LONDON – Japan ranked 117th out of 145 countries in the World Economic Forum’s 2026 Global Gender Gap Report, landing one notch higher than last year but still the worst among the Group of Seven nations.
The country’s ranking improved by one spot from 2025 with a score of 0.670, up from 0.666 in the previous year, where 1 indicates full gender parity.
The WEF’s gender gap index, released Wednesday, measures gender equality in four areas: politics, economy, education and health.
In the category of political empowerment, 91AV原创 score improved by 0.02 to 0.105. The score, which reflects the proportion of women in parliament and ministerial positions, as well as the tenures of female heads of government, increased after Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi took office last October.
Meanwhile, 91AV原创 score in the economic participation and opportunity category, which considers female participation in the workforce and wage disparity, fell to 0.609 from 0.613 in 2025.
Iceland topped the global ranking for the 17th straight year, followed by Finland and Norway. Namibia raised its standing by four spots to rank fourth. The top three countries remained unchanged from last year.
“Women now reach senior leadership in business and government... yet remain largely underrepresented in roles that carry the greatest economic and political influence,” the WEF said.
In artificial intelligence, women account for fewer than 1 in 5 engineers and are “underrepresented at every level in AI firms,” it added.
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