How many women are there in the EU27? How many of them are below 25 or above 65 years of age? What is the difference in salary between women and men? What proportion of physicians, tertiary level academic staff and managers are women? What percentage of students in tertiary education and in particular in engineering, business or education are women? Do women use the internet more or less than men?

Answers to these questions and to others can be found in this new data, published by Eurostat, the Statistical Office of the European Communities on the occasion of International Women’s Day which is marked today, Sunday the 8th of March 2009.

More than a quarter of all women are aged below 25 in 2008

There were just over a quarter of a billion women in the EU27 in 2008. Around a quarter of them (27% or 68 million) were aged less than 25, more than half (54% or 137 million) were aged 25 to 64 and nearly a fifth (19% or 49 million) were aged 65 and over.

The proportion of women aged less than 25 in the total number of women ranged from 23% in Italy, 24% in Germany and Greece and 25% in Bulgaria, Spain and Slovenia to 34% in Ireland, 32% in Cyprus and 30% in France, Slovakia and the United Kingdom (in 2007), Malta stood at 29%.

On the other hand, the proportion of women aged 65 and over ranged from 12% in Ireland and 13% in Cyprus to 23% in Germany and Italy, Malta stood at 16%.

In the EU27 in 2008, there were 104.8 women per 100 men. There were more women than men in all Member States, with the highest proportions observed in Estonia (117.2 women per 100 men), Latvia (116.9), Lithuania (114.8) and Poland (107.0), and the lowest in Ireland (100.3), Malta (101.0) and Sweden (101.2).

Women earned 17% less than men in 2007

Women earned 17.4% less than men on average in the EU27 in 2007. The Member States with the largest gender pay gaps1 were Estonia (30.3%), Austria (25.5%), the Czech Republic, the Netherlands and Slovakia (all 23.6%), Cyprus (23.1%) and Germany (23.0%), and the smallest Italy (4.4%), Malta (5.2%), Poland (7.5%), Portugal and Slovenia (both 8.3%) and Belgium (9.1%).

Highest proportion of female physicians and academic staff in tertiary education in the Baltic States

In 2006, 41% of physicians in the EU27 were women, compared with 35% in 1996. The proportion of female physicians has increased between 1996 and 2006 in almost all Member States for which data are available. In 2006, this proportion differed greatly between the Member States, ranging from 22% in Malta and 27% in Luxembourg (both in 2004) to 73% in Latvia, 70% in Estonia, 69% in Lithuania and 68% in Romania.

In 2006, 38% of academic staff in tertiary education in the EU27 were women, compared with 33% in 1998. This proportion also increased between 1998 and 2006 in almost all Member States. The highest percentages in 2006 were found in Latvia (57%), Lithuania (53%), Estonia (49% in 2004) and Finland (48%), and the lowest in Malta (28%), Slovenia and Italy (both 34%).

Nearly a third (33%) of managers in the EU27 in 2007 were women, compared with 30% in 2001. There were fewer female managers than male managers in all Member States, with the highest proportions of female managers in 2007 recorded in Latvia (40%), Lithuania and France (both 38%) and Poland (36%), and the lowest in Cyprus (15%), Malta (19%) and Luxembourg (21%).

Clear gender preferences in the choice of tertiary study field

In 2006, 55% of all tertiary students in the EU27 were women, compared with 53% in 1998. In 2006, women were in the majority in all Member States except Germany, where the proportions were almost equal. Apart from Germany, percentages ranged from 51% in Greece, Cyprus and the Netherlands to 63% in Latvia, 62% in Estonia and 60% in Lithuania and Sweden, Malta stood at 78%.

In 2006, 17% of engineering students in the EU27 were women, up slightly from 1998. The highest proportions in 2006 were found in Romania (29%), Bulgaria (28%) and Denmark (27%), and the lowest in Slovenia and the Netherlands (both 7%) and Cyprus (8%), Malta stood at 19.9%.

The proportion of female students in business and administration in 2006 was 55% in the EU27, compared with 51% in 1998. The highest percentages in 2006 were observed in Lithuania (69%), Hungary (66%) and Latvia (65%), and the lowest in the Netherlands (36%), Cyprus (43%) and Germany (44%), Malta stood at 52.7%.

In the EU27 in 2006, 75% of students in education were women, the same as in 1998. In 2006, the highest percentages were found in Estonia (90%), Cyprus (88%) and Italy (87%), and the lowest in Bulgaria (68%), Germany (69%) and Denmark (71%), Malta stood at 78%.

More than 80% of women in Sweden, the Netherlands, Denmark and Finland use the internet

In the EU27 in 2008, 62% of women and 67% of men aged 16 to 74 had used the internet in the last 12 months. The proportion of women using the internet was highest in Sweden (88%), the Netherlands (86%), Denmark (84%) and Finland (83%), and lowest in Romania (31%), Greece (36%) and Bulgaria, Italy and Cyprus (all 39%), Malta stood at 47%.

The proportion of men using the internet was higher than for women in all Member States in 2008, except for France (72% for women and 69% for men) and Ireland (66% for women and 65% for men). The largest differences were found in Luxembourg (74% of women compared with 91% of men), Austria (67% and 79%), Italy (39% and 50%) and Greece (36% and 46%), Malta stood at 47% and 53% respectively.

In the EU27 in 2008, the proportion of women aged 16 to 74 who used the internet to order or buy goods or services (e-commerce) in the last 12 months was 30% compared with 35% for men. The highest proportions for women were observed in Denmark (55%), the United Kingdom (54%), the Netherlands and Finland (both 52%), and the lowest in Bulgaria (2%), Romania (3%) and Greece (5%), Malta stood at 18%. In almost all Member States, the proportion of men who bought goods and services over the internet was higher than for women.