Saturday, 10 May 2025
In 2022, women accounted for a significant majority of students pursuing master’s degrees across the European Union, while their representation at the doctoral level remained slightly below parity. According to recent data, out of 1.5 million master’s students in the EU, 905,678 were women, making up 58.6% of the total. At the doctoral level, however, female students represented 48.5% of the 99,204 enrolled candidates.
Women Dominate Master’s Studies in Most EU Countries
Women formed the majority of master’s students in nearly all EU countries, with one exception—Luxembourg—where gender parity was observed, with women making up 49.8% of students. The highest proportions of female students at this level were recorded in Cyprus (74.2%), Poland (67.3%), and Lithuania (66.1%).
At the doctoral level, gender representation varied significantly across member states. The lowest shares of women in PhD programs were recorded in Luxembourg (42.3%), Austria (43.3%), and Czechia (44.1%). In contrast, the highest proportions were found in Latvia (59.6%), Cyprus (58.0%), and Lithuania (57.4%).
Trends Over the Past Decade
Between 2013 and 2022, the proportion of women in master’s studies across the EU saw a slight decline of 0.4 percentage points. This drop was driven by decreases in 12 EU countries, with Latvia (-3.4 pp) and Hungary (-3.6 pp) registering the most significant reductions.
Conversely, the representation of women in doctoral programs rose by 1.0 percentage point over the same period, with 19 EU countries experiencing an increase in female PhD students. Cyprus recorded the most notable growth, with an 8.0 percentage point rise between 2013 and 2022.
Education: A Leading Field for Women
In terms of academic disciplines, women were overwhelmingly represented in education studies, comprising 75.6% of master’s students and 66.9% of doctoral students in 2022.
At the master’s level, other fields with a high proportion of female students included generic programs and qualifications (73.7%), arts and humanities (69.5%), and social sciences, journalism, and information (68.7%).
For doctoral studies, the most popular fields among women after education were health and welfare (60.9%), agriculture, forestry, fisheries, and veterinary sciences (57.5%), social sciences, journalism, and information (57.3%), and arts and humanities (53.3%).
Persistent Gender Gaps in STEM Fields
Despite their strong presence in education and social sciences, women remained underrepresented in STEM fields. In information and communication technologies (ICT), women accounted for just 26.2% of master’s students and 22.6% of PhD candidates. Similarly, in engineering, manufacturing, and construction, female representation stood at 33.4% at the master’s level and 32.7% at the doctoral level.
As efforts to bridge the gender gap in higher education continue, these figures highlight both the progress and the persistent disparities in academic fields across Europe.
Source: Eurostat
