And how does Canada rank in the global analysis?
![Which countries have the largest share of female investors?](https://cdn-res.keymedia.com/cdn-cgi/image/f=auto/https://cdn-res.keymedia.com/cms/images/ca/155/0379_637680754610197160.jpg)
![Steve Randall](https://cdn-res.keymedia.com/cdn-cgi/image/f=auto/https://cdn-res.keymedia.com/cms/images/ca/100/0311_637073080252507882.png)
The investment world has long been dominated by men, but is this the same worldwide or are some countries surging ahead in this regard?
In Canada, there is a clear gender gap with men making up 79% of investors compared to just 21% that are women. A similar gap is also seen in many other countries including the United States (77/23), the UK (79/21), France (77/23), Germany (80/20), and Australia (78/22).
However, a new analysis from BrokerChooser.com shows that there are plenty of countries where women are participating in investing in greater proportions.
The Philippines leads with a 56% male, 44% female split; followed by Barbados, Papua New Guinea, Trinidad and Tobago, and Jamaica.
Bangladesh has the lowest share of female investors at just 12% while Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Pakistan, and Brazil complete the bottom 5.
There are no countries where women investors outweigh men and the global split is 76% men, 24% women, making Canada slightly below the average.
Rank |
Country |
Percentage of Female Investors |
Percentage of Male Investors |
1 |
The Philippines |
44% |
56% |
2 |
Barbados |
39% |
61% |
3 |
Papua New Guinea |
38% |
62% |
3 |
Trinidad & Tobago |
38% |
62% |
5 |
Jamaica |
37% |
63% |
6 |
Bahamas |
36% |
64% |
6 |
Belarus |
36% |
64% |
8 |
Hong Kong |
35% |
65% |
8 |
Mongolia |
35% |
65% |
10 |
China |
34% |
66% |
The full report is at: https://brokerchooser.com/education/investing/how-countries-invest
Women in finance
The low share of women investors has many contributing factors, including a lack of female financial advisors.
In an interview with Wealth Professional earlier this year, Sun Life Global Investments’ president Oricia Smith highlighted figures that show only 18% of Canada’s advisors are women, and she said that the demand for financial advice for women in growing.
“Around half of the women polled in a recent financial independence survey said they had no financial plans. Of those, 60% were between 45 and 54 years old,” she said. “To me, it’s a wake-up call to a gap that’s got to be filled.”
Things are worse at a fund manager level with recent data from Citywire showing that just 13% of the 749 managers of Canadian-domiciled funds are led by women.