Global gender gap closes to 68.8 percent yet full parity remains 123 years away, says WEF

Economy ME

2 days ago

The global gender gap has closed to 68.8 percent, marking the strongest annual advancement since the COVID-19 pandemic. However, full parity remains 123 years away at current rates, according to the World Economic Forum's
Global Gender Gap Report 2025.
Iceland led the rankings for the 16th year running, followed by Finland, Norway, the United Kingdom and New Zealand.
'At a time of heightened global economic uncertainty and a low growth outlook combined with technological and demographic change, advancing gender parity represents a key force for economic renewal. The evidence is clear. Economies that have made decisive progress towards parity are positioning themselves for stronger, more innovative and more resilient economic progress,' stated Saadia Zahidi, managing director, World Economic Forum.
Wide leadership gap persists
The 19th edition of the Global Gender Gap Report, which covers 148 economies, reveals both encouraging momentum and persistent structural barriers facing women worldwide. The progress made in this edition was driven primarily by significant strides in political empowerment and economic participation, while educational attainment and health and survival maintained near-parity levels above 95 percent.
However, despite women representing 41.2 percent of the global workforce, a stark leadership gap persists, with women holding only 28.8 percent of top leadership positions.
European nations dominate rankings
The report also revealed that Iceland maintained its position as the world's most gender-equal economy for the 16th consecutive year, with 92.6 percent of its gender gap closed – the only economy to surpass 90 percent parity. Finland (87.9 percent ), Norway (86.3 percent), the U.K. (83.8 percent) and New Zealand (82.7 percent) round out the top five positions.
All top 10 economies have closed at least 80 percent of their gender gaps, the only economies to achieve this milestone. European nations dominate the top 10 rankings with eight positions – Iceland, Finland, Norway and Sweden have maintained top 10 status since 2006.
The index looks only at gender gaps in outcomes and not at the overall levels of resources and opportunities in a country. It finds a slight correlation between the current income levels of the countries covered and their gender gaps, with richer economies being slightly more gender equal.
At the aggregate level, high-income economies have closed 74.3 percent of their gender gap, slightly higher than the averages observed in lower-income groups: 69.6 percent among upper-middle income, 66.0 percent among lower-middle-income and 66.4 percent among low-income economies.
However, top performers among the three lower-income groups have closed a greater share of their gender gaps than over half of the economies in the high-income group. While resources matter, it is not richer countries alone that can afford to invest in gender parity and economies can integrate parity into their growth strategies at all levels of development.
Historically, those who have done well at developing and integrating their full human capital tend to have more sustainable and prosperous economies as a result. Leveraging the full base of talent and diverse ideas in an economy can unlock creativity and drive innovation, growth and productivity.
North America leads in gender parity
Regionally, North America leads the world with a gender parity score of 75.8 percent, showing particularly strong performance in economic participation and opportunity (76.1 percent) where it leads all regions. The region has made significant progress in political empowerment since 2006, narrowing its political parity gap by 19.3 percentage points.
Europe ranks second with a gender parity score of 75.1 percent, having closed 6.3 percentage points of its overall gap since 2006. The region has particularly strong performance in political empowerment (35.4 percent), where it ranks highest globally. European economies continue to lead the overall rankings, occupying eight of the top 10 positions.
Latin America and the Caribbean make greatest overall progress
In third place comes Latin America and the Caribbean, which stands out as the region with the fastest rate of progress with a score of 74.5 percent and having advanced 8.6 percentage points since 2006, making the greatest overall progress of all regions. This regional success demonstrates that rapid progress is achievable with focused policy interventions, offering a model for economic acceleration through gender parity.
Meanwhile, Central Asia places fourth with a score of 69.8 percent. Armenia and Georgia are the region's top performers, each closing more than 70 percent of their gender gaps and leading regional progress in economic participation and educational attainment.
In fifth place comes Eastern Asia and the Pacific, with a score of 69.4 percent, achieving the second-highest regional score for economic participation and opportunity at 71.6 percent. New Zealand, Australia and the Philippines are the top performers in the region, with New Zealand the only economy from the region in the global top 10.
MENA more than triples political empowerment
Sub-Saharan Africa ranks sixth with a score of 68 percent. The region displays wide variation across countries, yet its success stories demonstrate that progress is possible in all economic contexts. The region has made significant progress in political empowerment, with women now holding 40.2 percent of ministerial roles and 37.7 percent of parliamentary seats.
Southern Asia ranks seventh with a score of 64.6 percent. Bangladesh is the region's top performer, and the only Southern Asian economy in the global top 50. Significant improvements in educational attainment since 2006 are creating a foundation for future economic gains.
Finally, the Middle East and Northern Africa region ranks eighth with a score of 61.7 percent. However, the region has shown considerable improvement in political empowerment since 2006, with the regional average more than tripling and gaining 8.3 percentage points on this dimension.
Saudi Arabia among most successful countries at bridging gender gap
Based on the collective speed of progress of 100 economies covered continuously since 2006, it will take 123 years to reach full parity globally – an 11-year improvement from last edition's estimate, but still falling more than a century short of the Sustainable Development Goals.
However, the fastest-moving economies demonstrate that rapid acceleration is possible when gender parity becomes a national priority. The economies that proved most successful at bridging their gender gaps across each income group respectively are Saudi Arabia, Mexico and Ecuador, Bangladesh and Ethiopia.
The report also revealed that political empowerment has seen the most improvement overall, with the gap narrowing by 9.0 percentage points since 2006, yet at the current pace, it will still take 162 years to fully close this gap. Economic participation and opportunity has also gained 5.6 percentage points over time, with economic parity projected to take 135 years at current rates.
Both technological transformation as well as geoeconomic fragmentation create new risks that could reverse the economic gains made by women in recent decades.
Read| GCC economic growth to strengthen to 3.2 percent in 2025, 4.5 percent in 2026: World Bank
Economic returns on educational attainment remain uneven
Educational attainment is rising, but its economic return remains uneven. Women outpace men in higher education, but their presence in senior leadership stagnates as education levels rise – even the most educated women represent less than one-third of top managers. This underutilization of human capital represents both a systemic inefficiency and a missed economic opportunity.
'Women's progress in leadership continues to decline. As the global economy transforms, AI accelerates, and countries look to combat stagnating growth, this leadership gap should set alarm bells ringing. The varied experience and uniquely human skills that women bring to the leadership table are essential to unlocking the full promise of an AI-powered economy, yet are being overlooked at exactly the moment they are needed most,' said Sue Duke, global head of public policy, LinkedIn.
The path to leadership is less and less linear for workers overall, but especially for women. LinkedIn data reveals that it is now over twice as common for leaders to have worked in at least two different industries, functions or companies – suggesting both greater adaptability and potential barriers to linear advancement within single sectors.
Career breaks are at the heart of this dynamic, with women being 55.2 percent more likely to take them than men. Women also spend, on average, half a year more than men away from work, with caregiving responsibilities driving most of these interruptions. This shift from rigid career ladders reflects the reality of modern work patterns, where lateral moves, sector transitions and re-entry after breaks are becoming the norm rather than the exception.