Albania, among the countries with the fewest female judges in Europe

2026-07-17 14:54:00, Aktualitet CNA

Women make up the majority of professional judges in Albania, but their proportion is among the lowest in Europe and the lowest in the Western Balkans.

In 2024, women accounted for 55% of professional judges in Albania, while men accounted for 45%, according to Eurostat data. At this level, Albania ranks near the bottom of the European ranking, leaving behind only a few countries such as Poland, Germany, Turkey, Liechtenstein, Ireland and Iceland.

In the Western Balkans, Albania had the lowest percentage of female judges. In Serbia, women made up 73% of professional judges, in Bosnia and Herzegovina 64.8%, in Montenegro 63.8%, and in North Macedonia 61.4%.

The difference with Serbia, which leads the region, amounts to 18 percentage points. Albania also lags behind neighboring European Union countries, such as Greece, where women made up 75.5% of judges, and Croatia, with 72.3%.

Data shows that, although women are the majority in the Albanian judiciary, the gender divide is more balanced than in most countries in the region and Europe, where the judicial profession is more clearly dominated by women.

Women in the majority in almost all of Europe

According to Eurostat, the highest percentage of women judges was recorded in Slovenia, where they made up 81.4% of the total. It was followed by Latvia with 79.7%, Greece with 75.5%, Luxembourg with 73.6%, Serbia with 73% and Croatia with 72.3%.

In France, women made up 70% of judges, while in Estonia and Hungary the proportion was 68.7% and 68.6% respectively. Levels above 65% were also recorded in Lithuania, Portugal, Finland and Romania.

At the other end of the scale, women were in the minority in Iceland, at 43.1%, Ireland at 43.6%, Liechtenstein at 45% and Turkey at 49.6%. Germany had a nearly even split, with women making up 50.7% of professional judges.

Eurostat notes that Ireland was the only country in the European Union where men made up the majority of judges. In Slovenia, Latvia and Greece, by contrast, women made up over three-quarters or close to that level of the total.

The EU had fewer judges than a decade ago

In 2024, the European Union had an average of 15.7 professional judges for every 100,000 inhabitants, down from 17.7 in 2014.

The highest ratio was recorded in Croatia, with 43.3 judges per 100,000 inhabitants, followed by Slovenia with 40.2, Luxembourg with 36, Bulgaria with 35.4 and Romania with 35.3.

On the other hand, Ireland had only 3.6 judges per 100,000 inhabitants, Austria 4.3, Spain 6.2, Czech Republic 6.7 and Italy 7.9.

The Eurostat definition includes full-time and part-time professional judges, authorized to hear civil, criminal and other cases, including appeal courts. It does not include lay judges and lay members of the judiciary. /Monitor

Albania, among the countries with the fewest female judges in Europe