UNESCO: Women Researchers Still A Minority

From the Gov Monitor:

The number of researchers, on the rise world-wide, jumped by 56% in developing countries between 2002 and 2007.

According to a new study published by the UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS).

In comparison, their number increased by only 8.6% in developed countries during the same period*.

In five years, the number of researchers in the world rose significantly, from 5.8 to 7.1 million.

The greatest gain was made in developing countries: 2.7 million researchers were counted in 2007, versus 1.8 million five years earlier.

These countries increased their global share of researchers from 30.3% in 2002 to 38.4%.

The biggest increase was seen in Asia, whose share went up from 35.7% in 2002 to 41.4%. China is mainly responsible for the gain, having gone from 14 to 20% in five years.

The increase in Asia occurred at the expense of Europe and the Americas, whose shares went down respectively from 31.9 to 28.4% and from 28.1 to 25.8%.

“The increase in the number of researchers, notably in developing countries, is good news. UNESCO welcomes this development, although the participation of women in science, which UNESCO promotes notably through the l’OREAL-UNESCO Awards for Women in Science, is still too limited,” said Irina Bokova, the Director-General of UNESCO.