In focus: women in master’s and PhD studies in the EU

Among the 1.5 million master’s students in the EU in 2022, 905 678 were women, representing 58.6% of the total. At doctoral level, this share was 48.5% of a total of 99 204 doctorate students.

At master’s level, women represented the majority of students in all EU countries, except for Luxembourg, where there was a gender balance with 49.8% of students being female. The highest share of women in master’s studies was recorded in Cyprus, with 74.2%, followed by Poland (67.3%) and Lithuania (66.1%).

For studies at doctoral level, shares ranged from 42.3% in Luxembourg, 43.3% in Austria and 44.1% in Czechia, to 57.4% in Lithuania, 58.0% in Cyprus and 59.6% in Latvia.

Women in master's and doctoral studies in the EU, 2022 (% of women in total number of students in each category). Bar chart. See link to full dataset below.

Source dataset: educ_uoe_grad02

Between 2013 and 2022, the share of women in master’s studies at EU level fell slightly by 0.4 percentage points (pp) due to decreases in the share of female students in 12 countries. These ranged from -0.1 in Slovenia, -0.3% in Czechia, Malta and Poland, to -3.4% in Latvia and -3.6% in Hungary.

In the same period, the share of women in doctoral studies rose by 1.0 pp, with 19 EU countries registering increases in the number of female students. The highest increase was recorded in Cyprus, with +8.0 pp from 2013 to 2022.

Education field: the preferred choice

Women represented the highest share of students in the education field both in master’s (75.6%) and doctoral (66.9%) studies in 2022.

When it comes to master’s studies, the highest shares of women, after education, were recorded in generic programmes and qualifications (73.7% of women), arts and humanities (69.5%) and social sciences, journalism and information (68.7%).

The preferred fields were different at doctorate level, with the 2nd most popular being health and welfare (60.9%), followed by agriculture, forestry, fisheries and veterinary (57.5%). Social sciences, journalism and information (57.3%) and arts and humanities (53.3%) came in at 4th and 5th places.

At both master’s and doctorate levels, women were under-represented in the fields of information and communication technologies (26.2% and 22.6%, respectively), and engineering, manufacturing and construction (33.4% and 32.7% respectively).

Women in master's and doctoral studies in the EU, 2022, by field of education (% of women in total students in each category). Horizontal bar chart. Link to the full dataset below.