Global Gender Gap Report 2026

World Economic Forum, September 2026

The Global Gender Gap Index annually benchmarks the current state and evolution of gender parity across four key dimensions: Economic Participation and Opportunity, Educational Attainment, Health and Survival, and Political Empowerment. The index continues to offer a consistent measure of the present state of gender parity, as well as the long-term evolution of global efforts to close the gender gap.nding index tracking the progress of numerous countries’ efforts towards closing these gaps over time.

Marking its 20th edition, the 2026 Global Gender Gap Report covers a cohort of 145 economies and analyses a longitudinal constant sample of 97 economies included in every edition since 2006, providing the longest-running assessment of progress towards gender parity.

The Global Gender Gap Index measures scores on a 0–1 scale, and scores can be interpreted as the distance covered towards parity (i.e. the percentage of the gender gap that has been closed, numbers rounded). Within country comparisons provide a view on areas of strength and weakness within an economy while cross-economy comparisons support the identification of the most effective policies to close gender gaps.

Findings of the Global Gender Gap Report 2026 include:

Making its debut in the top 10 group as the 8th best performer in 2026 (an improvement of 5 places since 2025). This makes Australia the second-best performer from Eastern Asia and the Pacific, behind New Zealand (6th). Australia’s recent performance follows a clear inflection point: consecutive gains since 2023 have lifted what had previously been a largely flat trajectory.
Australia continues to register year-on-year improvements in Political Empowerment. From last edition, the economy boosted its 45.8% political parity score to 53.9%, an +8.2 percentage-point improvement since 2025.
Over time, Australia has narrowed its political gap by +37.6 percentage points, more than tripling its initial 2006 score of 16.3%.
While Australia has not had a second woman head of state since Julia Gillard in 2013, it has seen political representation improve significantly in the two remaining indicators.
In 2026, Australia reaches full parity at ministerial level, up +6.7 percentage points from 2025, and adds +21.1 percentage points to parliamentary parity (85.2% in 2026).
Twenty years after the index was first introduced, the global gender gap stands at 69.2% closed.
Among the constant sample of 97 economies, gender parity has improved by +5.2 percentage points since 2006, reaching its highest level to date of 69.4%.
Considering the collective rate of advancement for the 20-year cohort, global parity stands 120 years away.