The most equal parliaments in Europe
First it looked Iceland could be the first European country with a majority of women in the parliament but after a re-count, women will not after all be the majority. In any case, the country could still -together with Sweden- have the most equal parliaments with around 47% women MPs. After the re-count, Iceland has 30 women MPs out of a total on 63 members in the parliament.
These two countries are the European equality leads, but according to the Inter-Parliamentary Union’s statistics (measured by lower chamber in cases where the country has two chambers), the global leads are Rwanda 61.3% women, Cuba 53.2, Bolivia 53.1, Mexico 48.2 with Sweden on fifth place globally with 47.3% women MPs. However, Iceland could with a small margin take over that position and be the most equal parliament in Europe if the counting of the Icelandic election is confirmed. This could give Iceland the lead with a few decimals more women MPs.
Women have a stronger presence in the European Parliament than they have in the US Congress where a bit more than a quarter are women. In the European Parliament 39.5 per cent are women, which is higher than the 28.6% average female representation in EU member states’ parliaments.
At regional level, the Nordic countries account for 44% of women parliamentarians and Europe, excluding the Nordic countries, 28.1%, according to research centre Foundation Robert Schuman.
Figures published by the Inter-Parliamentary Union show that in 2019, 24.6% of the world’s parliamentarians were women compared to 11.7% in 1995. Thus, at world level, the representation of women has more than doubled, but the goal of parity is still a long way off.
The percentage of women in the European Parliament has steadily increased over the years. The 2019-2024 European Parliament comprises 39.5% female MEP which is above the average for national parliaments (28.6%). The number of women in the European Parliament has increased significantly since 1979. Between 1952 and 1979 only 31 women sat in the European Parliament.
Looking at European parliaments, Iceland and Sweden would, according to the latest information from the Inter-Parliamentary Union be followed by:
Finland 41.5
Spain 41.1
Norway 40.8
France 39.7
North Macedonia 38.3
Belgium 38.0
Serbia 37.7
Denmark 37.4
Austria 37.2
Italy 35.7
Portugal 35.7
Belarus 34.5
Monaco 33.3
Switzerland 32.5
Andorra 32.1
UK 32.0
Netherlands 31.3
Latvia 31.0
Germany 30.9 (but would change when this weekend’s election is counted)
Albania 29.3
Poland 29.1
Estonia 28.7
Bulgaria 25.8
Luxembourg 25.0
San Marino 25.0
Armenia 24.2
Slovenia 24.4
Montenegro 23.5
Moldova 22.8
Czech Republic 22.5
Ireland 22.2
Bosnia and Herzegovina 21.4
Lithuania 21.3
Romania 20.7
Croatia 20.5
Slovakia 20.0
Greece 18.7
Cyprus 17.9
Turkey 17.4
Azerbaijan 16.8
Russian Federation 15.8
Georgia 14.8
Hungary 12.6
Lichtenstein 12.0
Malta 11.9
Ukraine 11.6
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