In 2024, women held one-third (33.4%) of seats in national parliaments across the EU, a 5.6 percentage point increase from 2014, Eurostat reports.
Sweden, Finland, and Denmark lead with nearly 50% female representation in their parliaments. Cyprus, Hungary, and Romania have the lowest share of women, with less than 20% female representation.
Malta, Latvia, and France saw the most significant increases in female representation in their parliaments since 2014.
Women in national governments
In 2024, the proportion of women serving as ministers in EU governments reached 35.1%, a solid jump of 7.4 percentage points since 2014.
Finland’s centre-right government, led by Petteri Orpo, boasted the highest share of women, with a whopping 60% of ministerial positions held by women. Belgium wasn’t far behind at 55%, while Estonia and France both achieved a balanced 50/50 split.
On the other hand, Viktor Orbán’s Hungarian government had no female ministers at all. The Czech government, under Petr Fiala, and Andrej Plenković’s Croatian government also lagged behind, with only 5.9% and 10.5% female representation, respectively.
Since 2014, most EU countries have seen an increase in the number of women in government. Belgium saw the biggest jump, with a 32.8 percentage point increase, followed by Portugal at 25.7 percentage points and Lithuania at 24.9 percentage points.
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