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Women enrolled in Physics - Data over Time
UNDER CONSTRUCTION
How has the share of women in physics evolved across Europe, and where do we see progress, stagnation, or setbacks?
The following interactive visualizations track the percentage of women enrolled in Physics Bachelor's, Master's, and PhD programmes across different European regions from 2015 to 2024, based on Eurostat data elaborated by atom*innen. Explore how participation changes over time, compare regions, and follow the academic pipeline from undergraduate studies to doctoral level.
We've grouped the data in two ways: by geographic category, and by innovation performance. Currently, these visualizations are only available for the Bachelor level — we will soon also publish data for the Master's and PhD level.
The charts below show the share of women enrolled in Physics Bachelor programmes across EU member states for which data in Eurostat is available from 2015 to 2024. Countries are grouped according to the United Nations Geoscheme (M49 classification), which divides Europe into four geographic sub-regions: Eastern, Northern, Southern, and Western Europe. However, we excluded all countries that are not part of the EU.
Methodology note
Country groupings follow the UN M49 coding classification (United Nations Statistics Division, 2021). Within each UN M49 sub-region, only EU member states are included here; non-EU countries (e.g. Switzerland, Norway, Iceland, the UK, Albania, North Macedonia, Serbia) were excluded from this view. Countries were also excluded if the total number of students enrolled in physics fell below 50 in any year of the observation period. The group average and the sample standard deviation are calculated across the EU member states included in each chart.
Country groupings follow the UN M49 coding classification (United Nations Statistics Division, 2021). Within each UN M49 sub-region, only EU member states are included here; non-EU countries (e.g. Switzerland, Norway, Iceland, the UK, Albania, North Macedonia, Serbia) were excluded from this view. Countries were also excluded if the total number of students enrolled in physics fell below 50 in any year of the observation period. The group average and the sample standard deviation are calculated across the EU member states included in each chart.
Women enrolled in Physics Bachelor programmes (2015–2024; all years of study) in EU member states grouped by geographic sub-region
Northern Europe
Western Europe
Eastern Europe
Southern Europe
Country groupings based on the UN M49 Geoscheme (United Nations Statistics Division, 2021). The shaded grey bands indicate the sample standard deviation around the group average. All averages are unweighted. Data: Eurostat, elaborated by atom*innen.
Averages of Female Enrollment (2015-2024, all years of study) in Physics bachelor's programmes by European sub-region — EU member states
The charts below show the share of women enrolled in Physics Bachelor programmes across all European countries (not just EU members) from 2015 to 2024. Countries are grouped according to the United Nations Geoscheme (M49 classification), which divides Europe into four geographic sub-regions: Eastern, Northern, Southern, and Western Europe. This classification reflects geographic proximity rather than economic performance, EU membership status, or any policy framework.
Methodology note
Country groupings follow the UN M49 coding classification (United Nations Statistics Division, 2021). Countries were excluded if the total number of students enrolled in physics fell below 50 in any year of the observation period. The group average and the sample standard deviation are calculated across the countries included in each chart.
Country groupings follow the UN M49 coding classification (United Nations Statistics Division, 2021). Countries were excluded if the total number of students enrolled in physics fell below 50 in any year of the observation period. The group average and the sample standard deviation are calculated across the countries included in each chart.
Women enrolled in Physics Bachelor programmes (2015–2024; all years of study) in all European countries grouped by geographic sub-region
Northern Europe
Western Europe
Eastern Europe
Southern Europe
Country groupings based on the UN M49 Geoscheme (United Nations Statistics Division, 2021). The shaded grey bands indicate the sample standard deviation around the group average. All averages are unweighted. Data: Eurostat, elaborated by atom*innen.
Averages of Female Enrollment (2015-2024, all years of study) in Physics bachelor's programmes by European sub-region — all European countries
The charts below show the share of women enrolled in Physics Bachelor programmes across EU member states.
Countries are grouped according to their innovation performance as classified by the European Innovation Scoreboard (EIS) 2024. The EIS is a European Commission tool for monitoring research and innovation performance across EU member states. As a composite index aggregating 32 indicators — covering areas such as research investment, human resources, digitalisation, and intellectual assets — it provides a comparative assessment of national innovation systems.
Methodology note
Countries are assigned to their 2024 EIS category: Innovation Leaders (>125% of EU average), Strong Innovators (100–125%), Moderate Innovators (70–100%), Emerging Innovators (<70%). Note that country categories have shifted over 2015–2024, as the EIS index only started in 2018.
Countries were excluded if the total number of students enrolled in physics fell below 50 in any year of the observation period (e.g. Luxembourg and Malta). Hungary (76.5) and Croatia (81.6) were excluded as their EIS scores fall within a narrow margin of the Emerging/Moderate category boundary (78.8) and therefore cannot be assigned a stable category membership across the observation period. Croatia additionally transitioned from the Emerging to the Moderate Innovator category in 2023.
Countries are assigned to their 2024 EIS category: Innovation Leaders (>125% of EU average), Strong Innovators (100–125%), Moderate Innovators (70–100%), Emerging Innovators (<70%). Note that country categories have shifted over 2015–2024, as the EIS index only started in 2018.
Countries were excluded if the total number of students enrolled in physics fell below 50 in any year of the observation period (e.g. Luxembourg and Malta). Hungary (76.5) and Croatia (81.6) were excluded as their EIS scores fall within a narrow margin of the Emerging/Moderate category boundary (78.8) and therefore cannot be assigned a stable category membership across the observation period. Croatia additionally transitioned from the Emerging to the Moderate Innovator category in 2023.
Women enrolled in Physics Bachelor programmes (2015–2024) in EU countries grouped by EIS categories
Innovation leaders Sweden, Finland, Denmark, Netherlands
Strong innovators Estonia, Germany, Austria, Ireland, Belgium, France
Moderate innovators Cyprus, Italy, Greece, Lithuania, Portugal, Czechia, Spain
Emerging innovators Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Bulgaria, Latvia
Overview — all group averages by EIS category
Country classification based on the European Innovation Scoreboard (EIS) 2024. The shaded grey bands indicate the sample standard deviation around the group average. Data: Eurostat, elaborated by atom*innen.
Women enrolled in Physics over time
atominnen.at — data & facts
Female share of MSc Physics students
Share of women among all Physics master's graduates, 2015–2024. Use the checkboxes to show or hide individual countries. Data availability varies by country — some series start or end partway through the period where no data was reported.