Japan Rises One Place in 2026 Gender Gap Ranking

Still Bottom in G7

Japan climbed one place to 117th out of 145 countries in the Global Gender Gap Report issued by the World Economic Forum on September 16, 2026.

The WEF report analyzes various statistical data on the status of women across four categories: economy, education, health, and politics. The gender gap index ranks countries on a scale where 1.00 represents full gender parity and 0.00 means complete gender disparity.

Japan scores highly in education and health, but because women take on most of the burden of housework and childcare, their opportunities to exercise leadership in politics and the economy are limited. The politics category is based on metrics such as the years a female head of state has been in office, the proportion of female members in the House of Representatives, and the male-to-female ratio of cabinet ministers, so even the selection of Takaichi Sanae as Japan’s first female prime minister did not lead to a dramatic improvement.

Among Group of Seven countries, Britain was ranked the highest (5), ahead of Germany (9), France (22), Canada (24), the United States (47), and Italy (83). Japan was the only G7 nation to fail to place within the top 100.

2026 Global Gender Gap Index Rankings

Created by Nippon.com based on data from the World Economic Forum Global Gender Gap Report 2026.

Data Sources

• Global Gender Gap Report 2026 from the World Economic Forum

(Translated from Japanese. Banner image © Pixta.)