In human history, only 19 women have been elected heads of state or government of independent countries. All except two of these women were alive in 1993. As an world average, 4% of ministerial posts in government were held by women in 1990; there were no women in ministerial posts in 83 countries. In 1992, 124 parliaments surveyed by the UN had 9.7% of women deputies, on average. The highest percentage was in the western European countries with 14%; however, this figure is greatly influenced by the parliaments of the Nordic countries, which had the highest percentage in the world (averaging 34%).
In the European Parliament in 1993, 20% of the 518 members were women (the highest being Denmark 33%; Holland 24%; Germany 20.5%; the lowest Greece with 4.6%). In national governments of the EC, the percentage of women ministers ranges from 6.8% in Italy to 25% in Holland; with an average 11% of women members of legislative assemblies and the same percentage for national governments as a whole and regional governments, according to the last elections. There were 4 women at head of state level in the EEC/EU (25%).