131st among 145 economies. Its overall score has improved by 4.3 percentage points since 2006, with much of the long-term improvement coming from education. The score has improved only 0.5 percentage points from the previous year and remains below its 2013 level. The report says the score has followed an upward trend since 2017, although the sex ratio at birth remains nearly one percentage point below its 2006 level.
