Across most of the world, men and women are present in nearly equal numbers.
Yet in a handful of countries and territories, women make up well over half the population, creating some of the world’s largest gender imbalances.
This visualization, created by Harris Saleem via Visual Capitalist, ranks the countries and territories with the highest female share of the population using the latest available World Bank data.
Longer female life expectancy is a major factor, but migration and age structure also shape these demographic patterns.
Where Women Make Up the Largest Share
Hong Kong leads the ranking, with women accounting for 54.9% of the population. Moldova, Macao, Latvia, and Armenia round out the top five, each with female population shares above 53%.
Many countries on the list are in Eastern Europe or are island territories, where aging, migration, and historical mortality patterns can all have an outsized effect on the population mix.
Although the differences may appear small, they are significant at the national level. A female share above 53% can represent hundreds of thousands, and in larger countries millions, more women than men.
Why Some Countries Skew Female
In many
