Which Country Has the Highest Share of Women in Parliament? Where Japan Stands

Here are the questions people ask most, answered in order. Numbers are calculated from World Bank statistics (originally from the Inter-Parliamentary Union, IPU). “Parliament” means the single chamber, or the lower house where there are two (Japan’s House of Representatives). IPU reports, laws and election results are kept apart from the data and carry sources.

• Who is first? Rwanda (63.8%), every year since 2003. Before that it was Sweden.
• Why is Rwanda so high? A quota set in its 2003 constitution is a major reason.
• What is the world average? The median country is at 26.3% (8.4% in 1997). The IPU puts the world figure at 27.5% at the start of 2026.
• And Japan? 15.7%, 141st. In the February 2026 election, 14.6% of those elected to the lower house were women.
• Do quotas work? The IPU finds chambers with quotas average 31% women, and chambers without them 23%.

Which countries have the most women in parliament? Top 10 (2025)

Share of women in parliament, top 10 countries (2025)

Rank	Country	2025 (%)	1997 (%)
1	Rwanda	63.8	17.1
2	Cuba	55.7	22.8
3	Nicaragua	54.9	10.8
4	Bolivia	50.8	–
5	Mexico	50.2	14.2
6	Andorra	50.0	7.1
7	United Arab Emirates	50.0	0.0
8	Costa Rica	49.1	15.8
9	Iceland	46.0	25.4
10	Australia	46.0	15.5

Ranks are among the 184 countries with a value for 2025. A “–” means no data for 1997.

In 2025, 7 countries are at 50% or more. In 1997 there were none (the highest was Sweden at 40.4%). Countries at 30% or more rose from 5 in 1997 to 76. At the other end, 3 countries have no women in parliament at all: Oman, Tuvalu, Yemen.

Why is Rwanda first?

In the data, Rwanda’s share nearly doubled in one year, from 25.7% in 2002 to 48.8% in 2003. That year it passed Sweden, which had been first from 1997 to 2002 (45.0% in 2002). In 2025 it is 63.8%.

For background, SDG16+ notes the following. The 2003 constitution (Article 10) set a 30% quota for women in elected positions, and 24 of the 80 lower-house seats are reserved for women. After the 1994 genocide women were an estimated 60–70% of the population, and before it only 19% of representatives were women. Political parties also adopted voluntary quotas (SDG16+). These data cannot say how much each factor mattered.

Other countries also rose sharply from 1997: United Arab Emirates (0.0% to 50.0%), Rwanda (17.1% to 63.8%), Nicaragua (10.8% to 54.9%), Andorra (7.1% to 50.0%), Ecuador (3.7% to 45.0%), Monaco (5.6% to 45.8%), among others.

Do gender quotas work?

According to the IPU’s “Women in parliament 2025” (March 2026, as reported by UN News), in the 49 countries that held elections in 2025, chambers with quota legislation averaged 31% women against 23% in chambers without. The world figure at the start of 2026 was 27.5%, up only 0.3 points on a year earlier, the slowest rise in nearly a decade. The Americas were highest (35.6%) and the Middle East and North Africa lowest (16.2%). The biggest one-year gain was Kyrgyzstan’s 12.9 points (UN News).

The gap between chambers with and without quotas compares countries that also differ in other ways, so it is not the effect of quotas alone.

Where does Japan rank? And within the G7?

Ranks are among countries with data in that year. The number of countries differs by year, so changes in rank are not strictly comparable.

Japan’s share rose more than threefold, from 4.6% in 1997 to 15.7% in 2025. Yet its rank fell from 121st to 141st, because other countries rose faster. Its lowest rank was 166th of 186 in 2023.

Share of women in parliament in the G7 (%)

Country	1997	2025	Rank in the world, 2025
United Kingdom	18.2	40.5	28th
France	10.9	36.2	41st
Italy	11.1	32.8	58th
Germany	26.2	32.4	59th
Canada	20.6	30.3	73rd
United States	11.7	28.9	82nd
Japan	4.6	15.7	141st

Japan has been last in the G7 in all 28 years with data. In 2025 it is about half the level of the next lowest, United States (28.9%). In Asia: South Korea 20.3%, China 26.5%, Philippines 28.3%, Singapore 32.3% and Vietnam 31.4%.

What has changed recently in Japan?

In May 2018 Japan enacted the Act on Promotion of Gender Equality in the Political Field. Its basic principle is to aim for male and female candidates to be as equal in number as possible in elections to both houses and local assemblies, and political parties are to make efforts, such as setting targets. It is an effort obligation, with no legal requirement or penalty (Japanese Law Translation).

Election results: in October 2024, 73 women won seats in the House of Representatives, 15.7% and a record. In the February 2026 election, a record 24.4% of candidates were women, but only 68 (14.6%) were elected, fewer than in 2024 (Cabinet Office white paper on gender equality, in Japanese). In the House of Councillors election of July 2025, 33.1% of those elected were women (29.1% of candidates).

In local assemblies at the end of December 2025, women held 36.2% of seats in Tokyo’s special ward assemblies, 20.3% in city assemblies overall, 14.9% in town and village assemblies and 14.7% in prefectural assemblies (Cabinet Office white paper). In the World Economic Forum’s 2025 Global Gender Gap Report, Japan ranked 118th of 148 countries (The Star).

This site’s 2025 value (15.7%) reflects the October 2024 election. The February 2026 result is not yet in the World Bank data.

How to read these numbers

• The series is a World Bank indicator, originally from the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU): the share of seats held by women in a single chamber or the lower house (Japan’s House of Representatives, the US House). Upper houses such as Japan’s House of Councillors are not included.
• 160 countries have a value for 1997 and 184 for 2025. The number differs by year, so changes in rank are not strictly comparable.
• Data: World Bank, updated 2026-10-08; retrieved by this site on November 5, 2026.

Summary

• Rwanda has the highest share of women in parliament (63.8%). The 2003 constitution’s quota is cited as a major reason.
• The median country went from 8.4% in 1997 to 26.3% in 2025. Countries at 50% or more went from none to 7.
• Japan is 141st at 15.7%, and last in the G7 in all 28 years with data.
• Chambers with quotas average 31% women, those without 23% (IPU).