Women account for approximately one-third of parliamentary representatives in Germany. According to data released by the Federal Statistical Office on Tuesday, women made up an average of 33.4 percent of elected officials in the state parliaments (Länderparlamente) as of September 1, 2026. This represents a slight increase of 0.2 percentage points compared to the previous year.
For instance, the election held in Baden-Württemberg in March 2026 resulted in a higher proportion of women in the state parliament than before. Conversely, the proportion of women in the Rhineland-Palatinate state parliament slightly declined after the March 2026 election. Over a longer period, however, the representation of women in state parliaments has remained relatively stable. In 2008, when the results were first published, their share was slightly lower at 32.3 percent.
Significant differences exist among the state parliaments. The lowest percentage of women is found in the Bavarian State Parliament at 24.6 percent, followed by Saxony at 27.5 percent and Saxony-Anhalt at 27.8 percent. Hamburg comes closest to a balanced gender ratio, with a women’s representative share of 48.8 percent. This is followed by Bremen at 42.5 percent, and Schleswig-Holstein and Berlin, both at 37.7 percent.
Currently, women are slightly better represented in the state parliaments than in the Federal Parliament (Bundestag), where their share stands at 32.4 percent-which is 2.4 percentage points lower than in the last federal election.
The lowest representation of women is observed at the municipal level. In the district councils (Kreistagen) and city councils (Stadträten) of rural and independent cities, the average share is 30.7 percent. This figure not only shows a slight annual increase of 0.5 percentage points but also demonstrates a long-term trend of rising representation; in 2008, only 25.6 percent of elected officials in municipal bodies were women.
