Sweden: Europe’s Leader for Women in Parliament
Nearly half of Swedish MPs are women.
May 11, 2016
1. Sweden has long been a leader when it comes to equality for women, whether in politics, in business or in society more generally.
2. But Sweden does not rank first in the Inter-Parliamentary Union rankings for share of women serving in their nation’s lower or single house of parliament.
3. Sweden ranks fourth worldwide, with 43.6% female representation, which makes it the top-ranking country in Europe.
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4. Fellow Nordic states Iceland (41.3%), Finland (41.5%), Norway (39.6%) and Denmark (37.4%) are not far behind.
5. However, all five saw their shares of women in parliament decline slightly from five years earlier.
6. Among the larger countries in Europe, Germany ranks 26th with women making up 36.5% of its parliamentary lower house.
7. The United Kingdom ranks 48th (29.4%), Poland ranks 51st (27.4%), France ranks 58th (26.2%) and Russia ranks 131st (13.6%).
8. Among all non-Nordic European member countries of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, the average share of women in the lower house of parliament is 24.1%.
Sources: Inter-Parliamentary Union and The Globalist Research Center