India's rank on Global Gender Gap Index unchanged at 131; Iceland retains top spot
India's ranking on the Global Gender Gap Index remains stagnant at 131st out of 145 countries. While the country has seen improvements in educational attainment and professional participation, it continues to lag behind the global average for gender parity.
Why it matters
The data serves as a critical benchmark for assessing social progress and economic inclusion for half of the world's most populous nation.
India retained the 131st rank on the Global Gender Gap Index 2026 released by the World Economic Forum on Wednesday (September 16, 2026), with Iceland, Finland and Norway maintaining their top three slots respectively.
Only 14 countries ranked below than India on the index of 145 countries. These include Papua New Guinea, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Tajikistan, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Morocco, Mali, Algeria, and Congo.
Chad was the lowest-ranked country in the index, with Iran and Pakistan joining it in the bottom three.
Geneva-based WEF said that nearly every economy tracked since 2006 by the index has advanced gender parity, but noted that full parity is still 120 years away.
Globally, 69.2% of the gender gap has now been closed, up by 0.4 percentage points over the last year, the WEF said. 100% representing full parity.
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