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. Explore how participation changes over time, compare regions, and follow the academic pipeline from undergraduate studies to doctoral level.
The tabs below offer two ways to explore the data:
- Geographic zones: all European countries grouped by region
- Innovation index categories : EU member states grouped by innovation performance
Both views are currently available for Bachelor level; Master and PhD data will be added soon.
The charts below show the share of women enrolled in Physics Bachelor programmes across European countries from 2015 to 2024 (not just EU countries!). 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.
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 EU countries grouped by geographic sub-region
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.
Averages of Female Enrollment (2015-2024, all years of study) in Physics bachelor's programmes by European sub-region
Country groupings based on the UN M49 Geoscheme (United Nations Statistics Division, 2021). Data: Eurostat. Note: Note: 2024 values are preliminary and subject to change as additional data becomes available.
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.
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
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.