It excludes monarchs and those appointed by them, as well as acting, interim, or honorary positions.
The data is current as of April 2024 and sourced from the Council on Foreign Relations.
Key color coding:
- Dark Purple (Five): Countries that have had five female leaders.
- Purple (Four): Countries that have had four female leaders.
- Light Purple (Three): Countries that have had three female leaders.
- Pink (Two): Countries that have had two female leaders.
- Yellow (One): Countries that have had one female leader.
- Gray (None): Countries that have had no female leaders.
Here is the full list:
| Country name | Number of elected and appointed female heads of state or governments since 1946 | Names of elected and appointed female heads of state or governments since 1946 |
|---|---|---|
| Switzerland | 5 | Ruth Dreifuss, Micheline Calmy-Rey, Doris Leuthard, Eveline Widmer-Schlumpf, Simonetta Sommaruga |
| Finland | 4 | Tarja Halonen, Anneli Jaatteenmaki, Mari Kiviniemi, Sanna Marin |
| Iceland | 3 | Vigdis Finnbogadottir, Johanna Sigurdardottir, Katrín Jakobsdottir (current) |
| India | 3 | Indira Gandhi, Pratibha Patil, Droupadi Murmu (current) |
| Lithuania | 3 | Kazimira Prunskiene, Dalia Grybauskaitė, Ingrida Šimonytė (current) |
| Moldova | 3 | Zinaida Greceanii, Natalia Gavrilita, Maia Sandu (current) |
| New Zealand | 3 | Jenny Shipley, Helen Clark, Jacinda Ardern |
| Poland | 3 | Hanna Suchocka, Ewa Kopacz, Beata Szydło |
| Trinidad and Tobago | 3 | Kamla Persad-Bissessar, Paula-Mae Weekes, Christine Kangaloo (current) |
| United Kingdom | 3 | Margaret Thatcher, Theresa May |
| Argentina | 2 | Isabel Martinez de Peron, Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner |
| Bangladesh | 2 | Khaleda Zia, Sheikh Hasina (current) |
| Barbados | 2 | Sandra Mason (current), Mia Mottley (current) |
| Bosnia and Herzegovina | 2 | Željka Cvijanović, Borjana Krišto (current) |
| Croatia | 2 | Jadranka Kosor, Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic |
| Denmark | 2 | Helle Thorning-Schmidt, Mette Frederiksen (current) |
| Estonia | 2 | Kersti Kaljulaid, Kaja Kallas (current) |
| France | 2 | Edith Cresson, Élisabeth Borne |
| Haiti | 2 | Claudette Werleigh, Michele Pierre-Louis |
| Ireland | 2 | Mary Robinson, Mary McAleese |
| Kosovo | 2 | Atifete Jahjaga, Vjosa Osmani-Sadriu (current) |
| Latvia | 2 | Vaira Vike-Freiberga, Laimdota Straujuma, Evika Siliņa (current) |
| Malta | 2 | Agatha Barbara, Marie-Louise Coleiro Preca |
| Norway | 2 | Gro Harlem Brundtland, Erna Solberg |
| Philippines | 2 | Corazon Aquino, Gloria Macapagal Arroyo |
| Sao Tome and Principe | 2 | Maria das Neves, Maria do Carmo Silveira |
| Senegal | 2 | Mame Madior Boye, Aminata Toure |
| Slovakia | 2 | Iveta Radicova, Zuzana Caputova (current) |
| Slovenia | 2 | Alenka Bratusek, Nataša Pirc Musar (current) |
| Sri Lanka | 2 | Sirimavo Bandaranaike, Chandrika Kumaratunga |
| Australia | 1 | Julia Gillard |
| Austria | 1 | Brigitte Bierlein |
| Belgium | 1 | Sophie Wilmes |
| Brazil | 1 | Dilma Rousseff |
| Burundi | 1 | Sylvie Kinigi |
| Canada | 1 | Kim Campbell |
| Chile | 1 | Michelle Bachelet |
| Costa Rica | 1 | Laura Chinchilla |
| Dominica | 1 | Dame Eugenia Charles, Sylvanie Burton (current) |
| Ethiopia | 1 | Sahle-Work Zewde (current) |
| Gabon | 1 | Rose Christiane Raponda |
| Georgia | 1 | Salome Zurabishvili (current) |
| Germany | 1 | Angela Merkel |
| Greece | 1 | Katerina Sakellaropoulou (current) |
| Guyana | 1 | Janet Jagan |
| Honduras | 1 | Xiomara Castro (current) |
| Hungary | 1 | Katalin Novák |
| Indonesia | 1 | Megawati Sukarnoputri |
| Israel | 1 | Golda Meir |
| Italy | 1 | Giorgia Meloni (current) |
| Jamaica | 1 | Portia Simpson-Miller |
| Kyrgyzstan | 1 | Roza Otunbayeva |
| Liberia | 1 | Ellen Johnson Sirleaf |
| Malawi | 1 | Joyce Banda |
| Mali | 1 | Cisse Mariam Kaidama Sidibe |
| Marshall Islands | 1 | Hilda Heine (current) |
| Mauritius | 1 | Ameenah Gurib |
| Mozambique | 1 | Luisa Diogo |
| Nepal | 1 | Bidhya Devi Bhandari |
| Nicaragua | 1 | Violeta Chamorro |
| Pakistan | 1 | Benazir Bhutto |
| Panama | 1 | Mireya Moscoso |
| Peru | 1 | Dina Boluarte (current) |
| Portugal | 1 | Maria de Lourdes Pintasilgo |
| South Korea | 1 | Park Geun-hye |
| Romania | 1 | Viorica Dancila |
| Rwanda | 1 | Agathe Uwilingiyimana |
| Samoa | 1 | Fiame Naomi Mata’afaa (current) |
| Serbia | 1 | Ana Brnabic (current) |
| Singapore | 1 | Halimah Yacob |
| Sweden | 1 | Magdalena Andersson |
| Thailand | 1 | Yingluck Shinawatra |
| Togo | 1 | Victoire Tomegah Dogbe (current) |
| Tunisia | 1 | Najla Bouden Romdhane |
| Turkey | 1 | Tansu Ciller |
| Ukraine | 1 | Yulia Tymoshenko |
| Tanzania | 1 | Samia Hassan Suluhu (current) |
| Afghanistan | 0 | |
| Albania | 0 | |
| Algeria | 0 | |
| Andorra | 0 | |
| Angola | 0 | |
| Antigua and Barbuda | 0 | |
| Armenia | 0 | |
| Azerbaijan | 0 | |
| Bahamas | 0 | |
| Bahrain | 0 | |
| Belarus | 0 | |
| Belize | 0 | |
| Benin | 0 | |
| Bhutan | 0 | |
| Bolivia | 0 | |
| Botswana | 0 | |
| Brunei | 0 | |
| Bulgaria | 0 | |
| Burkina Faso | 0 | |
| Cambodia | 0 | |
| Cameroon | 0 | |
| Cape Verde | 0 | |
| Central African Republic | 0 | |
| Chad | 0 | |
| China | 0 | |
| Colombia | 0 | |
| Comoros | 0 | |
| Cuba | 0 | |
| Cyprus | 0 | |
| Czech Republic | 0 | |
| North Korea | 0 | |
| Democratic Republic of Congo | 0 | |
| Djibouti | 0 | |
| Dominican Republic | 0 | |
| East Timor | 0 | |
| Ecuador | 0 | |
| Egypt | 0 | |
| El Salvador | 0 | |
| Equatorial Guinea | 0 | |
| Eritrea | 0 | |
| Eswatini | 0 | |
| Fiji | 0 | |
| Gambia | 0 | |
| Ghana | 0 | |
| Grenada | 0 | |
| Guatemala | 0 | |
| Guinea | 0 | |
| Guinea-Bissau | 0 | |
| Iran | 0 | |
| Iraq | 0 | |
| Ivory Coast | 0 | |
| Japan | 0 | |
| Jordan | 0 | |
| Kazakhstan | 0 | |
| Kenya | 0 | |
| Kiribati | 0 | |
| Kuwait | 0 | |
| Laos | 0 | |
| Lebanon | 0 | |
| Lesotho | 0 | |
| Libya | 0 | |
| Liechtenstein | 0 | |
| Luxembourg | 0 | |
| Madagascar | 0 | |
| Malaysia | 0 | |
| Maldives | 0 | |
| Mauritania | 0 | |
| Mexico | 0 | |
| Micronesia | 0 | |
| Monaco | 0 | |
| Mongolia | 0 | |
| Montenegro | 0 | |
| Morocco | 0 | |
| Myanmar | 0 | |
| Namibia | 0 | |
| Nauru | 0 | |
| Netherlands | 0 | |
| Niger | 0 | |
| Nigeria | 0 | |
| North Macedonia | 0 | |
| Oman | 0 | |
| Palau | 0 | |
| Papua New Guinea | 0 | |
| Paraguay | 0 | |
| Qatar | 0 | |
| Republic of Congo | 0 | |
| Russia | 0 | |
| Saint Kitts and Nevis | 0 | |
| Saint Lucia | 0 | |
| Saint Vincent and the Grenadines | 0 | |
| San Marino | 0 | |
| Saudi Arabia | 0 | |
| Seychelles | 0 | |
| Sierra Leone | 0 | |
| Solomon Islands | 0 | |
| Somalia | 0 | |
| South Africa | 0 | |
| South Sudan | 0 | |
| Spain | 0 | |
| Sudan | 0 | |
| Suriname | 0 | |
| Syria | 0 | |
| Tajikistan | 0 | |
| Tonga | 0 | |
| Turkmenistan | 0 | |
| Tuvalu | 0 | |
| Uganda | 0 | |
| United Arab Emirates | 0 | |
| United States | 0 | |
| Uruguay | 0 | |
| Uzbekistan | 0 | |
| Vanuatu | 0 | |
| Venezuela | 0 | |
| Vietnam | 0 | |
| Yemen | 0 | |
| Zambia | 0 | |
| Zimbabwe | 0 |
Jonathan Wadman says
You correctly say there have been three female leaders of the UK, but only name two of them. The third one is Liz Truss.
Frank Cranmer says
For the UK, the compiler forgot Liz Truss – as most people do.