INDIA GENDER LANDSCAPE
Color Key
This briefing showcases the gender landscape in India on key indicators Improvement
helpful for monitoring gender equality and designing effective policy Deterioration
interventions. Gender equality fosters productivity gains, minimizes losses
No Change
in wealth, reduces poverty, boosts shared prosperity, and supports green,
resilient, and inclusive development.
Click the indicators below to explore the World Bank Gender Data Portal. Latest* Comparison
Year Value SAS LMC World
Progress in ending all forms of gender-based violence
Proportion of women subjected to physical and/or sexual violence in the last 12 months (% of ever 2018 18.0 18.8 16.9 NA
partnered women ages 15-49)
Women who were first married by 18 (% of women 20-24) 2021 22.3 NA NA NA
Adolescent fertility rate (births per 1,000 women 15-19) 2022 14.2 26.3 42.0 39.3
Sex ratio at birth (male births per female births) 2022 1.07 1.07 1.06 1.06
Stronger and more resilient human capital
Learning poverty: Share of children at the end-of-primary age below minimum reading proficiency Female 2017 55.2 58.6 57.9 50.0
(%) Male 2017 57.5 60.8 61.3 53.7
Female 2023 86.5 78.2 69.3 74.8
Lower secondary completion rate (% of relevant group)
Male 2023 84.5 77.6 68.6 74.6
Maternal mortality ratio (modeled estimate per 100,000 live births) 2020 103 138 261 223
Contraceptive prevalence, any modern method (% of married women 15-49) 2021 56.4 52.2 47.1 55.7
Female 2020 0.66 NA NA NA
Fraction of children under 5 not stunted
Male 2020 0.65 NA NA NA
Mortality from cardiovascular disease, cancer, diabetes, or chronic respiratory disease between Female 2019 19.0 19.6 19.3 14.8
ages 30 and 70 (%) Male 2019 24.6 25.0 25.2 21.8
More and better jobs, including jobs of the future
Female 2023 31.2 31.1 40.1 49.0
Labor force participation rate (% 15+)
Male 2023 76.8 77.0 76.3 73.3
Female 2023 19.9 23.2 26.4 52.6
Wage and salaried workers (% of employment)
Male 2023 25.4 30.4 34.8 51.6
Female 2023 61.5 60.5 47.1 25.9
Employment in agriculture (% of employment)
Male 2023 36.6 34.7 35.1 26.2
Female 2023 38.1 38.1 33.8 NA
Share of youth not in education, employment or training (% of youth population)
Male 2023 10.2 10.2 12.0 NA
Female 2023 15.5 14.7 14.2 14.9
Youth unemployment (% of labor force 15-24)
Male 2023 15.7 14.9 12.7 13.3
Greater ownership and use of economic assets
Women who do not own land (% of women 15-49) 2021 66.2 NA NA NA
Men who do not own land (% of men) 2021 40.7 NA NA NA
Female 2021 77.5 64.3 55.6 71.9
Financial institution account (% 15+)
Male 2021 77.2 67.3 61.3 76.0
Wider access to and use of enabling services
Female 2018 14.9 NA 44.5 61.6
Individuals using the Internet (% of population)
Male 2018 25.0 NA 54.8 67.2
Female 2021 5.98 5.40 8.43 31.8
Used a mobile phone or the internet to pay bills (% 15+)
Male 2021 13.5 12.9 14.8 37.0
Advances in women’s participation in decision-making
Female share of employment in senior and middle management (%) 2023 12.7 NA NA NA
Firms with female participation in ownership (% of firms) 2022 3.90 12.6 30.8 33.8
Proportion of seats held by women in national parliaments (%) 2023 15.2 18.2 23.2 26.7
Proportion of women in ministerial level positions (%) 2022 6.67 11.2 18.4 22.8
*
Latest value shows the latest available country value for the indicator. Color coding of the latest country value represents a more than 10 percent change
upward or downward from the country’s baseline value from 10 years (+/- 2 years) prior to latest value. No coloring applied whenever there is no data for
baseline or when latest available value is prior to 2020.
Notes: (1) India is part of the South Asia (SAS) region and a lower middle income country (LMC)
as classified by The World Bank Group. Peer Comparison shows how India performs relative to its
peers in the region, income group, and the world. (2) Data and definitions can be found on the
Gender Data Portal. Data is as of March 29, 2025.
INDIA GENDER LANDSCAPE
Employment Gaps and Potential Economic Gains
% Variable to control the vertical shift of the entire diagram
Gains in income per
capita
55.8 %
Estimated increase
in long-run GDP per
capita, if women’s
employment matched
that of men
Sectoral Segregation and Quality of Employment
Barriers to Employment
Globally, women are less likely than men to participate in the Barriers to female employment include violence
labor market. When women do participate, they are more likely at work, legal restrictions, restrictive social norms,
to be in informal, vulnerable, and lower-paying jobs. and care responsibilities. Progress towards
women’s full participation in the economy could
increase economies’ GDP.
Learn More Definitions
Gender Jobs and Work • Gender Employment Gap Index (GEGI): Is the gap between male and female employment
as a share of total employment.
• World Bank Gender • Increasing Female Labor Force Participation • Vulnerable work: Is comprised of forms of self-employment (on or off the farm,
own-account or being a family worker in a household income activity) and associated with
Strategy 2024-2030 • Closing Gender Gaps in Earnings lower labor income and low job security.
• World Bank Gender • Jobs and Development Flagship Report • Wage work: Is working for an employer (which can be a private employer or public sector,
and informal or formal) and associated with greater labor income, greater job security and
Data Portal healthy working conditions.
Sources: All charts show the latest value available as of March 2025. Top row: (1) ILOSTAT, (2)
Pennings (2022). We report the basic variant of the Gender Employment Gap Index (GEGI). Middle
row: ILOSTAT. Bottom row: (1) ILO (2022), (2) Women, Business and the Law (2024) Legal 2.0, (3)
ILOSTAT