In 2021, there were almost 74 million people in the EU aged 15 to 74 employed in science and technology, an increase of 3% compared with 2020 and 21% compared with 2011.
Of this 74 million, 52% were women, +4% compared with 2020 and +26% compared with 2011. Data show that the female workforce grew more than their male counterparts (+1% more male compared with 2020 and +16% compared with 2011).
Among EU regions (NUTS1), the highest share of women employed in science and technology in 2021 was observed in Latvia and Lithuania (both 63% single regions at this level of detail), followed by the Great Plain and North in Hungary, the Central region in Poland, Saxony-Anhalt in Germany and North and South-East Bulgaria (all 61%), the Portuguese region of Azores and Estonia (single region at this level of detail) with 60%.
At the other end of the scale, the lowest share was recorded in Malta (44%; single region at this level of detail), followed by the Italian regions of South (46%), North-East and North-West as well as South Netherlands all with 47%.
Source dataset: hrst_st_rsex
An analysis by age shows that more than half (53.3% or 9.4 million) of the 17.6 million young people aged 25 to 34 working in science and technology in 2021 were women. In a decade, the number of women working in this field increased by 14.8%, the equivalent of +1.2 million women. By comparison, the number of men in this area increased by 10.8% since 2011 to 8.2 million in 2021.
In 2021, 45% of the 68.3 million people aged 25 to 64 employed in science and technology in the EU were people between 45 and 64 years old (more than 30.8 million), 29% were between 35 and 44 years old (19.9 million) and 26% were people aged 25 to 34 (17.6 million).
For more information:
- Statistics Explained article on human resources in science and technology
- Dedicated section on science, technology and innovation
- Database on science, technology and innovation
Methodological notes:
- The names of the regions presented in the article are English translations of the original names.
- Regional data for Czechia, Denmark, Estonia, Ireland, Croatia, Cyprus, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Slovenia, Slovakia: single regions at this level of detail. Iceland, Norway and Switzerland: single regions at this level of detail.
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