Indonesia's Gender Equality Level in 2025 Low in Southeast Asia

The World Economic Forum (WEF) compiled the gender gap levels in Southeast Asia using the 2025 Global Gender Gap Index.

The index is scored on a scale of 0-1, with a score of 1 indicating full equality. 'Gender gap' refers to the distance to achieving that full equality.

In the Global Gender Gap Report 2025, the Philippines achieved the highest score in Southeast Asia, at 0.781 points in 2025. This also placed the Philippines 20th globally.

Second in Southeast Asia was Singapore, with 0.748 points. This score placed Singapore 47th globally.

Third was Thailand, with 0.728 points. Globally, Thailand ranked 66th.

Indonesia ranked seventh with a score of 0.692 points, the same as Laos. This is considered a relatively low score in Southeast Asia. Globally, Indonesia ranked 97th.

Brunei Darussalam and Malaysia had the widest gender gap in Southeast Asia, both scoring 0.681 points.

Note that the WEF did not include a score for Myanmar in this region.

The WEF also analyzed that the global gender gap score in 2025 for all 148 countries included had closed by 68.8%.

Compared to the fixed group of 145 countries included in this year's and last year's editions, the global gender gap closed by +0.3 percentage points in 2025, from 68.4% in 2024 to 68.8% in 2025.

The WEF also noted that, from the fixed group of 100 countries continuously monitored since the first edition in 2006, the gender gap narrowed by 0.4 percentage points, from 68.6% in 2024 to 69.0% in 2025.

The gender gap index score uses several indicators, including economic participation and opportunity; educational attainment; health and survival; and political empowerment.

In addition to the 0-1 scale, the index also expresses progress towards gender equality as a percentage, showing the extent to which the gender gap has closed on a scale of 0-100%.

The following are the 2025 Global Gender Gap Index scores in Southeast Asia according to the WEF:

• Philippines: 0.781 points
• Singapore: 0.748 points
• Thailand: 0.728 points
• Vietnam: 0.713 points
• Timor-Leste: 0.704 points
• Laos: 0.692 points
• Indonesia: 0.692 points
• Cambodia: 0.682 points
• Brunei Darussalam: 0.681 points
• Malaysia: 0.681 points.

(Read: Top 10 Countries with Best Gender Equality in 2025)