Japan has fallen in the global gender equality rankings, mainly because men have more opportunities than women in the fields of economy and politics.

Japan is ranked 125th among 146 nations in the annual Global Gender Gap Report released by the World Economic Forum on Wednesday. The country was ranked 116th last year.

The report compiles rankings for "Economic Participation and Opportunity," "Educational Attainment," "Health and Survival" and "Political Empowerment."

Overall, Iceland continues to top the list for 14 years in a row, followed by Norway, Finland and New Zealand.

Japan almost achieves parity in education and healthcare, but received poor assessments in the other two categories.

The country ranks 138th in the political category, as women account for only 10 percent of Lower House lawmakers and 8.3 percent of Cabinet members.

The report warns that it would take 162 years to achieve gender parity in politics worldwide, and 131 years for overall equality.