Share of women among total researchers for the G20, 1996–2018 (%)

Globally, women make up 33.3% of researchers (in head counts), according to data from the UNESCO Institute for Statistics for 107 countries covering the years 2015–2018. 

More countries are collecting and reporting sex-disaggregated data on researchers than 20 years ago, as this animated diagram demonstrates. 

There is no guaranteed correlation between a country’s wealth and its success in achieving gender parity. Among countries having reached this status, only a handful are OECD members. 

These findings are drawn from a chapter in the UNESCO Science Report titled ‘To be smart, the digital revolution will need to be inclusive’. This chapter was published on 11 February 2021 to mark the International Day of Women and Girls in Science. 

• Download: To be smart the digital revolution will need to be inclusive 

• Two-minute video on study’s findings 

• Read more: 
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  • Just 30% of the world’s researchers are women. What's the situation in your country? 
  • UNESCO research shows women career scientists still face gender bias 
  • Women and girls belong in science’ declares UN chief  
  • With science ‘held back by a gender gap’, Guterres calls for more empowerment for women and girls 

Note: The share of female researchers is based on head count data. See Annex 5 for details. Data are not available for all countries.  

Source: UNESCO Science Report: the Race Against Time for Smarter Development (2021), data sourced from UNESCO Institute for Statistics and animated by Values Associates