Bulgaria has significantly dropped in the global ranking for gender equality in 2025, falling to 83rd place among 148 countries, according to the latest report by the World Economic Forum. Just a year ago, the country held the 60th position. The decline is visible not only globally but also regionally - Bulgaria now ranks 33rd in Europe, down from 28th in 2024.

The report evaluates gender parity based on four key areas: economic participation and opportunity, educational attainment, health and survival, and political empowerment. Bulgaria performs best in education, showing relatively strong results in that dimension. However, the weakest performance remains in the political domain, where the participation of women in leadership and decision-making roles continues to lag behind.

On a global scale, the average level of gender equality has inched forward. In 2025, the world achieved 68.8% parity overall, marking a slight improvement of 0.3 percentage points compared to 68.4% in the previous year.

Iceland continues to lead the world rankings for the 16th consecutive year. It remains the only country to have surpassed the 90% mark in closing the gender gap—a milestone it reached back in 2022. The rest of the top ten is largely dominated by European nations, with Finland and Norway holding second and third place, followed by Sweden. This year, the UK and Moldova are also among the top performers, with Moldova climbing back into 7th place. New Zealand (5th) and Namibia (8th) are the only non-European countries featured in the top ten.

At the opposite end of the spectrum, Pakistan remains at the bottom of the global gender equality index, showing minimal progress in improving opportunities for women.