UIS · Female Share of Researchers
Women in research by country
What share of a country's researchers are women?
Of the 131 countries compared in the 2024 edition, Myanmar had the highest reading, 76.541%, and Chad had the lowest reading, 3.351%. In the middle country the figure was 39.052%. 22 readings from before 2014 are listed but not compared.
Share
Women in research · the 2024 edition
Context statistic
Highest of 131Myanmar
76.541%01the 2024 edition · values only
The highest and the lowest
The three countries with the highest values of 131 compared, the three with the lowest, and the highest on each continent. This statistic has no better end, so no country is shown as leading.
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02Every measured country
Women in research 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. This statistic has no better end, so the shades describe size, not success.
- 3.351–29.645%
- 29.833–36.750%
- 37.006–42.878%
- 43.014–49.480%
- 49.495–76.541%
- Hatched: a reading from before 2014, listed but not compared (22)
- No reading in the 2024 edition
- Americas
46.595%
the middle country, of 20 measured · 48 members
Cuba56.001%
Peru32.285%Highest and lowest reading in Americas.
- Asia
42.730%
the middle country, of 35 measured · 52 members
Myanmar76.541%
Japan18.476%Highest and lowest reading in Asia.
- Europe
38.749%
the middle country, of 41 measured · 49 members
Albania57.653%
Andorra18.919%Highest and lowest reading in Europe.
- Africa
29.115%
the middle country, of 34 measured · 55 members
Tunisia55.308%
Chad3.351%Highest and lowest reading in Africa.
- Oceania
1 of 21 measured — too few for a middle: Papua New Guinea.
Papua New Guinea33.249%Highest and lowest reading in Oceania.
- Every region
19 sub-regions, highest middle country first
- Central America
46.595%
the middle country, of 6 measured · 8 members
Guatemala49.495%
Mexico33.682%Highest and lowest reading in Central America.
- South-eastern Asia
45.699%
the middle country, of 9 measured · 11 members
Myanmar76.541%
Cambodia23.678%Highest and lowest reading in South-eastern Asia.
- South America
44.084%
the middle country, of 9 measured · 12 members
Argentina54.027%Peru32.285%Highest and lowest reading in South America.
- Southern Europe
42.711%
the middle country, of 13 measured · 17 members
Albania57.653%Andorra18.919%Highest and lowest reading in Southern Europe.
- Western Asia
41.835%
the middle country, of 14 measured · 19 members
Azerbaijan60.618%
Jordan19.518%Highest and lowest reading in Western Asia.
- Eastern Europe
39.184%
the middle country, of 10 measured · 10 members
Moldova52.946%
Czechia28.061%Highest and lowest reading in Eastern Europe.
- Northern Europe
38.901%
the middle country, of 10 measured · 13 members
Lithuania49.041%
Iceland32.915%Highest and lowest reading in Northern Europe.
- Western Europe
31.327%
the middle country, of 8 measured · 9 members
Switzerland36.750%
Liechtenstein25.401%Highest and lowest reading in Western Europe.
- Eastern Africa
31.290%
the middle country, of 11 measured · 19 members
Mauritius49.726%
Ethiopia11.511%Highest and lowest reading in Eastern Africa.
- Western Africa
25.276%
the middle country, of 10 measured · 16 members
Cabo Verde45.752%
Togo11.522%Highest and lowest reading in Western Africa.
- Middle Africa
18.864%
the middle country, of 5 measured · 9 members
Angola28.714%Chad3.351%Highest and lowest reading in Middle Africa.
- Caribbean
4 of 24 measured — too few for a middle: Cuba, Dominican Republic, Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago.
Cuba56.001%
Dominican Republic44.313%Highest and lowest reading in Caribbean.
- Central Asia
4 of 5 measured — too few for a middle: Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan.
Kyrgyzstan61.391%
Tajikistan37.006%Highest and lowest reading in Central Asia.
- Eastern Asia
4 of 8 measured — too few for a middle: Japan, Macau, Mongolia, South Korea.
Mongolia57.411%Japan18.476%Highest and lowest reading in Eastern Asia.
- Melanesia
1 of 5 measured — too few for a middle: Papua New Guinea.
Papua New Guinea33.249%Highest and lowest reading in Melanesia.
- Northern Africa
4 of 6 measured — too few for a middle: Algeria, Egypt, Morocco, Tunisia.
Tunisia55.308%
Morocco33.754%Highest and lowest reading in Northern Africa.
- Northern America
1 of 4 measured — too few for a middle: Bermuda.
Bermuda40.000%Highest and lowest reading in Northern America.
- Southern Africa
4 of 5 measured — too few for a middle: Eswatini, Lesotho, Namibia, South Africa.
Lesotho52.564%
Eswatini41.389%Highest and lowest reading in Southern Africa.
- Southern Asia
4 of 9 measured — too few for a middle: Bhutan, Iran, Pakistan, Sri Lanka.
Sri Lanka48.828%
Bhutan25.345%Highest and lowest reading in Southern Asia.
03The whole field at once
The spread
131 countries, one dot each, on one scale — further right is a higher value. Half the countries are above 39.052%; a quarter are above 48.638%, and a quarter below 31.520%. The bar in each row marks that continent’s middle country.
04All 153 ever measured
Every country
In order, highest value first. No rank or position is shown: too many countries share the same value for an order to mean anything. Neither end is better: parity sits in the middle, at 50%, so the table is ordered highest first as a reading convention, not as a league table, and no position is derived. A high share can also reflect a small research sector where the fields women are well represented in make up much of it. Readings more than ten years older than the edition are listed but not compared.
Showing 25 of 153 countries
Values for the 2024 edition.
05In this edition
Women in research in records
The extremes of the statistic. A record reached by more than one country names none of them.
Highest reading
76.541%
Researchers who are women (% of headcount; 50 = parity)
Lowest reading
3.351%
Researchers who are women (% of headcount; 50 = parity)
06The measure
About women in research
This is the share of a country’s researchers who are women, counted by headcount. Its point of balance is 50%, where women and men are equally represented among the people employed to create new knowledge; a figure above 50% means women outnumber men.
What the number is: Researchers who are women (% of headcount; 50 = parity).
07Where 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 Education & Knowledge and Gender & Equality, but does not help decide any Country Index standing.
Education & KnowledgeGender & EqualityWhich statistics vote, and why
Moves with
Where women in research is higher, these tend to be higher too.
- Adult Literacy RateUIS · 84 countries in commonρ 0.60
- Youth Literacy RateUIS · 89 countries in commonρ 0.50
- Institutional DeliveriesUNICEF · 83 countries in commonρ 0.48
Moves against
Where women in research is higher, these tend to be lower.
- Working Poverty RateILO · 82 countries in commonρ −0.57
- Minimum Proficiency in Reading, End of Lower SecondaryUIS · 82 countries in commonρ −0.42
Rank correlation (ρ, from −1 to 1) across countries, on each statistic’s newest edition, out of 331 statistics sharing at least 80 countries with this one. Two statistics that move together do not cause each other.
08Keep reading
Explore further
The subject
The data, edition by edition
The countries at either end
09Questions
Women in research: questions and answers
Which country has the highest women in research?
Myanmar, at 76.541%, among the 131 countries compared in the 2024 edition.
Which country has the lowest women in research?
Chad, at 3.351%, among the 131 countries compared in the 2024 edition.
How many countries does the Female Share of Researchers cover?
131 in the 2024 edition, and 153 at least once across all editions.
What is the world average women in research?
This site does not calculate a world average, which would depend on how countries are weighted. In the middle country of the 131 compared in the 2024 edition, the figure was 39.052%.
Is this UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS)’s own ranking?
No ranking is shown. UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS) publishes values only, and too many countries share the same value for an ordering to mean anything, so none is derived.
How often is the Female Share of Researchers published?
This site holds one edition, describing 2024.
Where does the data come from, and can I download it?
From UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS), under CC BY-SA 4.0. From the UNESCO Institute for Statistics data API (researchers by headcount, % female), latest available reading per country. Every edition is on this site’s Datasets pages as a full table, and downloads as a CSV file with every value unrounded.
10Method
Sources, method and citation
Source
Female Share of Researchers — UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS)
From the UNESCO Institute for Statistics data API (researchers by headcount, % female), latest available reading per country.
Newest edition
Report year 2024Data year not recorded
Cite the source as: UNESCO Institute for Statistics. UIS Data Browser. Montreal: UNESCO Institute for Statistics.
Licence: CC BY-SA 4.0, checked 2026-09-26.
How this page reads the numbers
- No rank or position is shown: UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS) publishes values only, and too many countries share the same value for an ordering to mean anything.
- This statistic has no better end, so the page describes higher and lower values and never calls a country a leader.
- 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.
- The file gives each country’s most recent reading, so the rows are from different years. Readings from before 2014 are listed but left out of every comparison on this page.
- 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.
Cite this page
Nations Inquiry (2026). Women in research by country: Female Share of Researchers, data from UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS). https://nationsinquiry.com/statistics/female-researchers