Women currently lead 13 of the 193 member countries of the United Nations, and 63 countries have had at least one woman serve as head of government, according to a new Pew Research Center analysis.
That means roughly one-third of UN member states have ever had a woman leader.
The first woman to lead a UN member country was Sirimavo Bandaranaike of Sri Lanka, then known as Ceylon. She began her first term as prime minister in 1960. Within the next decade, India and Israel also elected their first women leaders.
The number of countries with women leaders has grown steadily since 1990. The largest single-year increase came in 2010, when five countries — Australia, Costa Rica, Kyrgyzstan, Slovakia and Trinidad and Tobago — elected women to lead their governments for the first time.
In 2025, Japan, Namibia and Suriname each saw a woman become head of government for the first time. Japan’s Sanae Takaichi is the country’s first female prime minister and one of 10 women currently serving as their nation’s first woman leader.
Other countries have had multiple women in the role. Iceland’s Kristrún Frostadóttir, who took office in 2024, is that country’s third woman prime minister.
Barbados Prime Minister Mia Mottley is the longest-serving woman currently in office, with nearly eight years in the role.
Looking at the broader historical record, former Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina is the longest-serving woman head of government since 1960. She served more than 20 total years in power before resigning and leaving Bangladesh in 2024 amid mass protests.
The analysis includes only heads of government from the 193 UN member states and reflects data through March 2, 2026. It excludes leaders of non-UN states, interim leaders and those without clear governing control.
The findings update earlier Pew Research Center analyses on women in global leadership.
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