World Bank Group · Firms with Female Participation in Ownership
Firms with women owners by country
What share of firms have at least one woman among their owners?
Guatemala placed first of the 172 countries compared in the 2026 edition, at 69.950%, and Qatar last, at 1.273%. In the middle country the figure was 35.085%. 9 readings from before 2016 are listed but not compared.
Share
Part ofGender & Equality
Firms with women owners · the 2026 edition
Context statistic
Highest of 172Guatemala
69.950%01the 2026 edition · position · derived
Who leads
The three countries at the highest end of 172 compared, the three at the other end, and the first on each continent.
1
2Photo: Konstantin Papushin · CC BY-SA 2.0, greyscale
3Photo: Greg Schechter from San Francisco, USA · CC BY 2.0, greyscale
Lowest in the 2026 edition
- 181
Qatar1.273% - 180
Saudi Arabia2.375% - 179
Kuwait2.840%
Positions out of 181. Where a country sits says how it compares with the others measured, and nothing about why.
02Every measured country
Firms with women owners 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.
- 1.273–20.590%
- 20.650–31.209%
- 31.265–37.940%
- 38.045–48.802%
- 49.783–69.950%
- Hatched: a reading from before 2016, listed but not compared (9)
- No reading in the 2026 edition
- Americas
50.178%
the middle country, of 28 measured · 48 members
Guatemala69.950%
Mexico14.872%Highest and lowest reading in Americas.
- Oceania
44.886%
the middle country, of 9 measured · 21 members
Kiribati61.597%
Tonga31.209%Highest and lowest reading in Oceania.
- Europe
37.072%
the middle country, of 40 measured · 49 members
Iceland58.757%
Kosovo13.746%Highest and lowest reading in Europe.
- Asia
27.930%
the middle country, of 45 measured · 52 members
Thailand61.300%Qatar1.273%Highest and lowest reading in Asia.
- Africa
26.453%
the middle country, of 50 measured · 55 members
Seychelles60.629%
South Africa10.616%Highest and lowest reading in Africa.
- Every region
22 sub-regions, highest middle country first
- South America
54.579%
the middle country, of 10 measured · 12 members
Paraguay63.419%
Suriname37.940%Highest and lowest reading in South America.
- Central America
50.635%
the middle country, of 8 measured · 8 members
Guatemala69.950%Mexico14.872%Highest and lowest reading in Central America.
- Caribbean
48.722%
the middle country, of 8 measured · 24 members
Jamaica66.911%
Barbados32.566%Highest and lowest reading in Caribbean.
- Southern Africa
46.834%
the middle country, of 5 measured · 5 members
Lesotho55.357%South Africa10.616%Highest and lowest reading in Southern Africa.
- Northern Europe
44.397%
the middle country, of 10 measured · 13 members
Iceland58.757%
Lithuania26.367%Highest and lowest reading in Northern Europe.
- Eastern Asia
40.569%
the middle country, of 6 measured · 8 members
Taiwan61.219%
South Korea21.507%Highest and lowest reading in Eastern Asia.
- South-eastern Asia
40.437%
the middle country, of 11 measured · 11 members
Thailand61.300%
Vietnam24.814%Highest and lowest reading in South-eastern Asia.
- Western Europe
37.283%
the middle country, of 7 measured · 9 members
Belgium48.363%
Germany26.926%Highest and lowest reading in Western Europe.
- Eastern Europe
35.408%
the middle country, of 10 measured · 10 members
Belarus45.505%
Romania26.686%Highest and lowest reading in Eastern Europe.
- Southern Europe
34.339%
the middle country, of 13 measured · 17 members
Spain56.566%Kosovo13.746%Highest and lowest reading in Southern Europe.
- Eastern Africa
33.700%
the middle country, of 17 measured · 19 members
Seychelles60.629%
Tanzania13.222%Highest and lowest reading in Eastern Africa.
- Central Asia
28.893%
the middle country, of 5 measured · 5 members
Kyrgyzstan34.330%
Turkmenistan10.381%Highest and lowest reading in Central Asia.
- Middle Africa
26.811%
the middle country, of 9 measured · 9 members
Central African Republic57.470%
Chad10.692%Highest and lowest reading in Middle Africa.
- Western Africa
22.323%
the middle country, of 16 measured · 16 members
Cabo Verde48.418%
Mali11.315%Highest and lowest reading in Western Africa.
- Southern Asia
13.100%
the middle country, of 8 measured · 9 members
Maldives37.590%
Pakistan4.941%Highest and lowest reading in Southern Asia.
- Western Asia
11.891%
the middle country, of 15 measured · 19 members
Bahrain34.354%Qatar1.273%Highest and lowest reading in Western Asia.
- Australia and New Zealand
2 of 2 measured — too few for a middle: Australia, New Zealand.
New Zealand58.229%
Australia49.910%Highest and lowest reading in Australia and New Zealand.
- Melanesia
4 of 5 measured — too few for a middle: Fiji, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, Vanuatu.
Fiji44.886%
Solomon Islands36.282%Highest and lowest reading in Melanesia.
- Micronesia
1 of 7 measured — too few for a middle: Kiribati.
Kiribati61.597%Highest and lowest reading in Micronesia.
- Northern Africa
3 of 6 measured — too few for a middle: Egypt, Morocco, Tunisia.
Tunisia18.569%
Morocco12.274%Highest and lowest reading in Northern Africa.
- Northern America
2 of 4 measured — too few for a middle: Canada, United States.
Canada37.063%
United States31.324%Highest and lowest reading in Northern America.
- Polynesia
2 of 7 measured — too few for a middle: Samoa, Tonga.
Samoa54.944%Tonga31.209%Highest and lowest reading in Polynesia.
03The whole field at once
The spread
172 countries, one dot each, on one scale — further right is a higher value. Half the countries are above 35.085%; a quarter are above 47.063%, and a quarter below 23.945%. The bar in each row marks that continent’s middle country.
04All 181 ever measured
Every country
In order, highest value first. “=” marks a position shared with another country. World Bank Group ranks nobody on this measure; the position is derived here by ordering the published values. Any female co-owner counts, so a family business that lists a wife or daughter as a part-owner reads the same as one a woman founded and runs. The share is a ceiling on women's control of business, not a measure of it. Survey years differ between countries — check the year beside each reading.
Showing 25 of 181 countries
Values for the 2026 edition.
05In this edition
Firms with women owners in records
The extremes of the statistic. A record reached by more than one country names none of them.
Highest reading
69.950%
Firms with at least one woman among the owners (%)
Lowest reading
1.273%
Firms with at least one woman among the owners (%)
06The measure
About firms with women owners
This is the share of private firms with at least one woman among their owners, from the World Bank's Enterprise Surveys. Beside the share of firms run by a woman, it shows how far women hold a stake in the businesses themselves.
What the number is: Firms with at least one woman among the owners (%).
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 Gender & Equality, but does not help decide any Country Index standing.
Moves with
Where firms with women owners is higher, these tend to be higher too.
- Firms with a Female Top ManagerKeyWorld Bank Group · 170 countries in commonρ 0.56
- Female-Headed HouseholdsUN DESA Population Division · 120 countries in commonρ 0.56
- Global Gender Parity IndexUNDP Human Development Report Office and UN Women · 111 countries in commonρ 0.51
Moves against
Where firms with women owners is higher, these tend to be lower.
- Days Above 35°CECMWF · 172 countries in commonρ −0.49
- Social Institutions and Gender IndexKeyOECD · 136 countries in commonρ −0.47
- PM2.5 Air Pollution ExposureAtmospheric Composition Analysis Group, Washington University in St. Louis · 170 countries in commonρ −0.46
Rank correlation (ρ, from −1 to 1) across countries, on each statistic’s newest edition, out of 377 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
More from World Bank Group
09Questions
Firms with women owners: questions and answers
Which country has the highest firms with women owners?
Guatemala, at 69.950%, among the 172 countries compared in the 2026 edition.
Which country has the lowest firms with women owners?
Qatar, at 1.273%, among the 172 countries compared in the 2026 edition.
How many countries does the Firms with Female Participation in Ownership cover?
172 in the 2026 edition, and 181 at least once across all editions.
What is the world average firms with women owners?
This site does not calculate a world average, which would depend on how countries are weighted. In the middle country of the 172 compared in the 2026 edition, the figure was 35.085%.
Is this World Bank Group’s own ranking?
No. World Bank Group 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 Firms with Female Participation in Ownership published?
This site holds one edition, describing 2026.
Where does the data come from, and can I download it?
From World Bank Group, under CC BY 4.0. World Bank Enterprise Surveys on Data360, read from the full-precision bulk file, one reading per country from its most recent survey. 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
Firms with Female Participation in Ownership — World Bank Group
World Bank Enterprise Surveys on Data360, read from the full-precision bulk file, one reading per country from its most recent survey.
Newest edition
Report year 2026Data year not recorded
Cite the source as: World Bank. Enterprise Surveys. Washington, DC: World Bank Group.
Licence: CC BY 4.0, checked 2026-10-03.
How this page reads the numbers
- World Bank Group 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.
- The file gives each country’s most recent reading, so the rows are from different years. Readings from before 2016 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.
Photographs
The countries at the top of this statistic, from their profiles: Wikimedia Commons, shown in greyscale, each used under the licence named.
- Guatemala — Arjuno3, CC BY 2.0
- Jamaica — Konstantin Papushin, CC BY-SA 2.0
- Paraguay — Greg Schechter from San Francisco, USA, CC BY 2.0
Cite this page
Nations Inquiry (2026). Firms with women owners by country: Firms with Female Participation in Ownership, data from World Bank Group. https://nationsinquiry.com/statistics/firms-female-ownership