Women held 33% of seats in national parliaments in the EU in 2020. This share has been rising since 2004, when women accounted for around one-fifth, or 21% of members in national parliaments.
According to EuroStat, the highest share of female parliamentarians is in Sweden. While the share of seats held by women in national parliaments varies considerably between EU countries, no EU country had more women than men holding seats in parliament.
In 2020, the highest share of female members in national parliaments was recorded in Sweden, where women accounted for almost a half of parliamentarians (close to 50%), ahead of Finland (46%), Belgium (43%) and Spain (both 42%).
At the opposite end of the scale, the lowest shares were recorded in Hungary and Malta (both 13%).
Over half of government members are female in Finland, Austria, Sweden and France.
Over the past years, the share of female members of government (senior and junior ministers) in the EU increased as well: from 20% in 2004 to 33% in 2020.
In 2020, Finland had the highest share of female members in its government (55%). Finland was followed by Austria (53%), Sweden (52%), France (51%) and Belgium (50%).In contrast, the lowest shares were recorded in Malta (8%), Greece (11%) and Estonia (13%).
The number of female presidents and prime ministers in the EU also rose since 2004. Today, four out of 27 heads of government are women, whereas there were none in 2004. Over this period, there were never more than four female presidents or prime ministers at the same time.
