⚠️ Unconfirmedsocial2024
Women with at least one seat in national parliament (lower or single house), 2024
Country-by-country share of seats held by women in national parliaments (lower/single house), latest 2024 values from IPU/UN Women data.
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Key Insights
Global Average
26.0%
Median: 25.0%
Countries Covered
183
with available data
Highest
Rwanda
63.8%
Lowest
Yemen
1.0%
Top 5 Countries
1Rwanda63.8%
2Cuba55.0%
3Mexico50.0%
4New Zealand50.0%
5Iceland48.0%
By Region
Oceania43.0%(2 countries)
South America32.3%(7 countries)
North America32.3%(4 countries)
Europe32.2%(31 countries)
Africa25.7%(9 countries)
Key Findings
- •Representation varies dramatically worldwide—from near-zero in some countries to over 60% in the top performers.
- •Countries with legislated candidate quotas or reserved seats often cluster at the high end of the distribution.
- •Several large countries remain below 30%, indicating that population size does not guarantee representation parity.
Country Rankings
Top 10 Countries
Bottom 10 Countries
Data Analysis
Value Distribution
How countries are distributed across the value range
Low (0.0%)High (63.8%)
Regional Comparison
Average values by world region (Global avg: 26.0%)
Oceania (2)
South America (7)
North America (4)
Europe (31)
Africa (9)
Other (104)
Asia (26)
About This Statistic
This statistic measures the percentage of seats in a country’s national parliament held by women in the lower house (or the single chamber in unicameral systems). It’s a widely used indicator of political representation and is tracked globally by the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU), with UN Women disseminating the series for international comparability.
Values change with elections, appointments, resignations, and party-list replacements; some countries also use legislated or voluntary gender quotas that can substantially affect outcomes. The dataset is one of the most complete, frequently updated global series on representation—making it useful for comparing countries and monitoring progress over time.
Full Data
| Rank ↑ | Country ↕ | Value ↕ |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Rwanda | 63.8% |
| 2 | Cuba | 55.0% |
| 3 | Mexico | 50.0% |
| 4 | New Zealand | 50.0% |
| 5 | Iceland | 48.0% |
| 6 | Nicaragua | 48.0% |
| 7 | Costa Rica | 47.0% |
| 8 | Faroe Islands | 46.0% |
| 9 | Finland | 46.0% |
| 10 | South Africa | 46.0% |
| 11 | Sweden | 46.0% |
| 12 | Botswana | 46.0% |
| 13 | Namibia | 45.0% |
| 14 | Norway | 45.0% |
| 15 | Senegal | 45.0% |
| 16 | Denmark | 44.0% |
| 17 | Spain | 44.0% |
| 18 | Taiwan, Province of China | 42.0% |
| 19 | Ecuador | 42.0% |
| 20 | Mozambique | 42.0% |
| 21 | Switzerland | 42.0% |
| 22 | Belgium | 42.0% |
| 23 | Ethiopia | 41.0% |
| 24 | The Republic of North Macedonia | 41.0% |
| 25 | Belarus | 40.0% |
| 26 | Moldova, Republic of | 40.0% |
| 27 | Netherlands | 40.0% |
| 28 | Peru | 40.0% |
| 29 | Argentina | 39.0% |
| 30 | Burundi | 38.0% |
| 31 | Timor-Leste | 38.0% |
| 32 | France | 37.0% |
| 33 | Portugal | 37.0% |
| 34 | Suriname | 37.0% |
| 35 | United Republic of Tanzania | 37.0% |
| 36 | Belize | 37.0% |
| 37 | Virgin Islands, British | 37.0% |
| 38 | Chile | 36.0% |
| 39 | Guyana | 36.0% |
| 40 | Slovenia | 36.0% |
| 41 | Australia | 36.0% |
| 42 | Serbia | 35.0% |
| 43 | Zimbabwe | 35.0% |
| 44 | South Sudan | 35.0% |
| 45 | Uganda | 35.0% |
| 46 | United Kingdom | 35.0% |
| 47 | Albania | 35.0% |
| 48 | Azerbaijan | 35.0% |
| 49 | Bhutan | 35.0% |
| 50 | Cameroon | 34.0% |
| 51 | Chad | 34.0% |
| 52 | Nepal | 34.0% |
| 53 | Luxembourg | 33.0% |
| 54 | Croatia | 32.0% |
| 55 | Italy | 32.0% |
| 56 | Latvia | 32.0% |
| 57 | Uzbekistan | 32.0% |
| 58 | Brunei Darussalam | 32.0% |
| 59 | Vietnam | 31.0% |
| 60 | Trinidad and Tobago | 31.0% |
| 61 | Canada | 30.0% |
| 62 | Liberia | 30.0% |
| 63 | Singapore | 30.0% |
| 64 | Bangladesh | 30.0% |
| 65 | Bosnia and Herzegovina | 30.0% |
| 66 | Colombia | 29.0% |
| 67 | Equatorial Guinea | 29.0% |
| 68 | Guinea | 29.0% |
| 69 | Iraq | 29.0% |
| 70 | Jamaica | 29.0% |
| 71 | Mali | 29.0% |
| 72 | Philippines | 29.0% |
| 73 | Poland | 29.0% |
| 74 | United States of America | 29.0% |
| 75 | Algeria | 29.0% |
| 76 | Fiji | 28.0% |
| 77 | Lithuania | 28.0% |
| 78 | Sudan | 28.0% |
| 79 | Antigua and Barbuda | 28.0% |
| 80 | Benin | 27.0% |
| 81 | Dominican Republic | 27.0% |
| 82 | Estonia | 27.0% |
| 83 | Kazakhstan | 27.0% |
| 84 | Lesotho | 27.0% |
| 85 | Egypt | 27.0% |
| 86 | Andorra | 27.0% |
| 87 | Bermuda | 27.0% |
| 88 | Djibouti | 26.0% |
| 89 | Tunisia | 26.0% |
| 90 | Afghanistan | 26.0% |
| 91 | Czech Republic | 25.0% |
| 92 | El Salvador | 25.0% |
| 93 | Israel | 25.0% |
| 94 | Mongolia | 25.0% |
| 95 | Turkmenistan | 25.0% |
| 96 | Bahamas | 25.0% |
| 97 | People's Republic of China | 24.0% |
| 98 | Ireland | 24.0% |
| 99 | Morocco | 24.0% |
| 100 | Somalia | 24.0% |
| 101 | Angola | 24.0% |
| 102 | Cayman Islands | 23.0% |
| 103 | Malawi | 23.0% |
| 104 | Panama | 23.0% |
| 105 | Slovakia | 23.0% |
| 106 | United Arab Emirates | 23.0% |
| 107 | Uruguay | 23.0% |
| 108 | Venezuela | 23.0% |
| 109 | Indonesia | 22.0% |
| 110 | Kenya | 22.0% |
| 111 | Kyrgyzstan | 22.0% |
| 112 | Tajikistan | 22.0% |
| 113 | Bulgaria | 21.0% |
| 114 | Cambodia | 21.0% |
| 115 | Georgia | 21.0% |
| 116 | Greece | 21.0% |
| 117 | Honduras | 21.0% |
| 118 | Paraguay | 21.0% |
| 119 | Ukraine | 21.0% |
| 120 | Bolivia | 21.0% |
| 121 | Cyprus | 20.0% |
| 122 | Guatemala | 20.0% |
| 123 | Madagascar | 20.0% |
| 124 | Malta | 20.0% |
| 125 | Mauritania | 20.0% |
| 126 | Mauritius | 20.0% |
| 127 | Pakistan | 20.0% |
| 128 | Saudi Arabia | 20.0% |
| 129 | Türkiye | 20.0% |
| 130 | Austria | 20.0% |
| 131 | Barbados | 20.0% |
| 132 | Republic of The Gambia | 19.0% |
| 133 | South Korea | 19.0% |
| 134 | Romania | 19.0% |
| 135 | Togo | 19.0% |
| 136 | Zambia | 19.0% |
| 137 | Bahrain | 19.0% |
| 138 | North Korea | 18.0% |
| 139 | Lao People's Democratic Republic | 18.0% |
| 140 | Guinea-Bissau | 18.0% |
| 141 | Burkina Faso | 18.0% |
| 142 | Russian Federation | 17.0% |
| 143 | Brazil | 17.0% |
| 144 | Republic of the Congo | 16.0% |
| 145 | Jordan | 16.0% |
| 146 | Libya | 16.0% |
| 147 | Thailand | 16.0% |
| 148 | India | 15.0% |
| 149 | Malaysia | 15.0% |
| 150 | Armenia | 15.0% |
| 151 | Ghana | 14.0% |
| 152 | Hungary | 14.0% |
| 153 | Papua New Guinea | 14.0% |
| 154 | Myanmar | 13.0% |
| 155 | Cote d'Ivoire | 13.0% |
| 156 | Sierra Leone | 13.0% |
| 157 | Syrian Arab Republic | 13.0% |
| 158 | Solomon Islands | 13.0% |
| 159 | Democratic Republic of the Congo | 12.0% |
| 160 | Seychelles | 12.0% |
| 161 | Oman | 11.0% |
| 162 | Eswatini | 11.0% |
| 163 | Central African Republic | 10.0% |
| 164 | Comoros | 10.0% |
| 165 | Japan | 10.0% |
| 166 | Montenegro | 10.0% |
| 167 | Samoa | 10.0% |
| 168 | Cape Verde | 9.0% |
| 169 | Gabon | 9.0% |
| 170 | Western Sahara | 9.0% |
| 171 | New Caledonia | 8.0% |
| 172 | Tonga | 8.0% |
| 173 | Eritrea | 6.0% |
| 174 | Islamic Republic of Iran | 6.0% |
| 175 | Niger | 6.0% |
| 176 | Sri Lanka | 5.0% |
| 177 | Lebanon | 5.0% |
| 178 | Qatar | 5.0% |
| 179 | Kuwait | 4.0% |
| 180 | Nigeria | 4.0% |
| 181 | Haiti | 3.0% |
| 182 | Vanuatu | 2.0% |
| 183 | Yemen | 1.0% |
Showing 183 of 183 countries
Topics
Data Source
This data comes from Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) / UN Women (2024).
View Original Source