Visual Capitalist has published a new graphic map displaying the ratio in higher education enrollment rates between women and men in countries around the world.
The map uses the most recent data on higher education enrollment available (ranging from 2022 to 2025) from the World Bank and UNESCO Institute for Statistics. According to the analysis, women have a higher college enrollment rate than men in 130 countries. Globally, women’s postsecondary enrollment is 12 percent higher than men’s enrollment.
In the United States, women’s higher education enrollment rate is 36 percent more than men’s rate. Several other developed nations also have particularly large enrollment gaps favoring women, including Sweden (40 percent), Brazil (36 percent), and Australia (31 percent).
By individual countries, Gambia has the largest higher education enrollment gap favoring women (83 percent), followed by Sint Maarten (78 percent) and St. Vincent and the Grenadines (68 percent). In contrast, Benin has the largest higher education enrollment gap favoring men (41 percent).