The Global Gender Gap Index was first introduced by the World Economic Forum in 2006 to benchmark progress towards gender parity across four dimensions: economic opportunities, education, health and political leadership (Figure 1.1).

Throughout its eighteen editions, the index has intended to offer a stable metric for the assessment of changes in gender parity indicators over time. Using the methodology introduced in 2006, the index and the analysis focus on benchmarking parity between women and men at global, regional and economy levels based on the latest available data.

The level of progress toward gender parity (the parity score) for each indicator is calculated as the ratio of the value of each indicator for women to the value for men. A parity score of 1 indicates full parity. The gender gap is the distance from full parity.

For further information on the index methodology, please refer to Appendix B.

To ensure a global representation of the gender gap, the report aims to cover as many economies as possible. For an economy to be included, it must report data for a minimum 12 of the 14 indicators that comprise the index. The index endeavours to include the latest data available, reported within the last 10 years.

The report this year covers 146 economies. Guyana makes a return to the index in 2024, while Sudan and Uzbekistan are included for the first time.

Among the 146 economies included this year are a set of 101 economies that have been covered in all editions since the inaugural one in 2006. Scores based on this constant set of economies are used to compare regional and global aggregates across time.

It should be noted that there may be time lags in the data collection and validation processes across the organizations from which the data is sourced, and that all results should be interpreted within a range of global, regional and national contextual factors. The Economy Profiles at the end of the report provide a large range of additional data.

The global gender gap score in 2024 for all 146 countries included in this edition stands at 68.5% closed. Compared against the constant sample of 143 countries included in last year’s edition, the global gender gap has been closed by a further +.1 percentage point, from 68.5% to 68.6%. Furthermore, when considering the 101 countries covered continuously from 2006 to 2024, the gap has also improved +.1 points and reached 68.6%.

Compared to last year, a broader number of economies register increases in their gender parity scores, contributing a narrowing of the overall gender gap: in 2024, 50.1% of economies in the sample report score increases, 6.1% show no change in score, and 43.8% report negative score changes. The economies with the greatest increases in score are Ecuador (+5.1 percentage points), Sierra Leone (+4 percentage points), Algeria (+3.9 percentage points), Guatemala (+3.8 percentage points) and The Gambia (+2.8 percentage points). The economies whose scores declined the most are Rwanda (-3.8 percentage points), Bangladesh (-3.3 percentage points), Lao PDR (-3.3 percentage points), Bhutan (-3.1 percentage points) and Jamaica (-2.2 percentage points).

The 2024 index also shows important changes in ranking. The five economies that improved their rankings the most climb over 20 places: Ecuador (+34, ranked 16th), Sierra Leone (+32, ranked 80th), Guatemala (+24, ranked 93rd), Cyprus (+22, ranked 84th) and Romania and Greece (+20, ranked 68th and 73rd, respectively). The most significant drops in ranking are also negative shifts of over 20 places: Bangladesh (-40, ranked 99th), Lao PDR (-35, ranked 89th), El Salvador (-28, ranked 96th), Rwanda (-27, ranked 39th) and Bhutan (-21, ranked 124th). Table 1.1 shows the 2024 Global Gender Gap rankings and scores for all 146 countries included in this year’s report.

In the 18th edition, European economies occupy seven spots in the global top 10, continuing to represent most top performing countries. The remaining three spots are occupied by economies from Eastern Asia and the Pacific (New Zealand, ranked 4th), Latin America and the Caribbean (Nicaragua, ranked 6th), and Sub-Saharan Africa (Namibia, ranked 8th). Although no country has yet achieved full gender parity, the top nine countries (Iceland, Finland, Norway, New Zealand, Sweden, Nicaragua, Germany, Namibia and Ireland) have closed at least 80% of their gap.

Ranked again as number one, Iceland (1st, 93.5%) has now been leading the index for a decade and a half. It remains the sole economy in the index to have closed over 90% of its gender gap. Alongside Iceland, the top five also includes long-standing high performers such as Finland (2nd, 87.5%, up one position from 2023); Norway (3rd , 87.5%, down one position from last year); and Sweden (5th, 81.6%). New Zealand (4th, 83.5%) makes the top five for the 5th year in a row, and 9th year overall.

In this edition, Lithuania (11th, 79.3%) dropped out of the bottom position in the top 10, with Spain climbing +8 ranks to take its place, joining top performers for the third time (10th, 79.7%). Belgium also dropped out of the top 10 to 12th, while Ireland returns to 9th position after a one-year absence from the top 10. Rejoining the index in 2024 is Guyana (35th,76.5%), with its highest gender-gap score since it was first included in the index in 2021, and with same rank as in 2022. Uzbekistan (108th, 68.1%) and Sudan (146th, 56.8%) join the index for the first time.

This year, the bottom 10 include Morocco, Niger, Algeria, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Mali, Guinea, Iran, Chad, Pakistan and Sudan.

The top 10 continues to show a high level of stability in its configuration across editions (Figure 1.2). Since 2006, European economies have occupied 68.3% of the top 10 ranks; Eastern Asia and the Pacific economies, 16.7%; Sub-Saharan Africa economies, 9.4%; and Latin America and the Caribbean economies, 5.6%. To date, no economies from Northern America, Central Asia, Southern Asia, or Middle East and North Africa have been featured in the top 10.

This section presents the state of gender gaps across the four main components (subindexes) of the index: Economic Participation and Opportunity, Educational Attainment, Health and Survival, and Political Empowerment. In addition to presenting the aggregate performance of the 146 economies included in the 2024 index across individual dimensions of the index, the subindex analysis offers insights into the different indicators driving the overall average global gender gap score.

Figure 1.3 shows the gender gap scores corresponding to each of the four subindexes. The Health and Survival gender gap has closed by 96%, Educational Attainment by 94.9%, Economic Participation and Opportunity by 60.5%, and Political Empowerment by 22.5%.

Upon comparing the 143 economies included in both the 2024 and 2023 edition, the Economic Participation and Opportunity subindex shows a +.6% percentage-point change, while the Political Empowerment subindex shows a less perceptible +.1 point shift. Compared to 2023, Health and Survival has remained virtually unchanged, with a slight +.1 point improvement. Educational Attainment was the only dimension to register a slight decrease in score from 2023 (-0.5 percentage points, based on the 143 country sample).

The score distributions of the 146 economies included in the 2024 edition offer a more detailed picture of the disparities that exist not only between subindexes, but within them. Figure 1.4 illustrates the distribution of individual economy scores attained, by subindex.

Globally, the second-largest gap to bridge is in Economic Participation and Opportunity. Countries included in the 2024 index are not advancing towards economic gender parity as a uniform block, as the score distribution would suggest. Approximately 24% of the sample has gender parity scores lower than the weighted global average for this subindex. In this 18th edition, the lowest reported score on this subindex is 31.1% (Bangladesh), while the highest is 87.4% (Liberia).

The group of economies with the lowest levels of economic parity are Bangladesh (31.1%), Sudan (33.7%), Iran (34.3%), Pakistan (36%), India (39.8%) and Morocco (40.6%). These economies all register less than 30% gender parity in estimated earned income. In addition, the level of parity in labour-force participation rate is under 50% for all listed economies, the lowest point being 20.1% for Iran. One distinct weakness in gender parity globally comes in the underrepresentation of women in the workforce, both overall and in senior and managerial roles – with parity in senior roles globally reaching only 40.5%, the lowest score across the subindex.

The economies where economic gender parity is highest include Liberia (87.4%), Botswana (85.4%), Barbados (84.8%), Eswatini (84%) and Moldova (83.7%), where gender parity in labour-force participation rate is above 95%. Botswana, Eswatini, Moldova and Barbados all register parity (100%) in their share of technical and professional workers; Botswana and Liberia achieve 100% parity for their share of women in senior roles. Across all five highest performers on this subindex, gender parity in estimated earned income rises above 75%.

The dispersion of gender parity scores across the Educational Attainment subindex shows that overall performance is strong, yet a group of countries continue to lag behind full parity. Six economies have scores lower than 80%, all part of the Sub-Saharan Africa region, with the lowest score registered by Chad (66.7%). By contrast, full parity scores of 100% have been achieved by 33 (or 22.6%) of the economies in the sample.

The five lowest-scoring countries in the Educational Attainment subindex include Chad (66.7%), Democratic Republic of the Congo (68.3%), Angola (74.3%), Guinea (73,2%) and Mali (77.6%). The gender gap in literacy in Guinea, Chad and Mali ranges between 46% and 49%. While the levels of gender parity in primary education enrolment are above 80% for all five, the share of female enrolment at this level of education ranges between 67.4% in Chad to 53% in Mali. The progression to secondary school does not improve numbers, with female enrolment shares ranging between 17.9% in Chad and 44.1% in Democratic Republic of the Congo. In none of these countries is the share of women in tertiary education higher than 11%, whereas men’s share of enrolment is nearly double or more in all countries except for Angola.

In the Health and Survival subindex, economy performance is strong and clusters near parity. This subindex has remained moderately stable throughout the 18 editions due to two slowly progressing indicators. Compared to the last edition, only 19 economies report changes in their score on this subindex, three of them negative (Serbia, Spain and Malta) and the rest positive. China, Azerbaijan and Armenia all report increases of over +0.2 percentage points. Similarly, Albania and Montenegro see increases of over +0.1 percentage points.

Overall, the average global score for gender parity is lowest in the Political Empowerment subindex (22.5%), which also registers the greatest score dispersion. Despite showing rapid progression over the past 18 editions, over half (52%) of the 146 economies included in this edition score under the global weighted average of 22.5%. Out of the entire sample, only 12 economies register parity scores of over 50%: Iceland (97.2%), Norway (74.6%), Finland (73.4%), New Zealand (63.1%), Nicaragua (62.6%), Germany (60.4%), Bangladesh (54.3%), Mozambique (54.2%), South Africa (51.3%), Ireland (50.7%), Sweden (50.6%) and Chile (50.2%). Most high-scoring countries on this subindex report scores near parity at the ministerial level (apart from Bangladesh (9%) and Ireland (40%), and score over 79% for women in parliament.

The index has documented the average yearly reduction of the gender gap since the inaugural edition of the report in 2006. This metric, applied to a consistent sample of 101 countries, allows for calculating the rate of progress at which efforts are moving, and, in turn, to project how many years it will take to close each gender gap across the four subindexes.

The 18-year trajectory of global gender gaps, globally and by subindex, is charted in Figure 1.5.

This year’s findings reveal that movement in the economic and political dimensions of the index is promising, but not dynamic enough to infuse the current upward curve with much needed momentum. Since 2006, global efforts, bridging 4.2 percentage points of the overall gender gap, have advanced by a yearly average of 0.24 percentage points. At this rate, economies will achieve global gender parity in 134 years. This shifts the goalpost to 2158 as the anticipated year for closing the gender gap – roughly five generations beyond the 2030 Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) target.

In 2024, the Health and Survival subindex comes in at 96%, 0.2 percentage points below its 2006 score of 96.2%. The subindex score has been slowly recuperating since dropping in 2022 to one of its lowest levels (95.6%). The improvement is in part linked to highly-populated countries reporting progressively higher levels of parity in sex ratio at birth (93% in 2024), bringing the indicator close to matching the 2006 score of 93.2%.

Stacked against last year’s edition, the timeline to achieve parity in Educational Attainment has stretched from 16 to 20 years. With a score of 95.5%, this year’s slight drop in educational parity is driven by a reduction in scores for literacy rate (from 95% to 91.4%), primary education enrolment (from 99.1% to 98.5%), and tertiary education enrolment (from 96.4% to 96.2%). Indicator scores are impacted by the country sample analysed each year, in addition to changes to indicator values in highly populated economies. Of the 146 economies included in this year’s index, 42, or 28.8%, of them register score decreases against the prior edition, compared to 29, or 19.9%, in 2023.

The Economic Participation and Opportunity subindex has recovered to its highest gender parity score to date (60%, virtually on par with 2022), contributing to an upwards trajectory. Within this dimension, the most significant shifts at the indicator level occur in labour-force participation rate (65.7%), which builds towards recovery to the highest-registered score since 2006 across 101 economies (68%, in 2009). In 2024, 94 countries, or 64.4% of the sample, register score increases in this indicator, including 10 of the 15 most populous economies in the sample. The pace at which parity is advancing on this subindex projects that gender parity will be achieved in 152 years.

The Political Empowerment subindex, with a score of 22.8%, shows virtually no movement since last year. After peaking in 2019 at 25.2%, the subindex dropped in 2021 and since then been moving on a lower trajectory. This is due in part to the diminishing tenures of women sitting as heads of state over the past 50 years. Nonetheless, all three indicators in the Political Empowerment subindex show a sliver of improvement compared to last year’s results. Of all three indicators that make up this subindex, the share of women in parliamentary positions is the only one to report an almost uninterrupted positive trajectory since 2006. It will nonetheless take 169 years to close the subindex gap, given the current pace of efforts.

The Global Gender Gap Report 2024 groups countries into eight regions, revised in this edition for consistency across flagship reports published by the World Economic Forum: Central Asia, Eastern Asia and the Pacific, Europe, Latin America and the Caribbean, Middle East and Northern Africa, Northern America, Southern Asia, and Sub-Saharan Africa. Countries in each regional group are listed in Appendix A.

Across the gender-parity scale, regional scores cluster around three different points (Figure 1.6). The first includes three regions that have closed just about three-quarters of their gender parity gap. The region with the highest gender parity score is Europe (75%), followed closely by Northern America (74.8%) and Latin America and the Caribbean (74.2%). The second cluster includes three regions with scores just under 70%: Eastern Asia and the Pacific (69.2%), Central Asia (69.1%) and Sub-Saharan Africa (68.4%). The final cluster includes two remaining regions that have closed about two-thirds of their gender gap: Southern Asia, with a score of 63.7%, and Middle East and Northern Africa, with a score of 61.7%.

Figure 1.7 presents a more granular assessment of the various components of the regional gender parity scores. It disaggregates regional scores by subindex, shaded according to the level of parity attained. All regions report higher levels of gender parity in Educational Attainment and Health and Survival. Political Empowerment is the subindex where gender parity is lowest, although there is significant variation between regional scores. Northern America and Southern Asia achieve nearly double the political parity scores of both Central Asia and Eastern Asia and the Pacific, while scores of both Europe and Latin America and the Caribbean more than triple those of Middle East and Northern Africa. There are also substantive regional differences in their trajectories to attain economic parity, with the difference between the highest performer (Northern America, 76.3%) and lowest performer (Southern Asia, 38.8%) reaching 37.5 percentage points.

The 18-year trajectories of the eight regions assessed by the Global Gender Gap Index are illustrated in Figure 1.8, using the values corresponding to the constant sample of 101 economies included in all editions since 2006. Over time, all regions have shown some measure of improvement. The overall rate of progress has been highest in Latin America and the Caribbean since 2006. The region has seen an overall improvement of 8.3 percentage points since 2006, showing that gender parity efforts across the region have been sufficiently cohesive and constant to allow the score rise year after year. Europe, Sub-Saharan Africa, and Middle East and Northern Africa have had stable, gradually improving trajectories. Respectively, they have bridged the gender gap by 6.2, 5.6, and 3.9 percentage points since 2006. Southern Asia recorded fast improvement until 2016, when its performance began to decline. As a result, progress in the region has fallen against 2006, from 7.1 in 2016 to 3.9 percentage points in 2024, suggesting substantive setbacks to gender parity efforts. Northern America has had a variable trajectory, with both peaks and valleys, whereas Eastern Asia and the Pacific has remained largely flat. These two regions have narrowed their gender gap by 4.3 and 3.1 percentage points, respectively, since 2006. Finally, while starting on a par with Europe in 2006 but registering little progress across editions, Central Asia’s curve has shown a negative trajectory since 2022, with progress to date coming in at 2.3 percentage points since 2006.

With a 2024 score of 69.1%, Central Asia ranks fifth out of eight regions on the overall Gender Gap Index. Based on the aggregated scores of the constant sample of economies included since 2006, its parity score has slightly regressed since last year, despite an overall improvement of +2.3 percentage points since 2006.

All seven economies included in Central Asia have achieved a level of parity equal to or higher than 67%, and the three best-performing countries all register gender parity scores of 71% or higher: Armenia (72.1%, 64th), Georgia (71.6%, 69th) and Kazakhstan (71%, 76th). The difference between the countries at the top and bottom of the regional table is 4.8 percentage points, making it one of the least dispersed regions.

In this edition of the index, Economic Participation and Opportunity in Central Asia shows slight signs of regression with a score of 73.4%. In 2021, the region’s curve began trending upwards after flattening over a four-year stretch. That momentum has been brought to a virtual halt by a negative change in score of -0.6 percentage points, resulting from divergent performances across indicators. The level of parity in labour-force participation rate in six out of the seven economies is over 60%, except for Uzbekistan (54.6%). Across five of the seven economies in the region that provide data on professional and technical workers, female shares of workers actually surpass the male shares. However, in the same five countries, the share of women in legislative and managerial roles is well below 50%, and in the case of Armenia for every woman in a leadership role, there are more than two men (29.6% vs 70.3%). Gender parity in estimated earned income is not homogenous in Central Asia either. In Uzbekistan and Tajikistan, men earn at least twice that of women, resulting in parity scores under 50%.

Central Asia maintains near-parity status in Educational Attainment and has the second-highest parity score of all regions (99.6%), after Northern America (100%). All seven countries report virtual parity across literacy and primary enrolment indicators. Slight differences in educational outcomes result from widening gaps between the female and male shares of enrolment for secondary education in Azerbaijan (95.7%), Georgia (96.1%). Similar gaps are seen in tertiary education, between Tajikistan (72.7%) and Uzbekistan (94%). The subindex nonetheless remains somewhat stable since the 2023 edition, with only a -0.4 percentage-point drop across the scale. The region also continues to orbit close to parity in Health and Survival, without significant changes to its subindex score.

Since the last edition, the most significant movement across subindexes for Central Asia is in Political Empowerment. The degree of political parity fell by -1.7 percentage points compared to last year, curving the regional trajectory further downward. In 2024, Azerbaijan registers the lowest regional score of zero for women in ministerial positions, while Armenia and Georgia reach the highest of 20%. Parity at the parliamentary level is considerably higher in the region, ranging from 22.1% in Azerbaijan to 57.5% in Armenia.

Europe ranks first on the 2024 regional rankings, having closed three-quarters of its gender gap (75%). Using the constant sample of countries, Europe’s overall parity score has improved +6.2 percentage points since 2006.

The five economies leading the pack are all global top 10 countries: Iceland, Finland, Norway, Sweden and Germany. Out of the 40 economies monitored in this region, 21 have closed over 75% of their gender gap. There is a high level of dispersion of regional scores in Europe. Iceland, as the highest-ranking in the group, leads by 29 percentage points ahead of Türkiye (64.5%), the lowest-ranking.

Continuing a rather flat trajectory, Europe makes modest gains in economic parity since last year. Its Economic Opportunity and Participation gender parity score (67.8%) registers a slight uptick of +0.4 percentage points. Performance across economic indicators is predominantly positive, albeit with some exceptions. Only one of the 40 economies in the region shows gender parity in labour-force participation rate lower than 50%, Türkiye (49.2%), while 27 have over 80% parity on this indicator. Workforce indicators suggest that across European economies, women represent between 18.5% (Türkiye) and 46.3% (Belarus) of the workforce at the senior leadership level, and between 42.4% (Türkiye) and 69.38% of the workforce at the technical and professional level.

Europe has the fourth-highest educational gender parity score (95.5%), after Northern America (100%), Central Asia (99.6%) and Latin America and the Caribbean (99.5%). There are virtually no changes to its Educational Attainment subindex score (99.5%) since last year. Over 70% of the economies in the region register parity in literacy, as well as 59% of those reporting on primary education enrolment and 57.5% in secondary education enrolment. Most notably, every European economy reports parity in tertiary education enrolment – although the male and female shares of enrolment vary significantly in magnitude between economies.

The Health and Survival subindex score has not changed significantly for Europe in four editions, failing to climb back to 2016 levels (97.7%). Only 11 of the economies in the region register parity for healthy life expectancy, compared to the 22 that have full parity score in sex birth at ratio.

In Political Empowerment, Europe has an upwards trending trajectory that continues to score progressively higher almost every year. In 2024, Europe has the highest level of political parity of all regions (36%), with Latin America and the Caribbean the closest region to follow, at 34%. Eight economies in the region show parity at the ministerial level: Norway, Albania, Belgium, Spain, Finland, Iceland, Netherlands and Portugal. Parity in parliaments varies significantly, with 16.7% of the gender gap closed in Cyprus and 90.8% in Iceland.

With just under one-third of the gap to close, Eastern Asia and the Pacific (69.2%) ranks fourth out of the eight regions in 2024. The constant country sample shows that the region’s gender-parity score improved in the last year and has advanced a total +3.1 percentage points since 2006.

The five leading economies in the region are New Zealand (83.5%), Australia (78%), Philippines (77.9%), Singapore (74.4%) and Thailand (72%). Out of the 18 economies in the region, New Zealand ranks in the global top 10, yet only half have closed 70% or more of their gender gap. Scores in Eastern Asia and the Pacific are moderately dispersed. Fiji (64.2%), comes in last in the regional ranks, 19.3 percentage points behind New Zealand (83.5%).

In Economic Opportunity and Participation (71.7%), Eastern Asia and the Pacific ranks third out of eight blocks. It also has the third-highest score change since 2023 (+.6 percentage points) and registers its second-highest score since 2006. At the indicator level, economies in the Eastern Asia and Pacific are on parallel tracks of progress. While 77% of the group scores over 70% gender parity in labour-force participation rate, economies that trail behind have significant ground to cover, with scores as low as 50% (Fiji). The degree to which women are represented in the workforce is also very unequal. The share of women in senior leadership roles in the region ranges between 14.6% (Japan) and 48.6% (Philippines), while women in professional and technical roles make up between 38.1% (Timor-Leste) and 63% (Mongolia).

Eastern Asia and Pacific economies trail behind five other regions in terms of Educational Attainment (95.1%). The collective educational parity score has trended negatively for the past five years and has not yet recovered to the level of its highest score, recorded in 2015 (98.7%). Seven economies show full parity in literacy. Nine economies report parity between the male and female shares of enrolment at the primary level, 11 report parity at the secondary level, and 13 at the tertiary level. However, countries at the lower end of the scale trail between 6 to 15 percentage points behind on otherwise low-dispersion indicators, signaling important disparities between countries in the group.

The Health and Survival subindex shares similarities with Educational Attainment. Despite surpassing its original 2006 score of 94.8%, in 2024 the region ranks last globally on this subindex, with an overall score of 95%. Four countries show full parity in healthy life expectancy, with the rest following close behind. China, Viet Nam, Brunei and the Philippines report the broadest gender gaps in sex ratio at birth.

In the Political Empowerment subindex (14.5%), Eastern Asian and Pacific economies have the third-largest regional gap to bridge, of 85.5 percentage points. Comparing the 2024 status quo against 2006, Eastern Asia and the Pacific has made the least progress, only 3.4 percentage points. This is despite achieving a collective 17.1% score in 2018. Women have low representation at the ministerial level in Eastern Asia and the Pacific. Only 10 countries have a score of gender parity of 15% or more at the ministerial level, and only one – Australia (83.3%) – has more than 80%. At the parliamentary level, all countries have at least one woman in parliament. However, there are stark differences in representation between Vanuatu, with a 2% share of seats, and New Zealand, where women have a 45.5% share of seats.

Latin America and the Caribbean ranks third out of eight regions, with an overall gender parity score of 74.2%. The constant country sample shows that since 2006, the region has gone furthest out of all regions, reducing its gender gap by 8.3 percentage points.

The vast majority (86.3%) of the 22 Latin American and Caribbean economies have closed at least 70% of their gender gap. Together with Northern America, it is one of two regions where all countries rank within the top 100. Two Central American countries, Nicaragua (81.1%) and El Salvador (69.5%), are at the top and bottom of the regional table, with an 11.6 percentage-point difference between them.

The region’s path towards economic parity has been incremental and positive throughout the 18 editions, with minor negative variations. Out of all regions, Latin America and the Caribbean has registered the most progress across the Economic Participation and Opportunity subindex, advancing +9.8 percentage points since 2006. In 2024, it also reached its highest score to date, of 65.7%, a slight uptick of +.5 percentage points from 2023. Parity in every Latin American and Caribbean economy is over 50% in labour-force participation rate, with Peru, Jamaica, Bolivia and Barbados all reporting scores over 80%. Women have a high level of representation in professional and technical roles, with 68% of the region showing full parity for this indicator. The share of women in legislative, senior officers, and manager roles varies widely within the region: in Honduras, women occupy 29.7% of top roles, compared to 62.1% in Jamaica. Women also have lower estimated incomes than men across all economies. The two economies with higher levels of gender parity on this indicator are Barbados (86.6%) and Jamaica (80.8%)

In Educational Attainment (99.5%) and Health and Survival (97.6%), there are no significant changes against 2023, and the region ranks third and second, respectively. Ten out of 22 economies in the region report full parity in literacy, 50% of the economies have achieved parity in primary education enrolment, 90.9% have achieved parity in secondary education enrolment, and 100% in tertiary education enrolment. However, the magnitude of enrolment shares varies widely between economies for each indicator, suggesting efforts to increase access to equitable education are still needed. In Health and Survival, all economies in the region achieve parity in sex at birth ratio, while economies like Bolivia, Peru and Honduras fall behind top performers in healthy life expectancy, with a gap of +.05 percentage points.

In the Political Empowerment subindex, Latin American countries register a collective -1 percentage-point drop against last year’s score, a small retrenchment after many years of progress: After advancing the most out of all regions since 2006, narrowing the regional gap by over 22.4 percentage points, it is still the second-highest ranked region in 2024 with a score of 34%. Nicaragua, Ecuador and Chile show gender balance at the ministerial level. Guatemala, Colombia and Mexico are not far behind, with scores above 70% and shares of over 40% of women in ministerial roles. Only in two economies do women have equal representation with men in parliament: Mexico and Nicaragua. Across the region, the share of women in parliamentary roles varies between 15.6% (Belize) to 53.9% (Nicaragua).

Since 2006, the MENA region has advanced +3.9 percentage points on its overall gender-parity score. Despite this positive trajectory, Middle East and Northern Africa ranks last out of all regions, having closed under two-thirds of its regional gender gap (61.7%). About 86.7% of the economies in the region have closed over 60% of their gender gap, yet the distance between United Arab Emirates, ranked 1st in the region, and Sudan, ranked 15th, remains relatively wide, at 14.5 percentage points. Furthermore, only two out of the 15 economies in Middle East and Northern Africa rank in the top 100, showing there is still some progress to be made.

In terms of Economic Participation and Opportunity, Middle Eastern and Northern African countries log the seventh-highest regional score, 43.1%, which represents a +1.8 percentage-point change since last year, and a +3.1 percentage-point improvement since 2006. Gender parity in labour-force participation rate remains low compared to other regions, with the majority of gender gap scores on this indicator lower than 65% and as low as 20.1% (Iran). However, women’s representation in the workforce is evolving – gender parity in technical and professional roles is higher than 70% in seven economies (Morocco, Sudan, Tunisia, Algeria, Kuwait, Lebanon and Israel), and higher than the global average (40.5%) in Oman (43.3%), Israel (46.7%) and Jordan (90.3%) for women in legislative, senior officer and managerial roles.

The region has made marked advances in Educational Attainment since 2006, improving the subindex score by +5.2 percentage points over time, culminating in a 2024 educational parity score of 97.2%. Gender parity in literacy is over 80% in every economy, with Qatar (99.7%) and Jordan (99.4%) leading the region. With the exception of Sudan (92.9%), every economy reporting on primary education enrolment has achieved near or full parity. For secondary education enrolment, eight economies have achieved parity. Only Bahrain (96.2%) and Egypt (96.4%) have a +3 percentage-point gender gap to close. In 2024, all economies in Middle East and Northern Africa have reached parity in tertiary education enrolment. Nonetheless, the low shares of enrolment across educational levels testify to the unrelenting need to expand access to educational opportunities to all in the region.

In Health and Survival, Middle East and North Africa has closed 96.4% of its gender gap. The score remains unchanged compared to 2023, but is a reduction of -1 percentage point since 2006. All economies in the region have a balanced sex ratio at birth. However, a gender gap of over +3 percentage points in healthy life expectancy is yet to be closed in Qatar (95.5%), Jordan (98.6%) and Algeria (99%).

Political Empowerment in the region ranks eighth globally, with just 11.7% of gender parity achieved. Nonetheless, the region has made substantive progress since the index was launched, reducing the level of gender disparity on this subindex by +8.4 percentage points since 2006. Women occupy ministerial roles to varying degrees across Middle East and Northern Africa, with the highest shares of representation attained in Tunisia (36.4%), Morocco (26.3%) and Jordan (22.2%). At the parliamentary level, women hold a higher proportion of roles in Egypt (27.7%), Israel (25%) and Morocco (24.3%) compared to the rest of the region, but full parity in parliament is only achieved in United Arab Emirates.

Ranked second globally, Northern America stands 0.2 percentage points away from Europe, at 74.8%. The constant country sample shows that the North American economies have progressed +4.3 percentage points across the index since 2006. Both economies rank in the top 50, and both have closed around 75% of their gender gap, with a difference of less than 1.5% between them.

Despite experiencing a -1.3 percentage-point drop from 2023, the region has the highest Economic Participation and Opportunity score of all eight blocks, standing at 76.3%. This is a result of both Canada and the United States enjoying high parity scores in labour-force participation rate (88.4% and 84.1% respectively), and parity in technical and professional workers. In contrast, for both countries, gender parity for estimated earned income rests below 70%, and the shares of women in senior roles are 42.6% for the United States and 35.5% for Canada. While levels are high, change is slow: when taking into account the entire time series, Northern America has made virtually no progress in closing the economic gender gap since 2006 (+0.7 percentage points).

The region also ranks first in the Educational Attainment subindex, with a score of 100%. While this dimension of the index is relatively stable, it has improved its 2006 score by +1.6 percentage points overall. Both countries retain parity (United States) or near-parity (Canada) for primary education enrolment and secondary education enrolment. In tertiary education enrolment, the shares of women vastly surpass those of men, by over 30 percentage points in both countries.

In Health and Survival, North America bridges 96.9% of its gender gap in 2024, a score that sits -1 percentage point lower than the 2006 score. The region retains parity on the sex ratio at birth indicator, and registers scores close to parity for healthy life expectancy.

In Political Empowerment, the region scores just 26%, tied with Southern Asia for third. While its 2023 score remains mostly unchanged, Northern America has the third-highest percentage-point improvement on the political dimension since 2006 (+15.7), after both Latin American and the Caribbean and Europe. In the United States, for every woman minister there are two men. Yet, in Canada, there is only a 9 percentage-point difference, leading to a higher gender-parity score of 78.9% for ministerial parity. In both countries, the share of women in parliament is less than half that of men’s, rendering lower parity scores for both Canada (43.7%) and the United States (41.2%).

In seventh place is Southern Asia, with a gender-parity score of 63.7%. Using the constant country sample as a reference, the regional block shows a variable trajectory, with a curve that trended upwards early in the sample, yet saw a sharp decline in 2019. Despite the ups and downs, Southern Asia has improved by +3.9 percentage points its overall gender gap score since 2006. Six out of the seven economies in the region rank below the top 100, and their scores are grouped within a 12 percentage-point range between the top- and bottom-ranked economies, Bangladesh (1st in the region, 99th overall) and Pakistan (7th in the region, 146th overall). Just four out of the six have closed two-thirds of their overall gender gap.

Southern Asia ranks lowest in Economic Participation and Opportunity, with a score that, at 38.8%, situates the region at half the level of economic parity of Northern America. While the region made a gain of +1.1 percentage points against its 2023 score, when compared against the entire time series, it shows an overall decrease of -1.1 percentage points since 2006. The labour-force participation rate of women in the region is quite low, compared to men’s. This results in lower than global average gender parity scores (< 65.7%) for all economies except Bangladesh (68.9%). Women are also largely underrepresented in legislative, senior officer and managerial roles, accounting for less than one-third of workers in the category. In professional and technical roles, there is increased gender parity between the shares of men and women in the category, but high variance between economies. While Sri Lanka has a highly equitable professional and technical workforce (96.8%), Pakistan displays strong gender imbalance in favour of men (35.8%).

Southern Asia ranks second-lowest in Educational Attainment, with a score of 94.5%, -2.5 percentage points lower than its 2023 performance. This reflects how lagging gaps in highly populated countries affect regional progress, notably the low literacy scores in Pakistan (67%) and Nepal (78%), as well as significant gaps in enrolment across education levels in Pakistan. The region has nonetheless advanced the most since 2006, elevating educational gender parity by +13.4 percentage points – over two times the leap made by the Middle East and Northern Africa and Sub-Saharan Africa regions during the same period.

The region has remained largely stable across the Health and Survival subindex. In 2024, Southern Asia scores 95.4%, showing no significant change from 2023, and, similar to other regions, displays a slightly negative trend across editions.

Finally, Southern Asia is tied for third with Northern America in the Political Empowerment subindex. Its 2024 score of 26% shows a slight decline of -0.7 percentage points from 2023. The region has moved +4 percentage points towards political parity since 2006. This progress across the subindex is in large part linked to consistently high parity scores on the head-of-state indicator over time. However, when it comes to other indicators in the subindex, Southern Asia has significant ground to cover. At the ministerial level, only Nepal (23.5%) comes close to reaching the global average score for this indicator. Women’s representation in parliaments across the region is also low compared to other regions. Only Nepal (49.9%) surpasses the global average score of 33%

In sixth place, Sub-Saharan Africa edges closer to gender parity, with a score of 68.4%. The region is comprised of the largest number of economies in a single grouping (35), and includes three of the 15 most populous countries highlighted in the report – Ethiopia (79th, 70.9%), Nigeria (125th, 65%) and Democratic Republic of the Congo (140th, 60.9%) – which can affect overall regional results by edition and over time. Based on the constant sample and its performance across editions, Sub-Saharan Africa has increased its collective gender parity score by +5.6 percentage points since 2006, the third-largest improvement made by a region since the launch of the index.

Out of the 35 economies included in the group, 21 are in the top 100, and one, Namibia, is in the top 10. The top five performers in the region are Namibia (8th, 80.5%), South Africa (18th, 78.5%), Mozambique (27th, 77.6%), Burundi (38th, 75.7%), and Rwanda (39th, 75.7%). Over half of Sub-Saharan African countries (18) have closed over 70% of their gender gap, and only Chad trails behind the two-thirds mark (57.6%). Nonetheless, the region is characterized by a high level of dispersion between top and bottom ranks, with 22.8 percentage points between them.

The region places fourth in Economic Participation and Opportunity, with a score of 68.1%. The group of countries has seen a very minor +0.4 percentage-point increase since last year, and a total progression of +4.9 percentage points since 2006. Nevertheless, numerous countries in the region are moving promisingly towards economic gender parity. All economies in the group have gender parity scores over 50% on labour-force participation rate; five have a gender-balanced technical and professional workforce: Eswatini, Namibia, Botswana, Lesotho and South Africa; and seven have equal gender representation in senior economic roles: Liberia, Comoros, Nigeria, Togo, Burkina Faso, Botswana and Cameroon.

The region’s performance is relatively lower in Educational Attainment, where it ranks last – the sole region with an educational parity score lower than 90% (88.9%). Yet, Sub-Saharan Africa has seen a +1 percentage-point change from its 2023 performance and has narrowed its educational gender gap by 5.8 percentage points since 2006. Compared to other regions, however, there are important educational gender gaps to address. Guinea, Chad, Liberia and Mali have over 48% of the literacy gap to close in 2024. In Chad, Guinea and Mali, the difference in shares between male and female primary education enrolments translates to gender parity scores of 89% or less. In secondary education, the gender gap in enrolments widens for Chad (59.7%), Democratic Republic of the Congo (63.4%) and Angola (65.2%). Progression through educational levels widens the gap further at the tertiary level in Chad (39.4%), Guinea (46%) and Niger (48%).

In Health and Survival, the region stands at 97.1% parity, which is virtually unchanged since 2006.

Lastly, Sub-Saharan Africa ranks fifth in Political Empowerment (22.6%). The region has moved a total of +11.3 percentage points upwards from its 2006 initial score, the fourth most significant effort across regions. In 2024, Mozambique and South Africa show parity at the ministerial level. Angola (64.3%), Ethiopia (57.1%), Burundi (50%) and Sierra Leone (50%) follow, with gender parity scores of 50% or higher. All Sub-Saharan African economies have women represented in parliament; however, only in Rwanda do women share equal representation with men. South Africa (85.9%) and Senegal (85.5%) are close behind in performance.

This section reviews the state of gender parity at economy level, touching on the four dimensions of the index as well as the trajectories followed to date. The economies in this section are both statistically and strategically significant to monitoring and benchmarking efforts, given their placement in the index as well as the share of the global female population they represent, which is approximate to two-thirds of the world’s women and girls.

For 15 years consecutive years, Iceland has been at the top of the Global Gender Gap Index. In 2024, the country registers a score of 93.5%, a +2.3 percentage-point change since last edition, driven by increased economic parity in professional and technical workers and labour-force participation rate, as well as an increase in political parity at the ministerial level. Iceland has progressively improved its overall gender gap score from 78.1% in 2006 to 93.5% in 2024 – a marked +15.4 percentage points. A model of political parity, Iceland has more than doubled its Political Empowerment score from 2006 throughout all editions (from 45.6% to 97.2%). For the past two editions, the country has reported complete parity at the head-of-state level – with women as heads of state for an aggregate tenure of 26.6 out of the past 50 years. Furthermore, in 2024 women hold a 50% share of ministerial roles and 47.6% of parliamentary seats, giving Iceland a near perfect political parity score. In the Economic Participation and Opportunity subindex, however, Iceland has seen more variance. In 2024, its curve continues to recover, reaching over 81.5% but not yet recovering to its 2021 peak of 84.6%. Gender parity in the labour-force participation rate has also declined compared to recent years, standing at 90.3% in 2024 – a near 5 percentage-point gap from its best score, recorded in both 2015 and 2016. Iceland distinguishes itself by having full parity in professional and technical workers. Furthermore, after declines in 2018 and 2022, the country is seeing again a rise in gender parity for workers in legislative, senior officials, and managerial roles (65.6% in 2024). Educational Attainment also has high levels of gender parity in Iceland, with literacy, primary enrolment and tertiary enrolment scoring 100%, and secondary enrolment standing at 96.4%. Compared to other countries, Iceland has somewhat weaker parity scores on Health and Survival.

A fixture of the global top 10, Finland stands in second place in 2024 after climbing one rank and posting an improved gender parity score of 87.5% (+1.2 percentage points from 2023). This is driven mainly by improvements in the Political Empowerment dimension and to some extent positive developments in Economic Participation. Finland has increased its parity score by +7.9 percentage points since 2006. Unlike other economies in the top 10, Finland’s Economic Participation and Opportunity scores have remained mostly below the 80% mark. In 2024, economic parity in Finland rises for the second year running to 79.6%, but not quite reaching the 2015 peak of 81.5%. Like Iceland, Finland has maintained full parity in professional and technical roles but lost -0.5 points in parity for senior leadership roles (57%) since the last edition. Parity in estimated earned income has increased over the past five editions, currently standing at 74.4%, with improvements also in parity in labour-force participation and perceived wage equality for similar work compared to last year. Where Finland has performed consistently is in Educational Attainment, obtaining 100% scores in 13 out of the 18 editions. In Political Empowerment, Finland has reached the highest parity score yet – 73.4%. This is a +26.4 overall percentage-point improvement from 2006, boosted by full parity at ministerial level for the past four editions, as well as scores of over 80% gender parity in parliament (85.2% in 2024). Finland also recorded its highest parity score at the head-of-state level, 50.3%, after an aggregate 16.7-year tenure for the past 50 years, including Sanna Marin’s recent tenure.

Losing one rank to Finland since the last edition, Norway ranks third with an overall score of 87.5%, after registering a -.4 reduction in overall score since 2023 owing to small losses in the Economic Participation and Opportunity and Political Empowerment dimensions. Through the past seven editions, Norway has posted consistently higher scores (except for a slight decrease in 2022). Overall, it has pushed its score forward by +7.6 percentage points since 2006. In 2024, its best performance in terms of absolute scores is in Educational Attainment, standing at 99.3%, bolstered by full parity in literacy and primary and tertiary education enrollments. In Health and Survival, Norway performs better than the global average, scoring 96.2%. In Economic Participation and Opportunity, Norway scores 79.9%, with relatively high parity scores in earned income (80.2%) and professional and technical workers (100%). Notably, in 2024, the share of women in professional and technical roles surpasses that of men. Nonetheless, room for improvement remains, as for every woman in a senior leadership role, there are still two men, resulting in a score of 49.6%. The country demonstrates a strong performance in Political Empowerment, reaching 74.6% and second place on this dimension globally, an improvement by more than 25 percentage points since 2006. Women have held head-of-state roles for 18.1 years in the past half-century and in 2024, there are more women ministers than men, resulting in a full parity score. Norway’s’ parliamentary representation score drops -6 percentage points from 85.9% in 2023 to 79.9% in 2024.

Ranked fourth in 2024 and holding its position compared to last year, New Zealand showcases an overall parity score of 83.5%. This represents a -2.1 percentage-point reduction in score since last edition, but overall an +8.4 percentage-point improvement from its 2006 score. The drop in score compared to last year is explained by regressions in the Political Empowerment dimension. In terms of Economic Participation and Opportunity, New Zealand achieves a score of 74.1%, with its highest labour-force participation rate at 88.2%. New Zealand excels in Educational Attainment, boasting a perfect parity score for the past six editions. In 2024, full parity is registered across all Educational Attainment indicators, making it one of the top performers in its region. In Health and Survival, New Zealand surpasses the global average score by +0.6 percentage points, scoring 96.6%. The country’s political gender gap stands at 63.1% closed, with robust parliamentary and ministerial representation between genders. While still placing 4th globally in Political Empowerment overall, this however represents a marked regression of 9.4 percentage points compared to 2023, driven by a 16.5-point loss on parliamentary parity and a 17.1-point loss on parity in ministerial positions. New Zealand is part of a select group of countries where women have had some of the longest tenures as head of state in the past 50 years, with 16.2 years. Similarly to Finland, Jacinda Ardern’s departure put pause on women’s time as head of state in New Zealand.

With no change to its position from last year, Sweden ranks fifth in 2024. Its overall gender parity score of 81.6% shows virtually no change from 2023 (+.05 percentage points) – nor does it in fact show change compared to 2006 (+ 0.24 over 18 years). In Economic Participation and Opportunity, Sweden scores 79.4%, in between oscillating scores ranging from its lowest at 73.1% in 2006 and highest of 83.6% in 2015). Like its Nordic neighbours, Sweden registers full parity for professional and technical workers, and a high level of parity for legislative, senior officials, and managerial roles (71.5%). Full parity in literacy and secondary and tertiary education enrolment contributes to full parity marks in Educational Attainment – a relatively stable subindex for Sweden across all editions of the index. Sweden also scores higher than the global average in Health and Survival, at 96.3%. Finally, on Political Empowerment, women continue to have high levels of representation at ministerial and parliamentary levels, with scores of 91.7% and 87.6%, respectively. However, Sweden falls behind neighbouring countries with a score of 1.8% on the head-of-state indicator.

In its tenth appearance within the global top 10, Nicaragua ranks 6th, with a score of 81.1%. Despite not registering a change in score, Nicaragua benefits from a relative change in rank (+1) compared to the last edition. Showing continued recovery from the 2021 drop in performance in the Economic Participation and Opportunity subindex, Nicaragua achieves a score of 64.2%. At the indicator level, this result emerges from a combination of high parity in estimated earned income (70.4%) and full parity in professional and technical workers, where the proportion of women is higher than that of men. Nonetheless, Nicaragua shows a lower gender parity score in labour-force participation rate (57.7%) compared to other top 10 countries, and has lower representation of women in senior leadership, which translates to a medium parity score of 54.3%. The country displays effective parity in Educational Attainment at 99.9% and surpasses the global average on Health and Survival with a score of 97.8%. In terms of Political Empowerment, Nicaragua, achieves a score of 62.6%, with women holding larger shares in ministerial roles and parliamentary seats compared to men, resulting in parity on both indicators.

In seventh position, is Germany, with a slightly lower gender parity score of 81% and dropping one spot in the ranking (This is a reduction of -0.5 percentage points from its 2023 score, its highest to date). The losses are mainly driven by slight regressions in the Political Empowerment dimension, while Economic Participation sees a slight uptick. In Economic Participation and Opportunity, Germany has closed 67.6% of its gender gap with slight improvements on perceived wage equality for similar work compared to 2023. The overall score on this dimension mirrors advances and remaining opportunities for economic parity: while Germany has achieved full parity in professional and technical workers, it has a 59.3% gender gap to close for legislators, senior officials, and managers (score of 40.7%). Similarly, disparity in estimated earned income remains high, with a score of 63.6%. Despite yielding one spot in the subindex ranking, Germany’s rank performance across subindexes is strongest in Political Empowerment (6th globally with a score of 60.4%). While Angela Merkel remains the last female head of state to date, her 16-year tenure continues to strengthen Germany’s score (49.5%).. Similarly, near-equal representation at the ministerial level results in a gender parity score of 87.5%, among the 20 highest in 2024 but a drop of 12.5 percentage points compared to 2023. Women’s parliamentary representation is comparatively lower (score of 54.6%). Educational Attainment is where Germany ranks lowest across dimensions (91st), with a score of 98.7%.

Namibia places 8th in the 2024 index, having closed 80.5% of its gender gap. While the score is a small improvement compared to 2023, there is no change in rank. Namibia performs strongly across all four subindexes, placing in the top 25 in every dimension. In parity in Educational Attainment and Health and Survival, the Sub-Saharan economy is a top performer, with scores of 100% and 98%, respectively. In Economic Participation and Opportunity, Namibia is ahead of the global and regional averages by almost +18 and +10 percentage points. Economic gender parity is high when it comes to labour-force participation (88.4%). Furthermore, Namibia has achieved full parity in technical and professional workers, and 77.2% gender parity in senior leadership roles. Nonetheless, its score of 78.3% shows a slight decrease from last year that runs parallel to a slight reduction in parity in estimated earned income (82.1%, -0.9 percentage points from 2023). Political parity in Namibia is among the 50 highest with an overall score of 45.6%, boosted by an incumbent female head of state who has lengthened her term since the last edition of the index (21.8%, +2.9 increase from 2023) and the continued representation of women at ministerial (46.2%) and parliamentary (79.2%) levels.

Returning to the top 10 after a one-year absence, Ireland places 9th with an overall gender gap score of 80.2%. Compared to 2023, this represents a +.7 percentage-point improvement and a two rank climb driven mainly by progress in the Political Empowerment dimension as well as small improvements across several Economic Participation indicators. Across subindexes, Ireland performs best in education (100%), where it shows full parity in the three indicators it reports. It is also among the 10 countries where political parity is highest, with a score of 50.7%. Similar to Germany, Ireland’s Political Empowerment performance is lifted by the near 21 years that women have headed the state, resulting in a 71.2% score on this indicator. Parity at ministerial and parliamentary levels is comparatively lower, as women’s low share of representation in these spaces leaves Ireland with remaining gender gaps of 60% and 70%, respectively. However, moving in the right direction, its parity score for ministerial positions improved by 10 percentage points between 2023 and 2024. In Economic Participation and Opportunity, Ireland has closed 73.7% of its gender gap, an improvement of +0.5 percentage points from 2023. Ireland boasts full parity in the technical and professional workforce yet shows gaps for senior leadership roles (61.8%) and estimated earned income (61.3%). Gender parity in labour-force participation rate has improved consistently, reaching its third-highest score (84.2%) since 2006.

Spain returns to the top 10 for the third time since 2006, with its highest gender parity score yet at 79.7% - a +.7 percentage-point increase from 2023. Climbing eight ranks since 2023, the positive change is mainly a result of strengthening Political Empowerment and a small overall improvement in Economic Participation and Opportunity. The European country outperforms both the global and regional averages on every indicator except for Health and Survival. In Economic Participation and Opportunity, Spain has increased economic parity over the past seven years to 73.2%. In 2024, the indicators where parity is highest are professional and technical workers (100%), and labour-force participation rate (84.6%). However, it should be noted that the female share in the latter is dramatically reduced compared to 2021 values (from 69.2% to 53.2%). Efforts are needed to further boost women’s representation in senior leadership roles (53.2%), as well as parity in estimated earned income (67.6%). In Educational Attainment, Spain has effectively closed the gender gap, with a slight disparity remaining in literacy. Despite not having had a woman as head of state, Spain has narrowed its Political Empowerment gap to 49.4%, with full parity at the ministerial level (100%) and increasing parity at the parliamentary level (79.5%, up from 73.6% in 2023).

The Philippines rank 25th in 2024 with a gender parity score of 77.9% (-1.2 percentage points from 2023 and a rank drop of 9 places). The Eastern Asia and Pacific economy performed below its 2023 score of 79.1%, stemming from losses in economic parity and a reduction in the share of women ministers. The country’s Economic Participation and Opportunity score of 77.5% is -1.4 percentage points lower than in 2023, despite achieving parity in professional and technical workers (100%) and recording progress towards parity in labour-force participation to an all-time high (69.3%). The Philippines, however, sees a -5.3-percentage point reduction in the share of women in legislators, senior officials, and managers, which brings down its score to 94.7% and a drop of almost 2 percentage points in perceived wage equality for similar work. The economy has achieved full parity across all Educational Attainment indicators, although the shares of women enrolled at each level of education have not all consistently increased across editions of the index. In the Health and Survival subindex, an important 1.6-point gender gap remains in the sex ratio at birth, which lowers the subindex score and places the Philippines among the lowest performers on this indicator. In Political Empowerment, the combined near-16 years during which the government was helmed by Corazon Aquino and Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, continues to elevate the country’s political parity score (37.3%, down from 40.9% in 2023), despite the lower levels of parity in ministerial roles (35.7% to 21.1%) and no progress on parliamentary seats (37.6%).

Building on progress across 18 editions, Mexico (33rd) has closed 76.8% of its gender gap and posted its highest score to date, maintaining its rank compared to 2023. The score represents a +0.26 percentage-point improvement from 2023, and a +12.2 percentage-point advancement since 2006. The score improvement compared to 2023 is due to slight improvements on the economic participation dimension, in particular when it comes to closing the gap in the labour-force participation rate and wage equality for similar work. The basis for Mexico s ’overall performance derives from strong results in the Economic Participation and Opportunity and Political Empowerment pillars. Women have equal representation at the parliamentary level, resulting in a 100% gender parity score. The country has also closed 72.7% of its ministerial gender gap. Across both the Educational Attainment and Health and Survival subindexes, Mexico has achieved full parity in sex ratio at birth and secondary and tertiary education enrolment. It is crucial to note that the shares of women enrolled in tertiary education and secondary education have approximately doubled since 2006. Economic Participation and Opportunity parity stands at 61.2%. The share of women in professional and technical roles is near parity (98.1%), and parity in senior leadership roles is comparatively high, at 63.3%. Through the past 18 editions, gender parity in labour-force participation has increased overall by +10.3 points, reaching a high point of 60.6% in 2024. Similarly, women’s estimated earned income has increased since 2006 at a higher rate than men’s.

Ranked 43rd on the 2024 index with a score of 74.7%, the United States experiences no change to its overall placement in 2023, recording a marginal -0.15 percentage-point reduction in its score. The United States has closed three quarters (76.5%) of its Economic Opportunity and Participation gender gap, a -1.5 percentage-point reduction from its previous score (78%). This is despite attaining 100% gender parity in professional and technical workers, and having high levels of parity in labour-force participation rate (84.2%). While women’s labour-force participation rate (57.3%) has been recovering from 2022 values, it remains the third-lowest registered across editions. At a senior leadership level, women continue to be underrepresented, as the 74.1% score indicates. Further, the United States still has over one-third of the income gap to close, with a score of 65.8% and a drop on this indicator compared to 2023 as well as a drop in perceived wage equality for similar work. In the Political Empowerment subindex, the United States improves marginally due to a slight increase in the percentage of women in parliament, with an overall score of 25.1% in political parity. Efforts to close the gap across indicators have been most effective in Educational Attainment, where women’s shares of enrolment are higher than men’s across all education levels.

With a -1 percentage-point reduction in score (from 72.6% in 2023) and a 13-rank drop compared to last year, Brazil places 70th on the 2024 index having closed 71.6% of the gender gap. With 66.7% in economic parity, Brazil experiences a slight reduction from its 2023 score of 67.0%, but maintains parity in professional and technical workers and reaches its highest parity for senior leadership roles (66.1%). Gender parity in labour-force participation rate increases from 2023 by +.7 percentage points to 72.6%, although it remains -4.5 points below Brazil’s best result (77.2% score, 2021). In Political Empowerment, Brazil tracks alongside the global average, with a score of 22%, down from 26.3% in 2023 mainly due lower female representation at ministerial level. Nonetheless, Dilma Roussef’s term as head of state continues to leverage Brazil’s score (12%) to 34th rank in the head of state indicator, and by consequence, the subindex. Yet, not all subindex results are regressive. In Educational Attainment, Brazil attains effective parity at 99.6%. This result is buttressed by 100% parity across all indicators, except for primary enrolment – here, parity has been increasing, but has not yet reached 100%. There is no change in the Health and Survival subindex, which maintains a score of 98%.

In 2024, Viet Nam (72nd) reduced its gender gap by a further +0.3 points, posting a 71.5% gender parity score – higher than the global as well as regional average for Eastern Asia and the Pacific, but ultimately insufficient to propel it upwards in rank. Since 2007, Viet Nam has bridged its gender gap by +2.6 points. In the Economic Participation and Opportunity subindex Viet Nam sees gender parity rise from 74.9% in 2023 to 75.1% in 2024, making it a leading performer in its region. The result reflects a combination of full parity in professional and technical workers and nearly-closed gaps in estimated earned income (79.9%) and in labour-force participation rate (88.1%). Nonetheless, the share of women’s labour-force participation rate has been diminishing in Viet Nam, and in 2024 is nearly -11.4 points below its highest value (68.5% vs 79.9% in 2017). Another significant gender gap that Viet Nam has yet to close is that of women’s representation in senior leadership roles, where parity stands at 35.1%. In the Educational Attainment subindex Viet Nam records parity in secondary and tertiary education and continues to improve gender parity in the literacy rate, with its highest score to date (97.8%). In Political Empowerment, Viet Nam (16.8%) trails behind its peers, with low levels of female representation in ministerial roles (11.1%), resulting in a low parity score of 12.5%. Women make up less than half of parliamentary seats, yielding a 44.1% parity score.

With a gender parity score of 70.9%, Ethiopia ranks 79th on the 2024 index. This represents a four-rank and 0.19 percentage-point decline from its 2023 index results. Subindex results only see marginal changes compared to last year, with the exception of political empowerment which drops by almost 2 percentage points due to lower representation of women in ministerial positions (score drop from 69.2% in 2023 to 57.1% in 2024). In the Economic Participation and Opportunity subindex, the country exhibits the sixth-lowest score in Sub-Saharan Africa and 118th globally, at 58.7%. This score is in part explained by a series of persistent economic gaps across indicators. Gender parity in the labour-force participation rate stands at 72.7%, unchanged from 2023, but a full -18.7 points lower than its best score (91.4%, 2011), and a reflection of the decline in women’s labour-force participation rate to its second-lowest value since 2006 (57.6%). In addition, gender parity in legislator, senior official, and managerial roles remains at 34.1%, slightly below its best score. However, the share of women in professional and technical roles slowly increases (34.3%) and with it, gender parity (52.1%). On the educational front, Ethiopia trails behind 135 economies, with 86.5% parity in attainment. Gender parity in literacy only reaches 75%, and 93.1% and 97% in primary and secondary enrollments, respectively. However, parity in tertiary education enrollment registers a slight +0.2 point increase to 59.8%. Health and Survival subindex parity remains at 97.1%, though parity in healthy life expectancy has declined slightly since 2015, contributing to an overall subindex score reduction. In the Political Empowerment subindex, Ethiopia scores 41.2%, signficantly above the global average and boosted in part by the ongoing five-year consecutive term of Sahle-Work Zewde serving as head of state. In other areas of political representation, results are mixed: women hold 36.4% of ministerial roles and 41.3% of parliamentary seats.

Experiencing a decline in both score (68.9%) and rank (99th) since 2023, Bangladesh loses 40 ranks and -3.3 percentage points on the 2024 index. The drop derives to a large extent from an update to the 2017 values for economic indicators used in prior calculations, including the 2023 edition of the report. In the past five years, economic gender parity has deteriorated significantly, leaving Bangladesh with a wider gender gap to close.In 2024, the economic parity score of 31.1% is the lowest achieved by Bangladesh since 2014 and the lowest ranking globally in the 2024 index. Gender disparity in labour-force participation has rolled back the gender gap from 42.5% in 2018 to 30.7%. Income inequality between men and women in 2024 (10.2%) has increased nearly five times over since 2018 (48.9%) in 2018. Women’s representation in senior leadership roles has also decreased, resulting in a 92 percentage-point gap to bridge. Additionally, in 2024 women encompass just one-fifth of professional and technical workers, resulting in a 25.4% parity score. Where Bangladesh performs well is in Educational Attainment, with a 94% attainment rate reflecting full parity in secondary enrolment, gender parity in literacy rate of 93% and gender parity in tertiary enrollment of 84.1%. In Political Empowerment, Bangladesh has the highest gender parity score in its region (54.3%) and seventh overall, on account of having had women in head-of-state roles for 30.3 years out of the last 50. However, there is only one-woman minister for every nine men (score of 9%) and women occupy just one-fourth of parliamentary seats, which translates to a gender parity score of 25%, with slight drops on both indicators compared to 2023.

The 100th rank in the index is occupied by Indonesia, which in 2024 has closed 68.6% of the gap. This result represents a 13-rank decline and a -1.1-point reduction from 2023. The decline is relative and due to the unavailability of data for women in parliament at the time of report production. However, when considering progress to date since 2006, Indonesia has succeeded in reducing its gender gap by +3.2 percentage points overall, despite mixed progress at the subindex level. Economic parity reaches 66.7%, placing it 89th overall, evidencing significant gaps at the indicator level. One such indicator is the labour-force participation rate, where gender parity reaches 64.5%. While women are overrepresented in professional and technical roles to the extent of full parity, the opposite is true for legislative, senior official, and managerial positions, where parity is at 46.3%. Furthermore, women’s estimated earned income is just half that of men’s, resulting in a parity score of 51.7%. In the Political Empowerment subindex, Indonesia scores 13.8%, with parity at the ministerial level remaining static from 2023 at 26.1%. In Educational Attainment, Indonesia compensates with 97.1% parity, with parity evident in secondary and tertiary enrollment. However, gender parity in primary education enrollment has been decreasing since 2015 as men’s enrolment shares have increased, rolling parity back to 94.9% in 2024. Literacy rates remain high at 97%. In terms of Health and Survival, Indonesia achieves 97% parity, ranking the country 72nd in the global index.

In 106th position is China, bridging 68.4% of its gender gap in 2024. Since 2023, China has improved by one rank and +0.5 percentage points with positive changes on the economic participation, health and survival and political empowerment dimensions. In terms of Economic Participation and Opportunity, China ranks 39th overall with a score of 73.7%, an improvement of 6 ranks and 1 percentage point from 72.7% in 2023. At the indicator level, labour-force participation parity stands at 81.5%, ranking 61st overall. Although women’s labour-force participation rate has recovered from 2022 levels, it remains -13.4 percentage points below its highest recorded value of 77.1% in 2009. Educational Attainment reaches 93.4%, with a literacy rate score of 96.6%, although men’s literacy rate is +3.4 percentage points higher than women’s. At the secondary education level, there is a 12.7% gap to bridge. However, China achieves full parity in tertiary education enrollment, with women surpassing men in enrolments. Health and Survival scores 94%, with a sex-at-birth ratio of 89.4%. Healthy life expectancy stands at 104.2%. Gender parity in the Political Empowerment subindex is 12.3%, with an 111th rank overall. Parity is higher for women in parliament, as they represent one-fourth of parliamentarians in 2024, the highest share to date, yielding a score of 36.1%. Women’s representation at the ministerial level has declined to 4.3%, compared to the 11.5% share held from 2010 to 2016 (except for 2014).

In the 2024 Index, Japan (118th) makes significant progress from 2023: with overall parity at 66.3%, it improves its position by seven ranks and +1.6 percentage points over last year. This is largely driven by improvements in the Political Empowerment dimension and to a lesser extent positive changes in Economic Participation and Opportunity, where Japan ranks 120th, with a 56.8% economic gender gap yet to be closed. Labour-force participation parity stands at 76.8%, with women’s participation slowly increasing from 2022 levels. The share of women in legislative, senior official, and managerial roles in 2024 also increased, by +1.7 percentage points from 2023 and +4.6 percentage points since 2006. Nonetheless, Japan’s gender disparity in senior roles remains significant, with a gender parity score of 17.1%, as men occupy fiev out of six leadership roles in the country. Estimated earned income also displays considerable disparity based on the 2024 score of 58.3%. This is an improvement since 2016 but still trails -2.6 points behind its highest score, achieved in 2015. In Political Empowerment, Japan ranks 113th overall, with gender parity at 11.8%. Women hold one-fourth of ministerial roles, resulting in a 33.3% parity score, a significant improvement from a share of 8% and score of 9.1% in 2023. In parliament, gender parity stands at 11.5%, showing only marginal movement over time. In Educational Attainment, Japan achieves virtual parity with a score of 99.3% that results from parity in the literacy rate and secondary education enrollment, and near-parity in tertiary education enrollment (96.9%). This performance positions Japan 72nd overall in the subindex. Japan’s score in Health and Survival remains virtually unchanged compared to last year, placing it in 58th position.

Nigeria (125th) has climbed five ranks and improved last year’s score by +1.3 percentage points, resulting in overall gender parity in 2024 of 65%, with positive changes in the Political Empowerment dimension, Educational Attainment, and Economic Participation and Opportunity. The Sub-Saharan economy has made notable strides in the Economic Participation and Opportunity, where it records 72.6% of the gap closed, placing it 49th globally on the subindex. Notably, Nigeria excels in gender parity for senior leadership roles, achieving full parity, with women’s representation in legislative, senior official, and managerial roles doubling that of men’s. However, significant gender gaps persist in professional and technical workers, with parity at only 62.6%, as well as in estimated earned income, which stands at 50.1%. With relatively high labour-force participation rates for both men and women , parity on this indicator stands at 89.9%, ranking 13th highest overall. In Educational Attainment, gender parity reaches 84.2%, resulting in Nigeria placing just eight ranks above the lowest performer. A persistent gender gap is observed in literacy rates (73.9%), with women lagging far behind men. Secondary education enrollment parity is 98.9%, while tertiary education enrollment reaches 72.6%. In Health and Survival, Nigeria scores 96.7%; it achieves the highest score in sex ratio at birth but lags in parity in healthy life expectancy. In Political Empowerment, Nigeria ranks among the bottom 10 performers (136th) with a parity score of 6.6% but improvements in particular on ministerial positions since 2023, with women’s representation rising from 10.7% in 2023 to 17.6% in 2024 (score change from 12% to 21.4%).

With a population of over 1.4 billion, India (129th) has closed 64.1% of its gender gap in 2024. This result places the Southern Asian economy -2 ranks lower than the previous edition, with a marginally lower score (0.17 percentage points). This slight regression is mainly the result of small declines in Educational Attainment and Political Empowerment, while Economic Participation and Opportunity slightly improves. While India’s economic parity score has trended upwards for the past four editions, it would need a further 6.2 percentage points to match its 2012 score of 46%. Achieving that objective will be possible through bridging gender gaps in estimated earned income (28.6%); legislative, senior officials, and management roles (14.4%); labour-force participation rate (45.9%); and professional and technical workers (49.4%). In the Political Empowerment subindex, India scores within the top-10 on the head-of-state indicator (40.7%). India’s scores for women’s representation at the federal level, in ministerial positions (6.9%) and in parliament (17.2%), remain relatively low. Parity in Educational Attainment is well underway, but challenges remain. Updated figures in Educational Attainment bring India’s parity levels slightly down from prior scores. While the shares of women are high in primary, secondary and tertiary education enrolments, they have only been modestly increasing, and the gap between men and women’s literacy rate is 17.2 percentage points wide, leaving India ranked 124th on this indicator.

In 135th position is Egypt, which has dropped -1 rank from 2023 – despite maintaining a positive trajectory since 2017 and recording in 2024 a 62.9% gender parity score, +.26 percentage-points up from 2023. A small decline in the Economic Participation dimension compared to 2023 is slightly more than offset by score improvements in Educational Attainment and Political Empowerment. Egypt faces substantive challenges to economic parity across indicators. The gap in its labour-force participation rate is 78.3 percentage points wide, similar to estimated earned income, where gender parity stands at 20.9%. In senior leadership roles, gender parity in legislators, senior officials and managers barely reaches 16.2%. Yet, slow progress on this indicator is apparent; the 2024 value is the highest registered since 2006, reflecting an also growing share of women in this category (+5 percentage points from 2006 values). In contrast, Egypt is among the four leading regional performers in the Political Empowerment subindex, behind only Algeria, Tunisia, and Morocco. Egypt is among the five countries in the region where parity at the ministerial level surpasses 20% (23.1%) and has the highest regional parity score for women in parliament (38.3%). In Health and Survival, Egypt achieves 96.8% parity, maintaining its 2023 score. The country ranks 110th overall in the Educational Attainment subindex with a slight score improvement compared to 2023, having closed 96.6% of its educational gender gap. The country records parity in primary and tertiary education enrolments, but is behind in literacy rate, at 86.2% and loses slightly on parity in secondary education (99% in 2023 to 96.5% in 2024).

The Democratic Republic of Congo ranks 140th in the 2024 index, with the state of gender parity in the country slightly receding to 60.9% from 61.2% in 2023 (-0.2 point decrease). Marginal regressions are apparent for the Economic Participation and Opportunity and Political Empowerment dimensions. The majority-female Sub-Saharan economy, with a population of 100 million, faces its largest gender-parity challenge in the Political Empowerment subindex. While the subindex shows a positive trajectory overall, only 10.9% of the gap has been closed to date (-0.2-point decrease from 2023). Gender parity at the ministerial level has increased since 2018, by +12.6 percentage points, pushing parity to 25.7% – yet it remains 20 places and 74.3 percentage points behind the region’s best performers (South Africa and Mozambique, both at 100%). At the parliamentary level, Democratic Republic of Congo has the fifth-lowest regional score (14.7%) placing it 125th overall. In Economic Participation and Opportunity, Congo has closed 66.9% of its gender gap, yielding a rank of 85 on this dimension. There are high levels of parity in labour-force participation, at 90.3% parity score, as well as women in senior roles (72.2% parity score) where the share of women in this category has more than doubled since 2018. Where economic gaps remain are in professional and technical workers (43.3%) and in estimated earned income (69.3%). Finally, in the Educational Attainment subindex, the country faces important gaps, placing second from the bottom in 145th rank. In secondary and tertiary education enrolment, gender parity reaches 63.4% and 59.3%, respectively. Women’s literacy rate is significantly lower than men’s, resulting in an 80% gender parity score.

With a female population of over 119 million, Pakistan comes second to last on the 2024 index (145th), having closed 57% of its gender gap. Compared to 2023, the economy loses three ranks and 0.53 percentage points on its overall score, largely driven by regressions in the Political Empowerment dimension, yet partially offset by a small score improvement in Educational Attainment. The low performance reflects substantive gender gaps in economic and political parity, as well as a lag in both the Educational Attainment and Health and Survival subindexes, where most economies are at parity. The Southern Asian economy has closed just over one-third of its economic gender gap, at 36%. At the indicator level, the gap is widest in senior leadership (6.1% score), with legislators, senior officials and managers making up less than 6% of the total. Income disparity yields a gender gap that is 75.1 percentage points wide, one of the biggest overall (136th). While Pakistan’s parity in labour-force participation rate is comparatively higher, it remains among the lowest overall (30.4%, 140th). Despite showing a positive trajectory on Educational Attainment since 2006, Pakistan is yet to catch up to the majority of economies in the subindex (139th). The biggest challenge lies in closing its literacy rate gender gap, which is 67.1%. With increasingly higher parity scores in primary (87.6%), secondary (84.3%), and tertiary education enrolment (92.6%), as well as growing shares of female enrolment across indicators, efforts are seemingly showing impact but at a slower pace than in other economies. Finally, in the Political Empowerment subindex, Pakistan shows 6.3% parity at the ministerial level, and 19.3% in parliamentary seats leaving the country in 112th rank overall.