Over the past century, thousands of people have served as heads of state and heads of government. Most were men, but the picture has gradually changed.
We looked at 100 years of political leadership across 197 present-day states to see when and where women entered the highest offices, and how their representation has changed over time.
Scroll to explore 100 years of political leadership.Each circle covers ten years. The longer its ribbon, the more leaders held office during that decade. Leaders here means heads of state and heads of government. Point at a circle’s centre for its counts and percentages.
Each small segment is one person in one country during that decade. Coral shows women and blue shows men.
Each petal is a woman who held office in a country during that decade. The number in the middle shows how many.
The switch at the top shows heads of state, heads of government, or all leaders together. In All leaders, someone who held both offices counts once, so it is fewer than the two added together.
Click “Look into” beside a circle to explore that decade in the Decade rooms, country by country, with portraits.
A person appears once per country in each decade they served. So the same person can appear in several decades, but never twice for one country in the same decade, even with several terms or both offices. We count people in office, not terms, time in power or influence.