AP2’s Female Representation Index 2025 shows that the proportion of women on the boards of Swedish listed companies has reached a new all-time high. In this year’s survey, the proportion of female board members has increased to 36.5 (35.5) per cent, the highest level since the surveys began in 2003. In large-cap companies, the proportion of women on the board has passed the 40 per cent mark for the first time – a level often defined as equal gender distribution.

Of all 361 companies in the survey, 46 per cent reach the level of 40 per cent female board members, which is a significant increase from 2024, when 41 per cent of the companies had gender-balanced boards according to this definition.

The survey shows, as in previous years, that companies with nomination committees have a higher proportion of women on the board than companies without nomination committees. Companies with nomination committees that have female representation have a full nine percentage points higher proportion of women on the board than companies without nomination committees (40 per cent and 31 per cent women on the board, respectively).

The proportion of women in the management teams of listed companies has also increased slightly in this year’s survey and now amounts to 29.2 (28.8) per cent, which is also the highest level so far since the surveys began.

Although progress is clear, there are still 14 companies that completely lack women on their boards and 53 companies without women in their management teams. Over half of the nomination committees lack female representation.

The number of female chairpersons has increased slightly to 34 (32), which corresponds to 9 per cent of the 361 companies surveyed. The number of women CEOs is decreasing, to 40 (42) and the proportion of companies with female CEOs is thus 11.1 (11.8) per cent. The development has stagnated since 2021, both in terms of female CEOs and female chairpersons.

“We see a positive trend with better gender equality in boardrooms, which can probably be partly explained by the EU directive on more equal gender distribution coming into force next year,” says Eva Halvarsson, CEO of AP2. “The development is also going in the right direction in the management teams, although at a slower pace.”

“Nomination committees have an important job in promoting the development towards gender-equal boards. We can conclude that there is a clear connection – companies with at least one woman on the nomination committee are more successful in appointing gender-equal boards,” says Eva Halvarsson.

Background to AP2’s Female Representation Index
Since 2003, AP2 has conducted an annual study to measure the proportion of women in management teams and boards of directors in listed companies. This year is the third time that AP2 has compiled the Female Index internally, based on data from the ownership service Holdings. The 2025 survey included 361 primary and secondary listed companies on Nasdaq OMX Stockholm, unless otherwise stated.

Read the full report in Swedish at www.ap2.se

For further information, please contact:
Eva Halvarsson, CEO of AP2, telephone 031-704 29 00
Åsa Mossberg, Head of Communications and Sustainability, telephone 0705-25 11 81