While no country has reached parity in terms of years with a female head of state, India has managed to get top rank for this indicator, whereas 65 per cent of countries have never had a female head of state over the past 50 years.
India's ninth position on political empowerment front is also its best-ever rank for this sub-index, where it was ranked 17th in 2012 and its lowest score was 25th in 2008.
The overall ranking of 101st is also its highest in the past seven years. India had ranked better at 98th position in the WEF's inaugural Gender Gap Index in 2006.
WEF said that increased political participation has helped narrow the global gender gap across the world.
A total of 86 countries have improved their rankings since last year, while Iceland has maintained narrowest gender gap for fifth year running.
Globally, progress is being made in narrowing the gender gap for economic equality, but women's presence is economic leadership positions is still limited in both developing and developed countries alike.
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