Pakistan has been ranked third from last out of 148 countries in the Global Gender Gap Report 2026 of the World Economic Forum, scoring 59.5 percent on the gender parity index despite recording its fastest year-on-year improvement in a decade.
The country remained the lowest-ranked nation among 38 lower-middle-income economies and among seven South Asian countries surveyed in the report. Since 2006, Pakistan has narrowed its overall gender gap by only 5.2 percentage points, rising from 54.3 percent two decades ago to the current score.
However, the report credited substantial gains in educational attainment for driving this year’s improvement, the sharpest single-year gain the country has posted in ten years.
In economic participation and opportunity, Pakistan climbed three places to rank 144th globally, up from 147th last year. The labour force participation rate stood at 81.46 percent for men compared to just 28.21 percent for women.
Men held 93.87 percent of positions as legislators, senior officials and managers, leaving women with only 6.13 percent representation in these roles, though the gap narrowed considerably among professional and technical workers, where women held 30.96 percent of positions.
Pakistan ranked 115th in wage equality for similar work and 140th in estimated earned income. Female majority ownership existed in only 4.9 percent of firms, while women served as top managers in just 3.4 percent of companies.
Educational attainment saw the country rank 130th, reflecting the marked improvement in the category. Male literacy stood at 69.14 percent against a female literacy rate of 48.52 percent.
Primary school enrolment reached 83.01 percent for boys compared to 81.08 percent for girls, while secondary enrolment stood at 49.99 percent for boys against 46.48 percent for girls.
Pakistan ranked first in the world for parity in tertiary education enrolment, with 11.01 percent of men and 10.71 percent of women enrolled at that level.
The health and survival category placed Pakistan 127th overall, though the country ranked first globally for parity in sex ratio at birth. Healthy life expectancy stood at 57.1 years for men compared to 56.69 years for women.
Political empowerment placed Pakistan 107th globally. Men held 78.31 percent of parliamentary seats against 21.69 percent held by women, while 96.55 percent of ministerial positions were occupied by men compared to just 3.45 percent by women.
The report also found that women in Pakistan lacked equal inheritance rights as widows and daughters, and faced unequal rights regarding divorce. Women held near-equal rights in accessing financial services, land and non-land assets, and enjoyed equal rights to freedom of movement, but faced restricted access to justice.
