Ranking support for women in STEM across Europe
Study names Sweden the best for women in STEM in Europe, ahead of International Day of Women and Girls in Science.
International Day of Women and Girls in Science falls on Wednesday 11 February this year.
The key findings of Accu’s analysis are:
- Sweden is Europe’s best country for women in STEM, scoring 9.06/10.
- Norway has the highest proportion of women employed in engineering roles in Europe (13.7% of the labour force).
- The UK ranks 28th, with the highest gender pay gap in Europe (19.8% below men’s earnings).
- Hungary is Europe’s worst country for women in STEM, scoring 4.56/10.
The analysis assesses key indicators, including women’s representation in STEM occupations, the proportion of women among STEM graduates, the share of tertiary-educated women employed in STEM roles, and national gender pay gaps.
This provides a comparative picture of how effectively different countries enable women to enter, remain and progress in STEM careers.
Sweden ranks first overall and women account for 24% of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) specialists and 51.3% of the science and technology workforce. Tertiary-educated women employed in STEM also exceed typical European levels with 41%, second only to Luxembourg. Sweden’s gender pay gap is on par with the European average at 11.2% below men’s earnings.
In the same study, Ireland come second on this measure. Women account for 24.4% of ICT specialists, 42.4% of the science and technology workforce and 12.8% of engineers in Ireland, exceeding the median for all three sectors. Tertiary-educated women make up 36% of those employed in STEM, while the gender pay gap stands at 8.6%, notably lower than the European average of 11.5%, contributing to Ireland’s high overall score of 8.56/10.
Iceland has the highest number of women graduating in STEM
Hungary ranks last overall, reflecting weak outcomes across both participation and labour market indicators for women in STEM. Women account for 15.2% of ICT specialists and 5.1% of the engineering workforce, both below the European averages of 19.6% and 8.7%, respectively, indicating severe underrepresentation in key technical fields.
Although women make up 42.4% of science and technology workers in Hungary, only 29.6% of tertiary-educated women are employed in STEM roles and the gender pay gap stands at 17.8%, over six percentage points worse than the European average, contributing to Hungary’s lowest overall score of 4.56/10.
Alastair Morris, UK Managing Director at Accu, comments, ‘When women face barriers entering or progressing in STEM roles, the risk is not just individual career loss but systemic skills shortages and weaker innovation outcomes.
'Engineering teams benefit greatly from women’s strengths in complex problem-solving and excellent communication skills, and organisations that fail to attract and retain women are effectively narrowing their own technical capability at a time when demand for STEM skills is growing.’
Accu are a components company. They are currently gathering commentaries from women in STEM across Europe.
You can access the full data set online.
