Global Gender Gap Index 2023

Tags: INDEX

India ranks 127 out of 146 countries in the Global Gender Gap Index 2023.

An Overview of the News

• The Global Gender Gap Index was established in 2006 and this is its 17th edition.

• It is published annually by the World Economic Forum (WEF).

• It measures gender equality in 146 countries and enables cross-country analysis.

Global Gender Gap Score:

• The global gender gap score for 2023 is 68.4%, showing an improvement of 0.3 percentage points from last year.

• None of the countries included in the index have achieved full gender equality.

• The top 9 countries including Iceland, Norway, Finland and New Zealand have reduced the gender gap by 80%.

Iceland: The most gender-equal country:

• Iceland has been ranked first as the most gender-equal country in the world for the 14th consecutive year with a score of 91.2%.

• Iceland is the only country that has reduced the gender gap by more than 90%.

Progress of South Asia:

• In South Asia, the gender gap score has increased by 1.1 percentage points since the last edition.

• Among India's neighbouring countries, Pakistan is at 142, Bangladesh at 59, China at 107, Nepal at 116, Sri Lanka at 115 and Bhutan at 103.

India's ranking and progress:

• India has moved up 8 places to rank 127 out of 146 countries in the 2023 Global Gender Gap Index.

• India has shown an improvement of 1.4 percentage points from the 2022 figures.

• Education and Economic Participation:

  • India has achieved parity in enrollment at all levels of education, reducing the overall gender gap by 64.3%.

  • However, India has reached only 36.7% equality in economic participation.

  • India was ranked 135 in the 2022 edition.

• Representation in senior positions and technical roles:

  • Despite increases in pay and income equality, the representation of women in senior positions and technical roles in India has decreased slightly since the last edition.

• Political Empowerment:

  • India recorded 25.3% equality in terms of political empowerment.

  • Women represent 15.1% of parliamentarians, the highest figure for the country since 2006.

• Women's representation in local government:

  • Of the 117 countries with available data from 2017, 18 have achieved more than 40% female representation in local governance, including Bolivia, India and France.

• Improvement in sex ratio at birth:

  • The report highlights India's progress with an improvement in the sex ratio at birth by 1.9 percentage points, bringing equality after a decade of slow progress.

Global Gender Gap Index 2023 Ranking

1. Iceland - 0.912

2. Norway - 0.879

3. Finland - 0.863

4. New Zealand - 0.856

5. Sweden - 0.815

6. Germany - 0.815

7. Nicaragua - 0.811

8. Namibia - 0.802

9. Lithuania - 0.800

10. Belgium - 0.796