In Latvia, 50.9% of scientists are women, the highest share among European Union countries, according to the latest Eurostat data. The proportion of women in science in Latvia is 10 percentage points higher than the EU average of 40.5%.
According to the latest Eurostat data, Latvia has the highest share of women among scientists and engineers in the European Union, with 50.9%. It is followed by Denmark (48.8%), Estonia (47.9%), Spain (47.6%), and Bulgaria and Ireland (47.3% each). The lowest representation is in Finland (30.7%), Hungary (31.7%), Luxembourg (32.4%), Slovakia (33.6%), and Germany (34.6%).
Regionally, the highest shares are found in four regions of Spain (50.3–58.8%), two regions in Portugal (56.4% and 57.3%), two regions in Poland (54.0% and 54.8%), one region in Bulgaria (53.3%), one in Sweden (52.0%), and Latvia as a whole (50.9%).
The number of women working as scientists and engineers in the EU has more than doubled, from 3.4 million in 2008 to 7.9 million in 2024. Across all sectors, women represent 40.5% of the scientific and engineering workforce in 2024.
Sector-wise, women are most represented in knowledge-intensive services (45.1%) and service industries (45.0%). In manufacturing, they account for 22.4%, and in other sectors, 23.6%.
Latvia has consistently been among the leaders in recent years. In 2023, it ranked fourth in the EU for the share of women in science, while in 2021, Latvia and Portugal shared third place with 51%, behind only Lithuania and Bulgaria (52%).
