GGGR 2025

Global Gender Gap Report 202538attributed to a sharp rise in women’s representation in ministerial positions, with the score jumping from around 10% to over 50% during that period and maintaining that level thereafter. China China, one of the world’s most populous countries, improves gender parity by +0.2 points since the last edition of the report, with a 2025 score of 68.6% and climbs three ranks since last year to 103rd rank. China has been on a positive trajectory for the past three editions, and on course to approach its highest score to date (69.1%, 2013). This shift results from parity increases in Political Empowerment (+1.2 points) and Health and Survival (+0.7 points) and is achieved despite a slight reduction in economic parity (-1.2 points). In Economic Participation and Opportunity, while income parity rises from 64.2% to 63.9%, it is not sufficient to counter the drop in wage parity, of –0.3 percentage points. However, compared to 2006 China has advanced economic parity by an overall +10.5 percentage points. In Educational Attainment, parity ratios are maintained with the exception of literacy rates, which show the score modestly improved from 96.6% to 96.9% despite a minimal but overall reduction in values. China’s improved sex ratio at birth has a significant effect on its Health and Parity subindex performance, raising the score from 94.0% to 94.7%. Unlike a large share of economies this year, China’s healthy life expectancy remains virtually unchanged. Political parity improves as female ministerial representation nearly doubles in 2025, from 4.7% to 8.3%, and boosts the overall subindex score from 12.3% to 13.5%. Democratic Republic of Congo With just under two-thirds of the gender gap closed (60.1%), the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) places 143rd in the overall ranking. Both numbers reflect a lower level of performance compared to the past two editions, with a decline in score of -.8 percentage points, and a three-rank drop from 2024. This downward turn is driven by parity losses in every subindex except for Political Empowerment, where DRC improves by +2 percentage points. Parity in Educational Attainment drops by –3.4%, predominantly influenced by a loss of parity in literacy. While rates for both men and women are lower than in the last edition, female rates (61.6%) are lower compared to men’s (87.5%), increasing the disparity. Similarly, healthy life expectancy has dropped for both men and women, although more significantly for women, creating a health disparity that lowers the subindex score. Where DRC makes progress is in ministerial parity, increasing female representation from 20.5% to 25% in one year and driving the indicator score to its highest level recorded, 33.3%. In a similar trajectory, parliamentary parity shifts by +0.2 points to reach 14.9%, almost doubling the economy’s 2018 score of 9.8%.Egypt With a population of over 100 million that tilts slightly towards a male majority, Egypt ranks 139th in the 2025 index with a gender parity score of 62.5%. Across most the remaining dimensions of the index, Egypt has a relatively stable, if not positive performance. In Economic Participation and Opportunity there are no score changes, owing to a balancing of negative variations in senior economic representation (-1.4 points) and income parity (-2.5 points) and positive shifts in female workforce participation rates (+3.3 points) and parity for professional and technical roles (+.5 points). In Educational Attainment, literacy parity improves but only because literacy rates diminish disproportionately for men. Similarly, healthy life expectancy diminishes for men more significantly than for women, thereby increasing gender parity. Where Egypt experiences a more significant score shift is at the ministerial level, where female representation declines by –7.7 percentage points, from 18.8% to 13.3%, bringing the overall subindex score down, from 17.6% to 15.7%. Overall, Egypt registers reductions in both score (-.4) and rank (-4) compared to last year. Ethiopia Ethiopia ranks 75th in 2025, rising four spots compared to 2024, with a modest increase of 0.1 percentage-point in its overall gender parity score. This year’s improvement is largely driven by strong performance in the Political Empowerment subindex, building on momentum since the election of its first female president, Sahle-Work Zewde, in late 2018. Ethiopia’s political parity score now stands at 48.9%, an increase of 7.7 percentage points from last year. A major contributor to this rise is a notable growth in the score of women’s representation in ministerial positions, which increases from 57.1% in 2024 to 83.3% in 2025. However, progress in other areas has been mixed. The estimated earned income score declines significantly, from 66.2% in 2024 to 55.7% in 2025, leading to a 3.4 percentage-point drop in the Economic Participation and Opportunity subindex. In Educational Attainment, the literacy rate improves for men but declines for women, resulting in a sharp 20 percentage-point drop in the literacy score: from 75% in 2024 to 55% in 2025, while gender gaps at other education levels remain largely unchanged. In the Health and Survival subindex, the healthy life expectancy score sees a slight decline of 0.4 percentage points. India In 2025 India ranks 131st, with an overall gender parity score of 64.4%. Compared to the 2024 edition, India sees a relative drop in rank (-3) due to the performance of other economies. However, the economy’s overall performance improves in absolute terms by +0.3 points. One of the dimensions where India increases parity is in Economic Participation and Opportunity, where its score improves by +.9 percentage points to