Share of primary school teachers who are women in Ireland

Ireland: Share of primary school teachers who are women was 84.5% in 2023. ▲ Rising

Latest (2023)
84.5%
Change on year
down 0.1%
Rank
68th
of 212 regions
All-time high
84.9%
in 2011
All-time low
64.9%
in 1976
Years of data
36
1976–2023

Share of primary school teachers who are women in Ireland, 1976–2023

0204060801976199920231976: 64.9 %1977: 72.4 %1978: 72.8 %1979: 73 %1980: 73.9 %1981: 73.8 %1982: 74.5 %1983: 75.1 %1984: 75.5 %1985: 75.7 %1986: 76 %1987: 76.2 %1988: 76.3 %1989: 76.3 %1990: 76.3 %1991: 76.6 %1992: 76.9 %1993: 77 %1994: 77.3 %1995: 77.9 %1996: 77.9 %1997: 78.4 %1998: 80.2 %1999: 84.8 %2004: 83.4 %2005: 84.1 %2006: 84.7 %2007: 84 %2008: 84.5 %2009: 84.7 %2010: 84.9 %2011: 84.9 %2012: 84.9 %2021: 84.6 %2022: 84.6 %2023: 84.5 %

Source: UNESCO Institute for Statistics (2026) – with minor processing by Our World in Data. Measured in %.

Analysis

Ireland recorded 84.5% for share of primary school teachers who are women in 2023.

That represents a change of down 0.1% on the previous year and down 0.5% over ten years.

Over the whole period, share of primary school teachers who are women in Ireland peaked at 84.9% in 2011 and was at its lowest, 64.9%, in 1976.

That places Ireland 68th out of 212 regions with data for 2023, putting it in the middle of the range.

The long-run direction has been consistently rising across the 36 years of available data.

Averages by decade

DecadeAverage LowestHighest Years
1970s 70.7% 64.9% 73.0% 4
1980s 75.3% 73.8% 76.3% 10
1990s 78.3% 76.3% 84.8% 10
2000s 84.2% 83.4% 84.7% 6
2010s 84.9% 84.9% 84.9% 3
2020s 84.5% 84.5% 84.6% 3

Countries ranked near Ireland

  1. 65 Maldives 85.3% compare
  2. 66 Cayman Islands 84.8% compare
  3. 67 New Zealand 84.6% compare
  4. 69 Aruba 84.4% compare
  5. 70 Kiribati 84.3% compare
  6. 71 Cyprus 84.3% compare

See the full ranking of 212 places →

More education data for Ireland

All data for Ireland →

Frequently asked questions

What is share of primary school teachers who are women in Ireland?
Share of primary school teachers who are women in Ireland was 84.5% in 2023, according to UNESCO Institute for Statistics (2026) – with minor processing by Our World in Data.
What is the highest share of primary school teachers who are women recorded in Ireland?
The highest recorded value was 84.9% in 2011.
What is the lowest share of primary school teachers who are women recorded in Ireland?
The lowest recorded value was 64.9% in 1976.
How does Ireland rank for share of primary school teachers who are women?
Ireland ranks 68th out of 212 regions with data for 2023.
Is share of primary school teachers who are women rising or falling in Ireland?
Over the last ten years it is down 0.5%. The long-run trend across the full record is rising.
Where does this Ireland data come from?
The figures come from UNESCO Institute for Statistics (2026) – with minor processing by Our World in Data, published as part of Share of primary school teachers who are women. Statizoid updates them automatically from the source API.

Download this data

CSV · JSON — 36 observations, free to reuse under CC BY 4.0 (Our World in Data).

About this data

Indicator
Share of primary school teachers who are women
Unit
%
Source
UNESCO Institute for Statistics (2026) – with minor processing by Our World in Data
Licence
CC BY 4.0 (Our World in Data)
Coverage
212 places, 6,239 data points, 1970–2025
Last refreshed

Percentage of female teachers among all teachers at the primary education level during a given school year.