By calculating how much the gap has been reduced each year since the report's first edition in 2006, using a constant sample of 102 countries, it is possible to project how many years it will take to close each of the gender gaps in each of the dimensions tracked: economic participation and opportunity, education, health and political empowerment. The sixteen-year trajectory of global gender gaps is charted accordingly in Figure 1.4.

Overall, gender parity has improved across three subindexes since the first edition. The 2022 results translate to an overall gain of 3.8 percentage points since the first edition of the report in 2006. If progress towards gender parity proceeds at the same pace observed between the 2006 and 2022 editions, the overall global gender gap is projected to close in 132 years. While the latest projection lowers the estimate reported in the 2021 edition, the positive change in economic participation is offset by stalling or deterioration in the other three subindexes.

The global Political Empowerment gender gap this year is still 77.6% - about 8.1 percentage points smaller than the first measure reported in 2006, but not the lowest in the history of the index. The Political Empowerment subindex registered significant advance towards parity between 2006 and 2016, fluctuating until 2021, after which it stalled below its 2019 peak.

Below its 2019 peak, it will take 155 years to close the Political Empowerment gap.

The second-longest challenge to global gender parity is Economic Opportunity and Attainment. Based on the constant sample of 102 countries included in each edition since 2006, the gap that remains to be closed on this subindex is 40%. Compared to 2006, the gap has been reduced by 4.3 percentage points. The subindex had one long period of increasing parity between 2006 and 2013, and one period of negative evolution after 2013 until 2017, before recovering and reaching its highest level to date in 2022. In 2022, at the current rate of progress this gap will close in 151 years, representing multiple generations to parity.

In 2022, Health and Survival is still 4.3 percentage points below parity, and the time to close the gap will remain undefined unless efforts are increased or accelerated. The Health and Survival subindex has varied only slightly over time, reaching its lowest point in 2018 and recovering marginally since then, however still falling short of its 2006 level. While countries continue to register high overall scores compared to other subindexes, the gender gap has not been closed.

The Educational Attainment gender gap in 2022 stands 4.7 percentage points away from full gender parity and is the area closest to achieving parity, in just 22 years. The subindex has improved steadily towards parity, with step-changes in 2008 and 2015. However, between 2021 and 2022, the distance between the highest and lowest gender gap score increased, reflecting widening disparities within this subindex.