[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"question:42:en-US":3},{"metadata":4,"sys":15,"fields":35},{"tags":5,"concepts":14},[6,11],{"sys":7},{"type":8,"linkType":9,"id":10},"Link","Tag","gender",{"sys":12},{"type":8,"linkType":9,"id":13},"global",[],{"space":16,"id":20,"type":21,"createdAt":22,"updatedAt":23,"environment":24,"publishedVersion":28,"revision":29,"contentType":30,"locale":34},{"sys":17},{"type":8,"linkType":18,"id":19},"Space","ghhpjogyw4x7","c5242b810c2258f24d6c1571517ab4e1","Entry","2021-11-11T07:07:28.412Z","2025-09-08T22:30:17.290Z",{"sys":25},{"id":26,"type":8,"linkType":27},"master","Environment",246,57,{"sys":31},{"type":8,"linkType":32,"id":33},"ContentType","question","en-US",{"globalId":36,"answers":37,"answersAsImages":57,"wrongPercentage":94,"name":95,"questionText":96,"statistics":97,"veryWrongStatistics":129,"correctSentence":161,"youWereWrong":162,"youWereRight":163,"dataSourceShortText":164,"dataSourceLinkLongText":165,"extendedAnswerText":166,"headingVeryWrong":167,"youWereVeryWrong":162,"headingWrong":167},"42",[38,60,77],{"metadata":39,"sys":42,"fields":55},{"tags":40,"concepts":41},[],[],{"space":43,"id":45,"type":21,"createdAt":46,"updatedAt":47,"environment":48,"publishedVersion":50,"revision":51,"contentType":52,"locale":34},{"sys":44},{"type":8,"linkType":18,"id":19},"42d1f218a9bcf31189f227ba8d645b8b","2021-11-11T06:52:51.514Z","2025-04-10T06:27:57.797Z",{"sys":49},{"id":26,"type":8,"linkType":27},55,39,{"sys":53},{"type":8,"linkType":32,"id":54},"answer",{"globalId":56,"correctAnswer":57,"isVeryWrong":58,"answerText":59},"42-a1",false,true,"45",{"metadata":61,"sys":64,"fields":74},{"tags":62,"concepts":63},[],[],{"space":65,"id":67,"type":21,"createdAt":68,"updatedAt":69,"environment":70,"publishedVersion":50,"revision":51,"contentType":72,"locale":34},{"sys":66},{"type":8,"linkType":18,"id":19},"7bfef62ad0f78a7224902aa689d50b3d","2021-11-11T06:52:52.900Z","2025-04-10T06:27:50.989Z",{"sys":71},{"id":26,"type":8,"linkType":27},{"sys":73},{"type":8,"linkType":32,"id":54},{"globalId":75,"correctAnswer":57,"isVeryWrong":57,"answerText":76},"42-a2","65",{"metadata":78,"sys":81,"fields":91},{"tags":79,"concepts":80},[],[],{"space":82,"id":84,"type":21,"createdAt":85,"updatedAt":86,"environment":87,"publishedVersion":50,"revision":51,"contentType":89,"locale":34},{"sys":83},{"type":8,"linkType":18,"id":19},"bff426c77699df4375e2e25a672e1372","2021-11-11T06:52:54.474Z","2025-04-10T06:27:39.514Z",{"sys":88},{"id":26,"type":8,"linkType":27},{"sys":90},{"type":8,"linkType":32,"id":54},{"globalId":92,"correctAnswer":58,"isVeryWrong":57,"answerText":93},"42-a3","95",96,"Up to 1990, 18 countries in the world had been led","Up to 1990, 22 countries in the world had been led by a female head of state or government. What is that number today?",[98,99,100,101,102,103,104,105,106,107,108,109,110,111,112,113,114,115,116,117,118,119,120,121,122,123,124,125,126,127,128],"arg 0.965","aus 0.969","bel 0.978","bra 0.963","can 0.978","chn 0.966","fra 0.958","deu 0.97","hun 0.969","idn 0.943","ita 0.969","jpn 0.967","mex 0.95","pol 0.965","rus 0.982","sau 0.94","sgp 0.955","kor 0.95","esp 0.945","swe 0.975","tur 0.966","usa 0.961","mys 0.929","egy 0.954","are 0.954","col 0.965","rou 0.947","per 0.97","jor 0.977","mar 0.954","uk 0.981",[130,131,132,133,134,135,136,137,138,139,140,141,142,143,144,145,146,147,148,149,150,151,152,153,154,155,156,157,158,159,160],"arg 0.73","aus 0.75","bel 0.82","bra 0.65","can 0.7892","chn 0.7","fra 0.7922","deu 0.7772","hun 0.822","idn 0.6108","ita 0.7383","jpn 0.7213","mex 0.7420","pol 0.7006","rus 0.7764","sau 0.6208","sgp 0.6819","kor 0.6327","esp 0.7043","tur 0.6793","uk 0.8072","usa 0.7363","mys 0.6326","egy 0.7924","are 0.6307","col 0.7380","rou 0.7046","per 0.7338","jor 0.7725","mar 0.7729","swe 0.7583","By 2025, 95 countries had been led by a woman.\n\u003Chttps:\u002F\u002Fvimeo.com\u002F891231822>","You probably saw a female leader of a country on the news recently, but you didn’t realize they are quickly becoming more common. ","They didn’t realize how quickly more and more countries are electing a female leader.","Source: Wikipedia","The answer of 95 countries is the correct figure as of September 2025.\n\nWe only include in our final calculation countries that exist today. For countries up to 1990, we only include countries that existed then. According to our list, [Sükhbaataryn Yanjmaa](https:\u002F\u002Fen.wikipedia.org\u002Fwiki\u002FS%C3%BCkhbaataryn_Yanjmaa) of Mongolia was the first woman to become a head of state who wasn’t a monarch. She led the country for a year in 1953 after the death of her husband. In many lists, the first woman leader is considered to be [Khertek Anchimaa-Toka](https:\u002F\u002Fen.wikipedia.org\u002Fwiki\u002FKhertek_Anchimaa-Toka), who led Tannu Tuva. We don’t include Tannu Tuva, because it stopped being a country in its own right already in 1944. All of the information from Wikipedia has been cross-checked with at least one other source.\n\n[1]  [Wikipedia, Gapminder spreadsheet which shows how we counted each leader.](https:\u002F\u002Fdocs.google.com\u002Fspreadsheets\u002Fd\u002F1-Dwoac2grl2H6c35n-q_L4a5Ec17K2Bj1WPvxVK7XLU\u002Fedit?gid=1402610639#gid=1402610639)  \n[2]  We consulted two independent experts for this question, including Erika Svedberg of Malmö University.","Most people can recall some elected leader who is a woman, but most people haven’t realized the rapid change of the global trend that started after 1990. Until then only 22 countries had ever been led by a woman. But since then, 71 new countries were added to the list. All young girls should learn that, even if the chances are still far from equal, the chances of becoming their country's leader have improved a lot. Finally, women are leading a growing number of nations.\n\n### Why is it a problem that people are wrong about this?\nIf we don’t recognize the progress towards women’s empowerment that has already happened, we may easily become cynical, thinking change will never happen. We might lose hope and think women will never lead nations despite all the fight for equal access to power. \n\n### Why are people wrong about this?\nMost world leaders are still men, and women are still encountering lots of invisible roadblocks when trying to compete with men for leading positions. As long as they do, we will probably continue to hear a lot about the huge gender inequality and it will continue to be difficult to recognize the progress that has been made. It's easy to forget the many countries that have already had a female leader, where it requires much less to imagine having a second and third.\n\n### What is the difference between head of government and head of state?\nFor this question we include both heads of government and heads of state who have been elected. A hereditary head of state like Queen Elizabeth II of the UK, would not be included in our list. Sometimes the head of government is also the head of state, such as the president of the United States. Some heads of state, such as Mary McAleese, who was elected as president of Ireland, were included, even though the position is largely ceremonial. The head of a government is the person who controls the business of the government (e.g. Angela Merkel and Margaret Thatcher). The role of head of state differs by country but is often ceremonial and has less responsiblity for the day-to-day running of the country than a head of government. Up to June 2024, there were 61 countries that had a female head of government. \n\n### Can I trust this data?\nYes. We use a list of female leaders from Wikipedia that we have double checked against other sources. ","Many Ms. Presidents"]