Women in parliament (share of seats) over time (1997–2025)

Follow women in parliament (share of seats) for the world’s countries, year by year, from 1997 to 2025.

• The country ranked first changed over time: Sweden in 1997–2002, Rwanda in 2003–2025.
• Japan’s women in parliament (share of seats) went from 4.6% in 1997 to 15.7% in 2025 (up 11.1 points).
• Japan ranked #121 of 160 countries in 1997 and #141 of 184 in 2025. The number of countries differs between the years, so the ranks are not directly comparable.

Japan and countries at the top, middle and bottom

Key years for Japan and countries at the top, middle and bottom of the 2025 ranking

Country	1997	2010	2020	2025
Rwanda	17.1%	56.3%	61.3%	63.8%
Albania	–	16.4%	29.5%	35.0%
Djibouti	–	13.8%	26.2%	26.2%
Libya	–	7.7%	16.0%	16.5%
Japan	4.6%	11.3%	9.9%	15.7%
Yemen	–	0.3%	0.3%	0.0%
Countries with data	160	187	190	184

Biggest changes, 1997–2025

Compared among the countries that have data in both 1997 and 2025. Countries with a very small starting value are left out, because their ratios look exaggerated.

Biggest increases

Country	1997	2025	Change	Rank
United Arab Emirates	0.0%	50.0%	up 50 points	#153 → #6
Rwanda	17.1%	63.8%	up 46.6 points	#29 → #1
Nicaragua	10.8%	54.9%	up 44.2 points	#65 → #3
Andorra	7.1%	50.0%	up 42.9 points	#95 → #6
Ecuador	3.7%	45.0%	up 41.4 points	#127 → #14

Biggest decreases

Country	1997	2025	Change	Rank
Tuvalu	8.3%	0.0%	down 8.3 points	#81 → #182
Syria	9.6%	4.9%	down 4.7 points	#71 → #174
Maldives	6.3%	3.2%	down 3 points	#104 → #179
North Korea	20.1%	17.6%	down 2.5 points	#21 → #135
St. Lucia	11.8%	10.5%	down 1.2 points	#48 → #162

The number of countries differs between the years, so the ranks are not directly comparable.

All countries in key years

Open the table (countries with data)

Key years for Japan and the leading countries in 2025

Country	1997	2010	2020	2025
Rwanda	17.1%	56.3%	61.3%	63.8%
Cuba	22.8%	43.2%	53.2%	55.7%
Nicaragua	10.8%	20.7%	47.3%	54.9%
Bolivia	–	25.4%	46.2%	50.8%
Mexico	14.2%	26.2%	48.2%	50.2%
Andorra	7.1%	35.7%	46.4%	50.0%
United Arab Emirates	0.0%	22.5%	50.0%	50.0%
Costa Rica	15.8%	38.6%	45.6%	49.1%
Iceland	25.4%	42.9%	38.1%	46.0%
Australia	15.5%	24.7%	30.5%	46.0%
Monaco	5.6%	26.1%	33.3%	45.8%
New Zealand	29.2%	33.6%	48.3%	45.5%
Finland	33.5%	40.0%	46.0%	45.5%
Ecuador	3.7%	32.3%	39.4%	45.0%
Sweden	40.4%	45.0%	47.0%	45.0%
South Africa	25.0%	44.5%	46.8%	44.9%
Cape Verde	11.1%	18.1%	25.0%	44.4%
Spain	24.7%	36.6%	44.0%	44.3%
Denmark	33.0%	38.0%	39.7%	43.6%
Netherlands	31.3%	40.7%	33.3%	43.3%
Namibia	22.2%	24.4%	43.3%	42.3%
Ethiopia	2.0%	27.8%	38.8%	41.9%
Peru	10.8%	27.5%	26.2%	41.5%
Belgium	12.7%	39.3%	41.3%	41.3%
Argentina	27.6%	38.5%	40.9%	41.2%
Senegal	11.7%	22.7%	43.0%	41.2%
Dominica	9.4%	12.5%	34.4%	40.6%
United Kingdom	18.2%	22.0%	33.8%	40.5%
Norway	36.4%	39.6%	41.4%	40.2%
Burundi	–	32.1%	38.2%	39.6%
Moldova	4.8%	18.8%	24.8%	39.6%
Tanzania	17.5%	–	36.7%	39.5%
North Macedonia	3.3%	32.5%	39.2%	39.2%
Angola	9.5%	38.6%	30.0%	39.1%
Switzerland	21.0%	29.0%	41.5%	39.0%
Armenia	6.3%	9.2%	23.5%	38.3%
Mozambique	25.2%	39.2%	42.4%	38.3%
Uzbekistan	6.0%	22.0%	32.0%	38.0%
Dominican Republic	11.7%	20.8%	27.9%	37.4%
Serbia	–	21.6%	38.8%	37.2%
France	10.9%	18.9%	39.5%	36.2%
Guyana	–	30.0%	35.7%	36.1%
Portugal	13.0%	27.4%	40.0%	35.7%
Slovenia	7.8%	14.4%	27.8%	35.6%
Austria	26.2%	27.9%	39.3%	35.5%
Timor-Leste	–	29.2%	38.5%	35.4%
Albania	–	16.4%	29.5%	35.0%
Luxembourg	20.0%	20.0%	30.0%	35.0%
San Marino	11.7%	16.7%	33.3%	35.0%
Uganda	18.1%	31.3%	34.9%	34.1%
Belarus	–	31.8%	40.0%	33.9%
Cameroon	5.6%	13.9%	33.9%	33.9%
Chile	7.5%	14.2%	22.6%	33.5%
Chad	2.4%	5.2%	15.4%	33.5%
Czechia	15.0%	22.0%	22.5%	33.5%
Kyrgyzstan	1.4%	23.3%	16.5%	33.3%
Croatia	7.9%	23.5%	31.1%	33.1%
Italy	11.1%	21.3%	35.7%	32.8%
Germany	26.2%	32.8%	31.2%	32.4%
South Sudan	–	–	28.5%	32.4%
Singapore	4.8%	23.4%	29.5%	32.3%
Venezuela	5.9%	17.0%	22.2%	32.1%
Liechtenstein	4.0%	24.0%	12.0%	32.0%
El Salvador	15.5%	19.0%	33.3%	31.7%
Vietnam	26.2%	25.8%	26.7%	31.4%
Suriname	15.7%	9.8%	29.4%	31.4%
Uruguay	7.1%	15.2%	21.2%	31.3%
Poland	13.0%	20.0%	28.7%	31.3%
Grenada	20.0%	13.3%	46.7%	31.3%
St. Kitts & Nevis	13.3%	6.7%	25.0%	31.3%
Equatorial Guinea	8.8%	10.0%	21.0%	31.0%
Latvia	9.0%	20.0%	30.0%	31.0%
Canada	20.6%	22.1%	29.0%	30.3%
Jamaica	11.7%	13.3%	28.6%	30.2%
Zimbabwe	14.7%	15.0%	31.9%	30.1%
Mali	12.2%	10.2%	27.9%	30.1%
Honduras	–	18.0%	21.1%	29.7%
Guinea	7.0%	–	16.7%	29.6%
Sierra Leone	–	13.2%	12.3%	29.5%
Colombia	11.7%	12.7%	18.3%	29.4%
Malta	5.8%	8.7%	13.4%	29.1%
United States	11.7%	16.8%	27.5%	28.9%
Estonia	10.9%	22.8%	28.7%	28.7%
Tajikistan	2.8%	19.0%	23.8%	28.6%
Lithuania	17.5%	19.1%	27.0%	28.4%
Philippines	11.1%	22.1%	28.0%	28.3%
Montenegro	–	11.1%	22.2%	27.2%
Egypt	2.0%	12.7%	27.4%	26.8%
Barbados	10.7%	10.0%	20.0%	26.7%
Benin	7.2%	10.8%	7.2%	26.6%
China	–	21.3%	24.9%	26.5%
Seychelles	27.3%	23.5%	24.2%	26.5%
Djibouti	–	13.8%	26.2%	26.2%
Turkmenistan	18.0%	16.8%	25.0%	25.6%
Iraq	6.4%	25.2%	26.4%	25.5%
Mongolia	7.9%	3.9%	17.3%	25.4%
Ireland	12.0%	13.9%	22.5%	25.3%
Bulgaria	10.8%	20.8%	26.7%	25.0%
Lesotho	4.6%	24.2%	23.3%	25.0%
Palau	0.0%	0.0%	6.3%	25.0%
Morocco	0.6%	10.5%	20.5%	24.3%
Israel	7.5%	19.2%	27.5%	24.2%
Trinidad & Tobago	11.1%	28.6%	26.2%	23.8%
Paraguay	2.5%	12.5%	16.3%	23.8%
Kenya	3.0%	9.8%	21.8%	23.4%
Slovakia	14.7%	15.3%	22.7%	23.3%
Mauritania	1.3%	22.1%	20.3%	23.3%
Greece	6.3%	17.3%	21.7%	22.9%
Romania	7.3%	11.4%	21.9%	22.4%
Laos	–	25.2%	27.5%	22.0%
Indonesia	11.4%	18.0%	20.3%	21.9%
Panama	9.7%	8.5%	22.5%	21.7%
Eswatini	3.1%	13.6%	9.6%	21.6%
Gabon	8.3%	14.7%	14.8%	21.6%
Micronesia	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%	21.4%
Malawi	5.6%	20.8%	22.9%	21.4%
Ukraine	3.8%	8.0%	20.8%	21.2%
Azerbaijan	12.0%	16.0%	17.4%	20.8%
South Korea	3.0%	14.7%	19.0%	20.3%
Bahrain	–	2.5%	15.0%	20.0%
Guatemala	12.5%	12.0%	19.4%	20.0%
Türkiye	2.4%	9.1%	17.3%	19.9%
Saudi Arabia	–	0.0%	19.9%	19.9%
Thailand	5.6%	13.3%	15.7%	19.6%
Niger	1.2%	–	17.0%	19.6%
Jordan	0.0%	10.8%	11.5%	19.6%
Bosnia & Herzegovina	–	16.7%	26.2%	19.0%
Somalia	–	6.8%	24.4%	19.0%
Bahamas	15.0%	12.2%	12.8%	18.4%
Kazakhstan	13.4%	17.8%	27.1%	18.4%
Burkina Faso	9.0%	15.3%	6.3%	18.3%
Comoros	0.0%	3.0%	16.7%	18.2%
Brazil	6.6%	8.6%	14.6%	18.1%
Mauritius	7.6%	18.8%	20.0%	17.9%
North Korea	20.1%	15.6%	17.6%	17.6%
Pakistan	2.3%	22.2%	20.2%	17.0%
Georgia	6.9%	6.5%	20.7%	16.8%
Libya	–	7.7%	16.0%	16.5%
Russia	10.2%	14.0%	15.8%	16.4%
Tunisia	6.7%	27.6%	24.9%	15.8%
Japan	4.6%	11.3%	9.9%	15.7%
Hungary	11.4%	9.1%	12.1%	15.6%
Togo	1.2%	11.1%	18.7%	15.0%
Zambia	9.7%	14.0%	16.8%	15.0%
Republic of the Congo	–	7.3%	11.3%	14.6%
Ghana	9.0%	8.3%	13.1%	14.5%
São Tomé & Príncipe	7.3%	18.2%	23.6%	14.5%
Cyprus	5.4%	12.5%	19.6%	14.3%
Madagascar	3.7%	12.5%	17.9%	14.1%
India	7.2%	10.8%	14.4%	13.8%
Cambodia	5.8%	21.1%	20.0%	13.6%
Malaysia	7.8%	9.9%	14.9%	13.5%
Côte d’Ivoire	8.0%	8.9%	11.4%	13.4%
St. Vincent & Grenadines	9.5%	14.3%	18.2%	13.3%
Democratic Republic of the Congo	–	8.4%	12.8%	12.8%
Belize	3.4%	0.0%	9.7%	12.5%
Marshall Islands	–	3.0%	6.1%	12.1%
Brunei	–	–	9.1%	11.4%
Central African Republic	3.5%	9.6%	8.6%	11.4%
Kiribati	0.0%	4.3%	8.9%	11.1%
Liberia	–	12.5%	12.3%	11.0%
St. Lucia	11.8%	11.1%	16.7%	10.5%
Nauru	–	0.0%	10.5%	10.5%
Samoa	4.1%	8.2%	10.0%	9.8%
Sri Lanka	5.3%	5.3%	5.4%	9.8%
Fiji	4.3%	–	19.6%	9.1%
Botswana	8.5%	7.9%	10.8%	9.0%
Gambia	2.0%	7.5%	8.6%	8.6%
Algeria	3.2%	7.7%	25.8%	7.9%
Lebanon	2.3%	3.1%	4.7%	6.3%
Qatar	–	0.0%	9.8%	6.1%
Solomon Islands	–	0.0%	6.4%	6.0%
Antigua & Barbuda	5.3%	10.5%	11.1%	5.6%
Syria	9.6%	12.4%	11.2%	4.9%
Iran	4.9%	2.8%	5.6%	4.9%
Bhutan	2.0%	8.5%	14.9%	4.3%
Nigeria	–	7.0%	7.2%	4.2%
Tonga	0.0%	0.0%	7.4%	3.8%
Maldives	6.3%	6.5%	4.6%	3.2%
Papua New Guinea	1.8%	0.9%	0.0%	2.7%
Vanuatu	–	3.8%	0.0%	1.9%
Oman	–	0.0%	2.3%	0.0%
Tuvalu	8.3%	0.0%	6.3%	0.0%
Yemen	–	0.3%	0.3%	0.0%
Afghanistan	–	27.7%	27.0%	–
Bangladesh	9.1%	18.6%	20.9%	–
Eritrea	21.0%	22.0%	–	–
Guinea-Bissau	10.0%	10.0%	13.7%	–
Haiti	3.6%	11.1%	–	–
Kuwait	0.0%	7.7%	6.3%	–
Myanmar	–	4.3%	16.8%	–
Nepal	3.4%	33.2%	32.7%	–
Sudan	5.3%	25.6%	–	–
Countries with data	160	187	190	184