In a Facebook post, Forsthoffer called this a “major achievement”, noting that Hungary jumped from 141st to around 90th globally in female representation following April’s general election.

Noting that this is still below the European Union average of 33.6 percent, she expressed hope that it would encourage greater political participation by women in the future.

Forsthoffer added, as an interesting comparison, that the United Arab Emirates mandates 50 percent female representation in its parliament.

According to the latest figures from the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU), the UAE is among only a handful of countries worldwide to have reached gender parity or better in national legislatures, alongside countries such as Rwanda, Mexico, Cuba and Nicaragua.

Across the European Union, the Nordic countries continue to lead in female parliamentary representation. In 2025, women held 46.0 percent of seats in Finland, 44.8 percent in Sweden and 44.7 percent in Denmark. By contrast, the lowest shares in the EU were recorded in Cyprus with 14.3 percent, Hungary with 15.6 percent, and Romania with 22.0 percent.

Globally, women now hold 27.5 percent of parliamentary seats on average, according to the IPU’s 2026 report, up from just 11.3 percent in 1995. However, the organisation warned that progress has slowed significantly in recent years, with 2024 and 2025 recording the weakest annual gains since 2017.

Hungary’s own historical record shows a long and uneven trajectory. According to IPU historical data, women accounted for just 2.9 percent of MPs in 1945, rising to 30.1 percent during the socialist era in 1980 before dropping sharply after the democratic transition.

Representation fell to 7.3 percent in 1990 and reached a post-communist low of 8.3 percent in 1998. Over the last decade, gradual gains have been recorded, with women making up 9.1 percent of MPs in 2010, 10.1 percent in 2014, 11.6 percent in 2018 and 14.1 percent following the 2022 election.

The latest figure of 27.1 percent therefore marks by far the highest level of female representation in Hungary’s democratic era.

Reliable international data on parliamentary gender representation is compiled primarily by the Inter-Parliamentary Union, Eurostat and the European Institute for Gender Equality (EIGE).

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