World Economic Forum's Global Gender Gap Report 2021
The World Economic Forum released the 15th edition of the Global Gender Gap Report in March 2021. The Global Gender Gap Report is a publication of the World Economic Forum’s Centre for shaping the future of the new economy and society.
The Global Gender Gap Index 2021 benchmarks the evolution of gender-based gaps. It also tracks progress towards closing these gaps over time.
Index is based on four key dimensions:
- Economic Participation and Opportunity
- Educational Attainment
- Health and Survival
- Political Empowerment
This year, the Global Gender Gap index 2021 has been released for 156 countries. The Global Gender Gap Index measures scores on a 0 to 100 scale. These scores can be interpreted as the distance to parity.
Key findings of the Report:
- Iceland is the most gender-equal country in the world for the 12th time. In the overall index this year, five most-improved countries are Lithuania, Serbia, Timor-Leste, Togo and United Arab Emirates. These countries have narrowed their gender gaps by at least 4.4 percentage points or more. This year, three new countries have been assessed for the first time includes Afghanistan (156th), Guyana (53rd), and Niger (138th).
- The gender gap in political empowerment remains the largest: Across the 156 countries covered by the index, women represent only 26.1% of some 35,500 parliament seats and just 22.6% of over 3,400 ministers worldwide. In 81 countries, there has never been a woman head of state as of January 15, 2021.
- The second-largest gender gap among the four components of the index is for the Economic Participation and Opportunity subindex. According to report, only 58 per cent of this gap has been closed so far (globally).
- The Global Gender Gap score in 2021 is 67.7 percent. On average, the gap has widened by almost 0.6 percentage points compared to 2020 edition of the index.
About Rank of India:
In the Global Gender Gap Index 2021, India has been ranked 140th (62.5% of the gender gap closed so far) among 156 countries. India has fallen 28 places in the Global Gender Gap Report 2021. India is now one of the worst performers in South Asia.
According to Subindex of Global Gender Gap Index 2021: Rank of India along with top Country
Economic Participation and Opportunity: India (151st), Lao PDR (1st)
Educational Attainment: India (114th), 26 Countries placed at rank first
Political Empowerment: India (51st), Iceland (1st)
Health and Survival: India (155th), Bahamas (1st)
In Global Gender Gap Index 2021, Ranking of Top Five Countries:
Iceland (1st), Finland (2nd), Norway (3rd), New Zealand (4th), and Sweden (5th)
In Global Gender Gap Index 2021, Ranking of Bottom Five Countries:
Syria (152nd), Pakistan (153rd), Iraq (154th), Yemen (155th), and Afghanistan (156th)
Some Other Countries Ranking in Global Gender Gap Index 2021:
United Kingdom (23rd), United States (30th), Russian Federation (81st), Nepal (106th), China (107th), Myanmar (109th), Sri Lanka (116th), Japan (120th), Bhutan (130th)