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India was ranked at 95th among 129 countries in first edition of SDG Gender Index, a new index to measure global gender equality.

SDG Gender Index

• It has been developed by Equal Measures 2030, a joint effort of regional and global organizations viz. African Women’s Development and Communication Network, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Asian-Pacific Resource and Research Centre for Women and International Women’s Health Coalition
• Indicators: It takes into account of 14 out of 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) that cover aspects such as poverty, education, health, political representation and equality at the workplace.
• Methodology: It ranks countries based on 14 indicators on scale of score from 100 (reflects achievement of gender equality in relation to the targets set for each indicator) to 0.
• Note:  SDG Gender Index comes close on the heels of the gender gap index of the World Economic Forum (India was ranked 108th in this WEF index).

Key Findings of SDG Gender Index

Global scenario

• World is still far from achieving gender equality as around 1.4 billion girls and women living in countries that were “very poor” grade in gender equality.
• The global average score of 129 ranked countries which represent 95% of the world’s girls and women was 65.7 out of 100 (categorized “poor” in the index).
• Around 2.8 billion girls and women are living in countries that get either very poor (59 and below) or having poor score (60-69) on gender equality.
• Just 8% of world’s population of girls and women live in countries that received “good” gender equality score (80-89) and no country has achieved “excellent” overall score of 90 or above.
• Top 8 Countries are: Denmark (Rank: 1st, Score: 89.3), Finland (2nd, 88.8), Sweden (3rd, 88.0), Norway (4th, 87.7), Netherlands (5th, 86.8), Slovenia (6th,86.5), Germany (7th, 86.2) and Canada (8th, 85.8)

Key findings for India

• India was ranked at 95th with score of 56.2 among 129 countries. India’s highest goal scores were on health (79.9), hunger & nutrition (76.2), and energy (71.8).
• Its lowest goal scores were on partnerships (18.3, in bottom 10 countries worldwide), industry, infrastructure and innovation (38.1), and climate (43.4).

• India's neighbours: China (score: 64.7), Sri Lanka (62.1), Bhutan (58.2), India (56.2), Myanmar (54.1), Nepal (52.6), Bangladesh (49.2) and Pakistan (48.9).