WORLD - The global gender gap narrowed slightly in 2025, with 68.8% of the gap between women and men closed across 148 economies, according to the World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Report 2025. However, at the current pace of progress, achieving full gender parity globally would still take an estimated 123 years.
The report, published on June 11, measures gender parity across four areas: economic participation and opportunity, educational attainment, health and survival, and political empowerment. No economy has yet achieved full gender parity.
Global Progress Remains Gradual
Among the 145 economies covered in both the 2024 and 2025 editions, the global gender gap increased from 68.4% to 68.8%, a gain of 0.3 percentage points. Among the 100 economies tracked continuously since the index was launched in 2006, the gap has narrowed from 68.6% to 69.0%.
Over the 19 editions of the index, global gender parity has improved by 4.8 percentage points, from 64.1% in 2006 to 69.0% in 2025. The average annual improvement has been approximately 0.25 percentage points.
The report estimates that, if this pace continues, full global gender parity would be reached in 123 years. This represents an improvement from the previous estimate but remains well beyond the 2030 deadline associated with the Sustainable Development Goals.
Economic and Political Gaps Remain Largest
The largest remaining disparities are in political empowerment and economic participation.
Political Empowerment has reached 23.4% parity among the 100 economies consistently covered since 2006, compared with 14.3% in the first edition. Despite being the area with the greatest long-term improvement, it remains the widest gender gap measured by the index. At the current rate of progress, the report estimates that political parity would take 162 years to achieve.
Economic Participation and Opportunity has reached 60.7% parity, up from 55.1% in 2006. The report estimates that full economic parity would take another 135 years if current trends continue.
The economic gap also varies significantly between economies. In 2025, scores for Economic Participation and Opportunity ranged from 31.3% in Sudan to 87.3% in Botswana. Differences are particularly pronounced in estimated earned income and the representation of women among legislators, senior officials and managers.
Education Has Narrowed Faster Than Employment
Education remains one of the areas closest to parity. Globally, 95.7% of the educational gender gap has been closed, while 96.1% of the gap in Health and Survival has been closed.
Women are more likely than men to enrol in tertiary education in 109 of the 148 economies covered by the index. However, higher educational attainment has not consistently translated into equal economic opportunities.
The report notes that all high-income economies included in the index have closed at least 99% of their education gender gap, but none has closed more than 85% of its economic gender gap. This reflects continued disparities in labour-force participation, income and access to senior positions.
Regional Gaps Remain Significant
Northern America recorded the highest regional score at 75.8%, followed by Europe at 75.1% and Latin America and the Caribbean at 74.5%.
At the other end of the regional spectrum, Southern Asia recorded 64.6%, while the Middle East and Northern Africa registered 61.7%.
In the Middle East and Northern Africa, Economic Participation and Opportunity remains the largest gap, with a regional score of 42.4%. The report also identifies significant differences between economies within the region. Lebanon, for example, recorded a majority-female share among professional and technical workers, while substantial labour-force participation gaps remain across several economies.
The report concludes that progress toward gender parity has continued, but gains remain uneven across economies and sectors. While education and health have moved closer to parity, economic participation and political representation continue to account for the largest remaining gaps.
