Romania still has a low representation of women in politics, report says
Romania continues to have a weak representation of women in the roles of members of parliament, members of the European Parliament, members of county and local councils, and mayors, compared to other states in the European Union, according to the official 2025 data of the European Institute for Gender Equality, processed by Monitorul Social, a project of the Friedrich Ebert Foundation.
Romania ranks second to last in the EU in terms of the number of women in the European Parliament, with only 15.2% of the total number of MEPs. In last place is Cyprus with 0%.
Among EU member states, a low level of female representation in the European Parliament is also recorded in Malta (16.7%), followed by Lithuania (18.2%) and Latvia (22.2%), while the EU average is 38.6%.
At the opposite end are the Nordic countries. In Sweden (61.9%) and Finland (60%), the percentage of women exceeds that of men, and in the Netherlands, Luxembourg, and Spain, gender representation among MEPs is equal (50/50).
From the perspective of women’s representation in national parliaments, the data centralized by EIGE in 2025 show that Romania has a percentage of 22% female parliamentarians out of the total members of both chambers, while the EU average is 33.6%.
In this category, Romania ranks third from last in the EU, surpassing only Cyprus (14.3%) and Hungary (15.6%), but placing below countries such as Slovakia (22.7%), Greece (23.9%), and Bulgaria (25%). No European country records a majority of women deputies and senators in the national parliaments. Instead, the highest values are observed in Finland (46%), Sweden (44.8%), Denmark (44.7%), and Belgium (44.2%).
Within local councils, the aggregated EIGE data for 2025 show that Romania ranks last compared to EU member states, with only 8.9% of local councilors being women, far behind the next-ranked countries: Greece (20.2%), Cyprus (20.8%), and Germany (24.7%). The EU average proportion of women’s representation in local councils is 34.9%, with the best positions held by Finland (45%), Spain (42.8%), Sweden (42.5%), and France (42%).
Similarly, only 6.5% of Romanian mayors are women, at a very large distance from the European Union average of 18.9%. Other EU countries with weak representation of women among mayors are Greece (8%), Latvia (9.3%), and Ireland (9.7%), while at the opposite end, with strong representation, are Finland (39%), Sweden (36.9%), and the Netherlands (31%).
Regarding women’s representation in county councils, Romania is below the European average of 36.4%, recording a percentage of 23.4%, positioning itself only ahead of the Czech Republic (21.3%), Slovakia (17.7%), Latvia (17%), and Hungary (16.2%). The counties with the highest shares of women representatives in county councils are Dâmbovița (40%), Galați (37.1%), Vâlcea (36.4%), and Hunedoara (36.4%). In contrast, the weakest representation of women is found in the counties of Mureș and Neamț, with only 8.6% each, and in Brașov (11.4%).
According to the report, the weak representation of women in political decision-making roles in Romania indicates a deficit of internal democracy within political parties and an inefficient functioning of mechanisms meant to ensure equal opportunities in access to power.
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