ILO · Female Share of Senior and Middle Management
Women in management by country
What share of senior and middle managers are women?
Nauru placed first of the 86 countries compared in 2024, at 56.692%, and Bangladesh last, at 7.226%. In the middle country the figure was 35.861%. Among the 54 countries measured in every edition since 2014, the middle one moved from 31.380% to 35.473%.
Share
Women in management · 2024
Context statistic
Highest of 86Nauru
56.692%012024 · position · derived
Who leads
The three countries at the highest end of 86 compared, the three at the other end, and the first on each continent.
1Photo: Hadi Zaher · CC BY 2.0, greyscale
2
3Photo: Talk2winik · CC0, greyscale
Lowest in 2024
- 86
Bangladesh7.226% - 85
India11.885% - 84
Bhutan15.501%
Positions out of 86. Where a country sits says how it compares with the others measured, and nothing about why.
Highest on each continent
- Africa
Seychelles50.165% - Americas
Trinidad and Tobago52.673% - Asia
Singapore40.708% - Europe
Montenegro48.114% - OceaniaNauru56.692%
3 of 21 measured
- Every region
02Every measured country
Women in management on a map
Each country is shaded by its value, in five groups holding the same number of countries. Hover a country for its value, or select it to open its profile. Below the map, each continent’s middle country.
Darker is a higher value — the better end.
- 7.226–26.944%
- 27.503–34.421%
- 34.518–37.793%
- 37.857–41.978%
- 42.150–56.692%
- No reading in 2024 (61 measured in an earlier edition)
- Americas
39.812%
the middle country, of 17 measured · 48 members
Trinidad and Tobago52.673%
Bolivia22.268%Highest and lowest reading in Americas.
- Europe
34.876%
the middle country, of 35 measured · 49 members
Montenegro48.114%
Italy25.254%Highest and lowest reading in Europe.
- Africa
33.673%
the middle country, of 16 measured · 55 members
Seychelles50.165%
Gabon19.248%Highest and lowest reading in Africa.
- Asia
27.503%
the middle country, of 15 measured · 52 members
Singapore40.708%Bangladesh7.226%Highest and lowest reading in Asia.
- Oceania
3 of 21 measured — too few for a middle: Australia, Fiji, Nauru.
Nauru56.692%
Fiji34.886%Highest and lowest reading in Oceania.
- Every region
20 sub-regions, highest middle country first
- Central America
42.933%
the middle country, of 6 measured · 8 members
Honduras50.790%
Mexico37.280%Highest and lowest reading in Central America.
- Eastern Europe
40.853%
the middle country, of 7 measured · 10 members
Hungary42.150%
Czechia26.875%Highest and lowest reading in Eastern Europe.
- Northern Europe
37.793%
the middle country, of 9 measured · 13 members
Sweden44.742%
Denmark26.944%Highest and lowest reading in Northern Europe.
- South America
36.383%
the middle country, of 7 measured · 12 members
Colombia43.491%Bolivia22.268%Highest and lowest reading in South America.
- Eastern Africa
34.421%
the middle country, of 7 measured · 19 members
Seychelles50.165%
Zambia29.594%Highest and lowest reading in Eastern Africa.
- Southern Europe
33.260%
the middle country, of 12 measured · 17 members
Montenegro48.114%Italy25.254%Highest and lowest reading in Southern Europe.
- Western Europe
33.094%
the middle country, of 7 measured · 9 members
France38.707%
Luxembourg26.877%Highest and lowest reading in Western Europe.
- Western Asia
27.503%
the middle country, of 5 measured · 19 members
Georgia37.513%
Türkiye21.453%Highest and lowest reading in Western Asia.
- Southern Asia
15.501%
the middle country, of 5 measured · 9 members
Sri Lanka29.177%Bangladesh7.226%Highest and lowest reading in Southern Asia.
- Australia and New Zealand
1 of 2 measured — too few for a middle: Australia.
Australia39.389%Highest and lowest reading in Australia and New Zealand.
- Caribbean
3 of 24 measured — too few for a middle: Barbados, Dominican Republic, Trinidad and Tobago.
Trinidad and Tobago52.673%
Dominican Republic47.415%Highest and lowest reading in Caribbean.
- Eastern Asia
1 of 8 measured — too few for a middle: Mongolia.
Mongolia40.499%Highest and lowest reading in Eastern Asia.
- Melanesia
1 of 5 measured — too few for a middle: Fiji.
Fiji34.886%Highest and lowest reading in Melanesia.
- Micronesia
1 of 7 measured — too few for a middle: Nauru.
Nauru56.692%Highest and lowest reading in Micronesia.
- Middle Africa
2 of 9 measured — too few for a middle: Angola, Gabon.
Angola21.956%Gabon19.248%Highest and lowest reading in Middle Africa.
- Northern Africa
1 of 6 measured — too few for a middle: Egypt.
Egypt22.313%Highest and lowest reading in Northern Africa.
- Northern America
1 of 4 measured — too few for a middle: United States.
United States44.327%Highest and lowest reading in Northern America.
- South-eastern Asia
4 of 11 measured — too few for a middle: Brunei, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam.
Singapore40.708%
Vietnam26.065%Highest and lowest reading in South-eastern Asia.
- Southern Africa
3 of 5 measured — too few for a middle: Botswana, Lesotho, South Africa.
Botswana48.212%
Lesotho32.925%Highest and lowest reading in Southern Africa.
- Western Africa
3 of 16 measured — too few for a middle: Burkina Faso, Nigeria, Senegal.
Burkina Faso45.893%
Senegal23.022%Highest and lowest reading in Western Africa.
03The whole field at once
The spread
86 countries, one dot each, on one scale — further right is a higher value. Half the countries are above 35.861%; a quarter are above 40.656%, and a quarter below 29.281%. The bar in each row marks that continent’s middle country.
04All 147 ever measured
Every country
In order, highest value first. “=” marks a position shared with another country. International Labour Organization (ILO) ranks nobody on this measure; the position is derived here by ordering the published values. Parity would be about 50% and nobody is there: the observed range runs from about 4% to 71%, and the handful of countries above 50% are mostly small economies with narrow management strata.
Showing 25 of 147 countries
Values for 2024. The change column compares 2024 with 2023 only; the sparkline covers the recent editions.
052014–2024 · 10 reference years
Over time
Each point is one reference year from 2014. Reporting is patchy — years outside 2014–2024 fall below 80 countries and are not imported.
- the middle country
- the middle half of countries
- the middle of the 54 countries measured every time
- each continent’s middle country
The same, year by year
| Year | Countries | Middle country | Middle half | Measured every time |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | 86 | 35.861% | 29.281% – 40.656% | 35.473% |
| 2023 | 92 | 35.705% | 29.214% – 40.407% | 34.343% |
| 2022 | 95 | 33.126% | 25.560% – 38.929% | 34.489% |
| 2021 | 94 | 34.378% | 26.496% – 39.588% | 33.926% |
| 2020 | 90 | 35.009% | 27.017% – 39.972% | 34.355% |
| 2019 | 95 | 33.136% | 27.158% – 40.041% | 33.314% |
| 2018 | 84 | 33.117% | 26.179% – 37.785% | 32.378% |
| 2017 | 88 | 30.673% | 23.370% – 36.400% | 31.331% |
| 2016 | 82 | 32.093% | 25.020% – 38.026% | 31.479% |
| 2014 | 84 | 31.380% | 24.509% – 35.609% | 31.380% |
062023 → 2024
Who rose and fell
The biggest changes in value between the two newest editions — reference years recalculated in one report, not two separate publications. Places are shown second, because they also move when other countries do.
Improved most
before → after- Montenegro22.732% → 48.114% · 81st → 8th+25.382
- Burkina Faso29.216% → 45.893% · 69th → 12th+16.677
- Luxembourg16.983% → 26.877% · 89th → 70th+9.894
- Honduras41.431% → 50.790% · 22nd → 3rd+9.359
- Sri Lanka22.525% → 29.177% · 82nd → 65th+6.652
Declined most
before → after- Mongolia50.359% → 40.499% · 5th → 23rd−9.860
Rwanda38.383% → 30.460% · 35th → 61st−7.923- Zambia36.693% → 29.594% · 44th → 64th−7.099
- Dominican Republic53.958% → 47.415% · 2nd → 10th−6.543
- Denmark33.120% → 26.944% · 58th → 69th−6.176
78 countries were measured in both 2023 and 2024. The field changed from 92 to 86 countries, so a place can move for reasons that have nothing to do with the country itself.
07Across every edition
Women in management in records
The extremes of the statistic. A record reached by more than one country names none of them.
Highest reading on record
70.969%
Women in senior and middle management (% of managers)
Lowest reading on record
4.255%
Women in senior and middle management (% of managers)
Biggest improvement between editions
+25.382
22.732% → 48.114%
Biggest decline between editions
−20.461
62.090% → 41.629%
Most improved since first measured
+23.488
24.626% → 48.114%
At the top most often
2 countries share this record — no holder is named
2 of 10
editions
08The measure
About women in management
This is SDG indicator 5.5.2: the share of senior and middle management posts held by women. Where female labour force participation asks whether women are in the labour market at all, this asks whether they reach the top of it.
What the number is: Women in senior and middle management (% of managers).
09Where it fits
Connections
Its part in the Country Index, the statistics whose values line up most closely with it across countries, and others on the same subject.
In the Country Index
Context, with no vote
This statistic is published in full under Work & Labour and Gender & Equality, but does not help decide any Country Index standing.
Work & LabourGender & EqualityWhich statistics vote, and why
Moves with
Where women in management is higher, these tend to be higher too.
- Firms with a Female Top ManagerKeyWorld Bank Group · 84 countries in commonρ 0.42
Moves against
Where women in management is higher, these tend to be lower.
No statistic lines up this closely.
Rank correlation (ρ, from −1 to 1) across countries, on each statistic’s newest edition, out of 214 statistics sharing at least 80 countries with this one. Two statistics that move together do not cause each other.
10Keep reading
Explore further
The subject
The countries at either end
11Questions
Women in management: questions and answers
Which country has the highest women in management?
Nauru, at 56.692%, among the 86 countries compared in 2024.
Which country has the lowest women in management?
Bangladesh, at 7.226%, among the 86 countries compared in 2024.
How many countries does the Female Share of Senior and Middle Management cover?
86 in 2024, and 147 at least once across all editions. The number measured varies from 82 to 95 between editions.
What is the world average women in management?
This site does not calculate a world average, which would depend on how countries are weighted. In the middle country of the 86 compared in 2024, the figure was 35.861%.
Is this International Labour Organization (ILO)’s own ranking?
No. International Labour Organization (ILO) publishes the values but ranks nobody; the position on this page is derived by Nations Inquiry by ordering the published values, and equal values share a position.
How often is the Female Share of Senior and Middle Management published?
This site holds 10 reference years, 2014–2024, all recalculated in International Labour Organization (ILO)’s 2026 report on one method — not 10 separate publications.
Where does the data come from, and can I download it?
From International Labour Organization (ILO), under CC BY 4.0. From the ILO’s SDG database via the World Bank’s indicator API (SL.EMP.SMGT.FE.ZS). Every edition is on this site’s Datasets pages as a full table, and downloads as a CSV file with every value unrounded.
12Method
Sources, method and citation
Source
Female Share of Senior and Middle Management — International Labour Organization (ILO)
From the ILO’s SDG database via the World Bank’s indicator API (SL.EMP.SMGT.FE.ZS).
Newest edition
Report year 2024Data year 2024
Cite the source as: International Labour Organization. Labour Market-related SDG Indicators database (ILOSDG). Geneva: ILOSTAT.
Licence: CC BY 4.0, checked 2026-09-07.
How this page reads the numbers
- International Labour Organization (ILO) ranks nobody on this measure. The position is derived by Nations Inquiry by ordering the published values; equal values share a position.
- Which end is better follows the publisher’s own reading of the measure.
- A country is named at an end only when it holds that value alone. Where several share it, the page says how many and names none first.
- Values are stored exactly as published and trimmed only for display. “The middle country” is the median of the countries measured, not a world average.
The file itself, column by column — where it came from, what each column holds, and every edition as a CSV — is on its dataset page.
Photographs
The countries at the top of this statistic, from their profiles: Wikimedia Commons, shown in greyscale, each used under the licence named.
- Nauru — Hadi Zaher, CC BY 2.0
- Trinidad and Tobago — Wikifurn, CC0
- Honduras — Talk2winik, CC0
Cite this page
Nations Inquiry (2026). Women in management by country: Female Share of Senior and Middle Management, data from International Labour Organization (ILO). https://nationsinquiry.com/statistics/female-managers