A global ranking of women's parliamentary representation shows that high per capita income does not guarantee high women's representation in global legislatures.
In most countries, women hold a minority of parliamentary seats. Here, each bar represents one country, color-coded by region and sorted from the highest share of women's representation in parliament to the lowest.
The countries with the highest women's representation in parliament span regions and income levels. Rwanda ranks first worldwide, while Cuba, Nicaragua, Bolivia, Mexico, and the Nordic countries also place highly. Women's increased representation in Rwandan politics is often attributed to the country's 2003 Constitution, which established a 30% quota for women in all decision-making bodies. Top-ranked countries reached similar levels through a variety of paths, from legislated quotas in Latin America to voluntary party quotas in the Nordic countries (Muñoz-Pogossian et al., 2017) (UNRIC, 2026). Higher than average representation is not concentrated in any single region, as the mix of colors above shows. Income levels tell a similar story, explored next.
High per capita income does not guarantee high representation. Japan, visible in this bar chart, holds just 15.5% women's representation in parliament—well below the world average of 27.4%—despite a GNI per capita of $58,920. The pattern holds elsewhere too: scrolling down, South Korea (20.8%) also sits well below the world average, and the United States (28.9%) sits just slightly above despite its high per capita income.
97 of the 180 countries with data, roughly 54%, still have a lower share of women in parliament than the world average of 27.4%, reflecting how gender equality in global legislatures remains incomplete.