70 nations have had a female leader Number of countries that have ever had a female head of state or government
When Indira Gandhi became the first and, to date, only female Prime Minister of India in 1966, just one modern-day country – Mongolia – had previously seen a woman in power. By 1991, the number of countries that had some experience under female leadership had reached 20. Today, 70 countries have had some sort of female leadership (elected, appointed, interim or other), including six of the 10 most populous countries in the world.
70 nations have had a female leader  | Number of countries that have ever had a female  | head of state or government  | 80  | 70  | 60  | 40  | 20  | 1966  | 1980  | 1990  | 2000  | 2010 117  | Note: Figures are through March 8, 2017 The data are  | limited to heads of state and heads of government, excluding 146  | figurehead leaders and monarchs and are based on the 146  | countries included in the World Economic Forum's 2014 and  | 2016 Global Gender Gap reports and the Marshall Islands,  | Source: World Economic Forum calculations, Pew Research  | Center ana lysis.  | PEW RESEARCH CENTER 