New data has warned girls born today will not see gender representation parity in executive positions in their lifetimes.

Twenty years after the World Economic Forum first measured the global gender gap, the world is closer to parity than ever, but progress is fragile, with gains reversing in some areas, according to the Global Gender Gap Report 2026.

Women now reach senior leadership in business and government at levels that were rare in 2006 yet remain largely underrepresented in roles that carry the greatest economic and political influence.

The 20th edition of the report, the longest-standing index of its kind, benchmarks 145 economies across four dimensions: economic participation and opportunity, educational attainment, health and survival, and political empowerment. Globally, the gender gap now stands at 69.2% closed, where 100% represents full parity, up 0.4 percentage points over the past year.

Among the 97 economies tracked since 2006, the gap has closed by 5.2 percentage points to 69.4%, the highest level recorded. Economic participation and opportunity (61.7%) and political empowerment (22.1%) are the dimensions furthest away from parity. At the current rate of progress, full parity across all measures is still 120 years away.

“Twenty years of data show that gender parity is achievable. Economies at every income level have made progress, so the barrier is not a lack of resources,” said Saadia Zahidi, managing director, World Economic Forum. “Parity is a foundation for growth and competitiveness, but it is not inevitable. To accelerate, governments and employers need to learn from the policies that work and apply them faster. A new economy demands a new approach to talent.”

Iceland leads in the report’s rankings for the 17th consecutive year, with 93% of the gender gap closed, and remains the only country to have closed more than 90% of its gap. Finland (87.2%) and Norway (85.7%) hold second and third for the third year running. Namibia (84.5%) climbed four places to fourth, the highest-ranked country in Sub-Saharan Africa, followed by the United Kingdom (84.2%), New Zealand (82.8%), Sweden (82.3%), Australia (81.9%), Germany (81.7%) and Ireland (81.4%).

Australia entered the top 10 for the first time. Four economies have appeared in every top 10 since 2006: Iceland, Finland, Norway and Sweden.

Progress has come in phases. Improvement peaked before the pandemic, when 76% of tracked economies recorded gains, before widespread setbacks. Since 2024, more than half of indexed economies have regained momentum. The biggest climbers in this year’s ranking are Kenya (65th, up 33 places), Ghana (56th, up 32), Guatemala (50th, up 31), Angola (87th, up 30) and Czechia (77th, up 25).

The economies that have progressed the most in closing their gender gaps since 2006, each closing at least 12 percentage points of their gap, are Bolivia, Chile, Ecuador, France, Guatemala, Iceland, Mexico, Namibia and Nepal.

Drawing on data from the LinkedIn Economic Graph Research Institute, the report found that since 2024, women’s share of top-level management has stalled at an average of under 30% across 62 economies. The pipeline behind it is narrowing too. In the 16 economies with hiring data being tracked, women’s share of new hires into those roles has fallen every year since 2022, from 34.8% to 32.3% in the first two quarters of 2026. Within the C-suite, women hold 19.1% of chief executive officer roles and around a quarter of chief financial officer and chief operating officer roles, the positions that typically are among the most common routes to the top job. Meanwhile, women hold around two-thirds of chief human resources and chief people officer roles but occupy under one in five chief information and under one in 10 chief technology officer roles.

“Progress towards gender parity in leadership has stalled for a fourth year. Based on the current trajectory, girls born today will not see equal representation at the top in their lifetime. And the issue is even more pronounced for women working in AI roles,” said Sue Duke, managing director for EMEA & LATAM and head of global public policy & economic graph at LinkedIn. “But we can change that trajectory by tackling the persistent barriers holding women back as their careers progress – from better investment in skills, hiring based on capability, and normalising non-linear careers.”