Global Gender Gap Report 202529Central Asia Central Asia places fourth out of all eight regions with an overall gender parity score of 69.8%. Of the seven economies that make up the Central Asia grouping, four of them are listed in the top 100, but only Armenia (59th) and Georgia (63rd) register scores over 70% (73.1% and 72.9%, respectively). Nevertheless, the score dispersion within the region is low, suggestion the region moves in relative unison – only 8 percentage points separate Armenia (59th, 73.1%) from Tajikistan (129th, 64.6%). Central Asia is among the three top scoring regions in the Economic Participation and Opportunity (71.2%), Educational Attainment (99.3%) and Health and Survival (97.3%) subindexes, yet has the second lowest score for Political Empowerment at 11.6%. Based on the constant sample and its performance across editions, Central Asia has closed its overall gender gap by 2.7 percentage points since 2006. The most notable gains have been made in Economic Participation and Opportunity and Political Empowerment, where parity improved by 5.6 and 5.3 percentage points, respectively. Despite a 1 percentage-point overall loss in labour-force participation parity since 2006, economic parity has progressed due to significant gains in economic representation, with the gender gap among senior officials, managers and legislators narrowing by nearly 0.2 percentage points. Among the seven economies in the region, however, only Georgia, Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan have closed more than 70% of the economic gap, with scores of 72.4%, 71.5% and 74.8%, respectively. Since 2006, regional gender parity in Educational Attainment has receded by 0.3 percentage points. With sustained virtual parity in primary and tertiary enrolment, increases in gender parity in literacy are overshadowed by a reduction in secondary enrolment parity, which pulls the overall subindex score down. Six economies in the region are making gains towards educational parity with scores over 97%, while only Tajikistan trails behind (93.9%). Finally, despite having the lowest regional score in Political Empowerment, Central Asia has made remarkable strides over time. Since the index launched, the region has leaped forward with an 8.2 percentage -point increase in ministerial representation and a 10 percentage-point improvement in parliamentary parity. Armenia, Georgia and Uzbekistan lead the region with political parity scores over 20%. Eastern Asia and the Pacific Eastern Asia and the Pacific ranks 5th in this edition’s regional ranking, with a score of 69.4%. Approximately 52.6% of the regional block ranks above 100 in the overall index, but only one economy features in the top 10 (New Zealand, 5th, 82.7%). Over the course of 19 editions, the block has reduced overall gender disparity by -3.3 percentage points.In 2025, Eastern Asia and the Pacific has the second-highest regional score for Economic Participation and Opportunity at 71.6%. The region’s strong economic performance reflects a relative level of concentration in scores, with 12 of the 19 economies scoring within a range of 70%-80%. Only one economy, Fiji (126th, 64.7%) has closed less than 60% of its economic gap (58.8%). Over time, the region has closed 9.2 percentage points of the economic gap, recording impressive advances in senior and overall workforce representation, improving parity by 31.1 and 16.3 percentage points, respectively, since 2006. In 2025, 17 of the 19 economies in the region have a female labour-force participation rate of over 40%, the highest of which is recorded in Cambodia (73.7%). The region has the second-lowest score for Educational Attainment at 95.3% and has lost –0.8 percentage points in educational parity over time. Basic educational parity has dropped over time by –2.2 percentage points in primary education enrolment. The region’s declining performance in education continues in 2025, with Lao PDR, Philippines and Papua New Guinea posting female rates for primary education enrolment of under 90%. Across regions, Eastern Asia and the Pacific places the lowest in Health and Survival with a score of 95.5%. Only 15 of the economies in the regional block have over 96% in health parity in 2025, a metric skewed by comparatively lower levels of parity in birth ratios in Viet Nam, China, Brunei Darussalam and Papua New Guinea, as well as absence of parity in healthy life expectancy in 14 of the economies. Eastern Asia and the Pacific also ranks sixth in Political Empowerment, having achieved 15.3% political parity. Despite narrowing the political gap by 4.1 percentage points since the index launched in 2006, the region advances slowly in this dimension – in part because performance is so uneven among economies. In 2025, only New Zealand (60.5%) has passed the 50% threshold for parity in this subindex, while Japan, Cambodia, Malaysia, Brunei, Fiji, Papua New Guinea and Vanuatu trail behind with scores under 10%. Nine of the 19 economies have had no female head of state, and only seven have cabinets where women represent at least one in five ministers. The same ratio holds more broadly – in 12 of the economies across the region – for parliamentary representation,. Europe Displaced by Northern America in 2025 from the top rank, Europe places second in this year’s edition with an overall gender parity score of 75.1%. The block is comprised of 40 economies; eight are in the top 10 and 37 of are in the top 100. The region’s high score is achieved despite having relatively high score dispersion, with 29 percentage points separating Iceland’s 92.6% overall gender parity score from Türkiye’s (63.3%). Since 2006, Europe’s trajectory across three of the four subindexes has trended upwards. As a result, Europe has closed 6.3 percentage points of its overall gap.

GGGR 2025