Women represented 31.4% of researchers worldwide in 2023, up from 29.5% in 2013. The latest figures show substantial regional variation: women accounted for about half of researchers in Central Asia, but far less in several other regions. The statistics also differ by discipline, degree level, employment sector, age, and leadership role.
Table of contents
- Global share of women researchers
- Regional differences in participation
- Women earning U.S. science and engineering degrees
- U.S. doctoral degrees and STEM-trained people
- Women researchers in Europe
- European science careers and leadership
Global share of women researchers
The 2026 R&D Data Release reports that women made up 31.4% of the world’s researchers in 2023. This was an increase from 29.5% in 2013, a 10-year change that still left women below half of the global research workforce.
The global research system expanded during the same period. Researcher density rose from 1,141 researchers per million inhabitants in 2015 to 1,486 in 2023. Europe and Northern America had 4,358 researchers per million inhabitants in 2023, while Sub-Saharan Africa had 88. These figures describe the size of research workforces relative to population, not women’s share within those workforces.
Research investment also changed. Global R&D expenditure increased from 1.71% of GDP in 2015 to 1.92% in 2023. Even so, 73% of countries invested less than 1% of GDP in R&D in 2023. The availability of research institutions and funding therefore varies sharply between countries, alongside the gender composition of research.
The same release found that Central Asia, Northern Africa, and Latin America and the Caribbean each had women accounting for about 45% of researchers in 2023. These regional figures should be read alongside the global total: a region can approach gender balance while representing a different research density or institutional scale than another region.
Regional differences in participation
UNESCO’s Gender equality in science, technology and innovation page reports women’s shares of scientific researchers across regions. The latest UIS regional data shown there are not presented as a single common reference year, so they should not be treated as a synchronized time series.
| Region | Women’s share of scientific researchers |
|---|---|
| South and West Asia | 26% |
| East Asia and the Pacific | 27% |
| Sub-Saharan Africa | 32% |
| Central and Eastern Europe | 39% |
| Arab States | 41% |
| Latin America and the Caribbean | 44% |
| Central Asia | 50% |
The range runs from 26% in South and West Asia to 50% in Central Asia. Latin America and the Caribbean stood at 44%, while the Arab States stood at 41%. Central and Eastern Europe recorded 39%, and Sub-Saharan Africa recorded 32%. These are regional shares of scientific researchers, not degree shares or the percentage of women in every science occupation.
UNESCO also reports that women made up 28% of tertiary graduates in engineering and 22% of artificial-intelligence professionals in its global indicators. Those measures cover education and professional participation rather than the same research population. In a separate 2022–2023 gender-equality reporting period, women held 12% of seats in national academies of science.
The regional picture therefore changes with the point of measurement. Women’s participation can be relatively high among researchers in one region while remaining lower among engineering graduates, artificial-intelligence professionals, or academy members. The UNESCO country comparison article presents latest available UIS country values on a page updated in 2023; it does not state one common country reference year for all examples.
Women earning U.S. science and engineering degrees
The National Science Board’s STEM Talent data show the percentage of U.S. degrees earned by women in 2023. The figures are U.S. awards, not measures of the worldwide research workforce.
At the associate’s level, women earned 78.2% of psychology degrees and 71.5% of biological and biomedical sciences degrees. Their shares were lower in mathematics and statistics, at 29.5%, and engineering, at 18.9%.
At the bachelor’s level, women earned 80.9% of psychology degrees and 66.5% of biological and biomedical sciences degrees. Women earned 40.2% of mathematics and statistics degrees, 25.6% of engineering degrees, and 44.5% of physical sciences degrees.
The degree pattern is not uniform across science and engineering. Psychology and biological and biomedical sciences had women-majority shares at both reported undergraduate levels. Mathematics and statistics were below half at both levels, while engineering had the lowest reported women’s shares: 18.9% of associate’s degrees and 25.6% of bachelor’s degrees.
These percentages measure the sex distribution of awards in each field. They do not show how many degrees were awarded, whether graduates entered research, or whether women remained in the field later in their careers.
U.S. doctoral degrees and STEM-trained people
Women’s representation varied by graduate degree level in the same NCSES STEM Talent source. In 2023, women earned 82.8% of U.S. master’s degrees in psychology and 65.3% of master’s degrees in biological and biomedical sciences. Women earned 39.5% of master’s degrees in mathematics and statistics and 28.5% of master’s degrees in engineering.
Among U.S. science and engineering doctoral degrees in 2023, women earned 76.6% in psychology and 54.4% in biological and biomedical sciences. Their shares were 28.0% in mathematics and statistics and 26.6% in engineering.
| U.S. field | Master’s degrees earned by women | Science and engineering doctorates earned by women |
|---|---|---|
| Psychology | 82.8% | 76.6% |
| Biological and biomedical sciences | 65.3% | 54.4% |
| Mathematics and statistics | 39.5% | 28.0% |
| Engineering | 28.5% | 26.6% |
The comparison shows lower women’s shares at the doctoral level than at the master’s level in each listed field, but it does not establish why the difference occurs. It also compares awards at two different degree levels, not the same individuals progressing through education.
The NCSES STEM Talent population measure reports that women were 51% of U.S. people with a bachelor’s or advanced degree whose highest degree was in STEM in 2023. This population statistic is broader than doctoral awards. It includes people defined by their highest STEM degree and should not be substituted for the share of women among current researchers or degree recipients in a particular field.
Women researchers in Europe
The She Figures 2024 report reports that women represented 34% of researchers in the European Union in 2021, compared with 33% in 2018.
Measured per 1,000 economically active people, women researchers increased from 8.7 in 2018 to 10.2 in 2021. Men researchers increased from 15.1 to 17.3 per 1,000. The EU gap therefore widened from 6.4 to 7.1 researchers per 1,000 economically active people between 2018 and 2021, even as the number of women researchers rose.
In the report’s comparison period, women researchers had a compound annual growth rate of 4.2%, compared with 3.3% for men. Women researchers in higher-education institutions grew in 36 of 38 countries in the report’s comparison from 2017 to 2021. In European government research, women researchers grew at 3.1% annually compared with 1.4% for men. In business enterprises, women researchers grew at 7.1% annually compared with 5.2% for men.
Field differences remain important. In 2021, women represented more than 40% of researchers in medical and health sciences in 31 of the 35 countries covered. That threshold does not mean women held more than 40% of research positions across every field or sector in those countries.
European science careers and leadership
She Figures 2024 also separates science-related employment measures. In 2021, women were about 25% of self-employed professionals in science, engineering and information and communication technology at EU level.
Within the EU R&D workforce, women were reported at 61% compared with 66% for men in 2021. The report separately recorded women at 46% of the knowledge-intensive-activities workforce, compared with 30% for men, while women were 14% of knowledge-intensive-activities workers in EU business industries, compared with 15% for men. These indicators use different workforce definitions and are not interchangeable with the 34% share of researchers.
Leadership remains more uneven. Women were 26% of heads of EU higher-education institutions in 2022, while they were 38% of higher-education institution board members and 39% of board leaders. Representation also varied by age among grade-A academic positions: women held 48% of positions among staff younger than 35, but 33% among staff aged 35–44.
Taken together, the European figures distinguish participation from authority. Women’s share among younger grade-A academic staff was closer to parity than their share among institution heads, and board representation was higher than the share of heads. The measures cover the EU or the report’s stated country set and use different reference years by indicator; headcount, workforce share, sector, and academic-grade measures should therefore be compared only within their stated definitions.