Women Hold 40.8% of EU Science and Engineering Jobs, With Central Poland Above 50%

Women held 8.2 million scientific and engineering jobs in the European Union in 2025, accounting for 40.8% of employment in those occupations, Eurostat data show. Poland’s Central macroregion was one of ten EU regions where women were in the majority. The figures reveal wide regional differences despite a sustained rise in female employment.

By Adam Ujazdowski. Polish original published on 10 November 2026 at 11:39:45 UTC. English adaptation published on 10 November 2026.

The EU employed 20.2 million scientists and engineers in 2025: 8.2 million women and about 12 million men. Although the number of women has been rising steadily, their share of these occupations has changed much more slowly.

Data released on 10 November by Eurostat, the EU’s statistical office, show that regions in France, Germany, Spain and the Netherlands employ the largest numbers of female scientists and engineers. They do not, however, have the highest female shares. Some smaller regions, including one Polish macroregion, have a more heavily female workforce in these occupations.

Female employment rises faster than women’s share

The number of women employed as scientists and engineers rose from 5.3 million in 2015 to 8.2 million in 2025, an increase of 54.4%. Their share of employment rose by just 0.5 percentage points over the same period.

The contrast suggests that the increase in female employment largely reflects expansion in the wider market for highly skilled work. Job growth has not produced an equally rapid narrowing of the gap between women and men.

The picture differs when the broader science and technology workforce is considered. In 2025, this group employed more than 81.6 million people in the EU, including 42.8 million women. Women accounted for 52.5% of the total.

Women therefore form a majority of the broader science and technology workforce but remain a minority among scientists and engineers. Eurostat’s statistical category also includes selected medical occupations and information and communications technology specialists; it is not confined to laboratory researchers and industrial engineers.

Poland’s Central macroregion among ten with a female majority

Eurostat identified ten EU regions where women made up more than 50% of scientists and engineers in 2025. Four were in Spain, two in Portugal and one in Greece. The others were northern Sweden, France’s overseas regions and Poland’s Central macroregion, a statistical grouping of the Łódzkie and Świętokrzyskie provinces.

The Polish region’s inclusion shows that the composition of specialist employment can vary considerably within a country. It does not mean that the Central macroregion is among Europe’s largest scientific centres by workforce size.

In 2024, women accounted for 54.8% of scientists and engineers in Poland’s Central macroregion and 54% in its Eastern macroregion. The Central macroregion remained among the regions with a female majority in the latest figures for 2025.

Paris region employs the most female scientists and engineers

Île-de-France, the region encompassing Paris, employed the largest number of female scientists and engineers in the EU. In 2025, it had 336,300 women in these occupations, representing 38% of the total.

Other major centres included North Rhine-Westphalia and Bavaria in Germany, Spain’s Este region, the western Netherlands and mainland Portugal. A large female workforce did not necessarily translate into a high female share of employment.

Women accounted for 38% of scientists and engineers in the Paris region and 35% in both North Rhine-Westphalia and Bavaria. The shares were higher in Spain’s Este region and mainland Portugal, at 46% each, and in the western Netherlands, at 40%.

Workforce grows, proportions change slowly

An increase in the number of female scientists and engineers does not automatically produce a comparable rise in their share of the workforce. Between 2015 and 2025, the number of women rose by more than half, while their share edged up from about 40.3% to 40.8%.

Regional differences suggest that local specialisations and the mix of employment in healthcare, technology and engineering may matter. The data alone do not establish which of these factors explains the female majority in individual regions.

Data sources: Eurostat, “Women made up 41% of EU scientists & engineers in 2025”, 10 November 2026; “Women make up 53% of science & technology ranks”, 29 May 2026; and “Steady rise: female scientists & engineers reach 7.9 mln”, 11 February 2026. Dataset: hrst_st_rsex.