Pew Research Survey: Few Women Leading UN Member States

According to a Pew Research Center analysis, women are currently serving as the head of government in only 13 out of the 193 member states of the United Nations, and less than a third of UN countries have ever had a woman leader. Among the 13 countries with current women leaders, nine have their first-ever female head of government, including Peru, Italy, and Bosnia-Herzegovina, whose female leaders took office within the past year. Europe is home to seven out of 13 of the current women leaders.

Since 1966, when Indira Gandhi became India's first female prime minister, 59 UN member states have had a woman leader. The number of countries with women heads of government has increased steadily worldwide since 1990, with the most significant increase occurring in 2010 when five countries saw their first-ever women leaders.

Notably, Taiwan's President Tsai Ing-wen and Myanmar's Aung San Suu Kyi, who served as the de facto leader, are not included in this analysis. While the number of countries that have ever had a woman leader is on the rise, the number of women actively in power in any given year is increasing at a much slower pace. At most, 18 countries have had women leaders in the same calendar year, with 2023 already approaching that record with 15 countries led by women, including 13 current leaders and two former prime ministers.

Switzerland has had the most women in power, with five women serving as rotating presidents of the confederation in one-year terms. There have been only 13 countries where more than one woman has led the government, and there have been only six where more than two women have led the government.

Women leaders rarely hold office for a long period of time, with a median tenure of 2.1 years. Some notable exceptions, though, include Angela Merkel's 16.1 years as German Chancellor, and Bangladesh's Sheikh Hasina's 19.1 years across two nonconsecutive terms as Prime Minister.

In contrast, Liz Truss' 49-day term as Britain's Prime Minister in 2022 and Anneli Jäätteenmäki's 68-day term as Finland's Prime Minister in 2003 were the shortest. Bangladesh has had the most female leadership since 1945, followed by Norway, New Zealand, Germany, India, and the Philippines, all of which have had a female leader for at least 15 years. Only five other countries have had a woman as a leader for a decade or more.

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