123 Years Until We Reach Full Gender Equality: Global Gender Gap Report 2025

The World Economic Forum has published the Global Gender Gap Report for 2025, with data depicting parity trends in both developed and developing countries. Measured by 4 subindexes---Economic Participation and Opportunity, Educational Attainment, Health and Survival, Political Empowerment---this paper gives insight on movement in gender equality practices, holding countries accountable. As of recent, the global gender gap score in 2025 stands at 68.8%, a +.3-percentage point increase from the preceding year; however, it's estimated to take 123 years until we reach complete gender equality, demonstrating the need for further infrastructure creation to support parity.  

Why This Matters 

• Highlights unsustainable practices among countries: Policymakers, companies and governments are held responsible for their efforts in gender equality. 

• Displays the complexity of gender parity development: Through this framework, individuals are provided with a holistic understanding of equality trends, inspiring well-informed action and change. 

By Region 

1. Northern America: The leader in the gender gap rankings in 2025, with an overall score of 75.8%. This country experienced intense growth in subindex Political Empowerment, with a rise of 19.3 percentage points from 2024.  

2. Europe: Placed second, Europe has relatively uneven development across its 40 economies; Iceland is ranked at 92.6%, whereas other European countries are slow to progress.  

3. Latin America and the Caribbean: This region continues to have the fastest rate of progress, advancing a total of 8.6 percentage points since 2006. Despite this, Latin American and the Caribbean has the third-lowest score globally in Economic Participation and Opportunity at 65.6%.  

4. Central Asia: Although 3rd top scoring in Economic Participation and Opportunity (71.2%), Educational Attainment (99.3%), and Health and Survival (97.3%), Central Asia has the second lowest percentage in Political Empowerment (11.6%). 

5. Eastern Asia and the Pacific: Gender parity in education has slightly declined over time by an accumulated –2.2 percentage points. In this region, Political Empowerment growth varies upon country, with New Zealand at 60.4% and Japan under 10%. 

6. Sub-Saharan Africa: Educational Attainment has been driven up by 5.2 percentage points since 2006, due to gains in educational enrolement parity. Political Empowerment is still low for this region, sitting at 22.2%. 

7. Southern Asia: Out of the 7 economies that constitute Southern Asia, only Bangladesh ranks in the top 50. Additionally, while economic representation for senior, professional and technical workers has gradually risen, earned income has dropped by –7.8 percentage points.  

8. Middle East and Northern Africa: Contrary to its poor global parity ranking (61.7%), this region has demonstrated signs of steady improvement. Female representation among senior officials and managers is increasing across many Middle Eastern and Northern African countries.  

Action Items 

• Implement gender parity audits in the workplace, inspecting areas such as pay equity, recruitment and leadership policies. 

• Set measurable, attainable goals regarding complete gender equality for professional settings, aligning frameworks with the UN Target Gender Equality Impact. 

• Invest in companies that prioritize DEI standards, with emphasis on female-to-male management ratio and/or total women in leadership.  

Read full report here https://www.weforum.org/publications/global-gender-gap-report-2025/?emailType=Forum%20Stories