Statistics as at
December 2025
Progress of Women on Boards
As at 31 Dec 2025
As at 31 Dec 2025
As at 31 Dec 2025
Singapore boards deepen diversity gains as women’s appointments rise
- Diversity of Top 100 Companies primary-listed on the Singapore Exchange (SGX) has climbed to 25.3% women on boards from 23.7% in end-2023 – a notable achievement. But with board appointments and cessations at an interim stage, we should wait for the final tally at the end of the year to say definitively whether gender diversity has achieved its ‘25% by 2025’ target ahead of time. (The target was introduced by the Council in 2019 to encourage board gender diversity. The next stage is 30% women on boards by 2030).
- Across all SGX-listed companies, the proportion of women directors has also increased to 17.6% from 16.1% in end-2023 – the highest 6-month change since 2015, when the Council began studying data twice yearly.
- Statutory boards continue to set pace with 34.2% of their board directorships held by women, up from 32.7% in end-2023.
- Post-revision of the Charity Code of Governance, Top 100 Institutions of a Public Character continue to make diversity in-roads, with the number of women directors growing to 31.5%, up from 31% as at end-2023. In aggregate, all IPCs have reached 34.1%.
Singapore, 8 May 2026 – The Council for Board Diversity’s latest data, as of December 2025, shows a continued rise in women-held directorships across sectors, underscoring sustained progress in board gender diversity. Released annually, these statistics provide a longitudinal view of board composition and diversity, offering insights into how boards are evolving amid an increasingly complex global environment.
The public sector continues to set the pace for women in leadership, with women holding 36.1% of board seats across Singapore’s 65 statutory boards, up from 34.3% a year earlier. Progress is also evident in the non-profit sector, where Institutions of a Public Character (IPCs) collectively increased women’s board participation by 1.3 percentage points to 35.6%, although the Top 100 IPCs by donation receipts trail the sector-wide average at 31.6%.
In the listed sector, women now hold 25.8% of board seats among the Top 100 SGX primary-listed companies, an increase of 0.7 percentage points from the previous year and more than 18 percentage points since 2013, when CBD began systematically tracking board composition as a long-term indicator of board diversity progress. Notably, the proportion of women board chairs among the Top 100 SGX primary-listed companies rose to 10% in 2025 from 8% the previous year, signalling meaningful progress beyond representation as more women take on board leadership roles that shape board agenda, decision-making and governance outcomes.
Beyond representation outcomes, the data also points to more regular board renewal and a deepening pool of experienced board talent, underscoring the importance of embedding renewal as a systematic board practice.
Between 2021 and 2025, more than 1,200 individuals – both men and women, including 181 persons in 2025 – were appointed to their first board role at an SGX-listed company, expanding the overall board talent pool. Over the same period, the proportion of unique women directors increased from 14.2% to 19.1%, and from 19.3% to 25.6% among the Top 100 SGX primary-listed companies, while their average board load held steady at 1.2, indicating diversity progress is driven by a wider pool of women board practitioners rather than repeat appointments.
“Beyond the headline numbers, what is encouraging is the breadth of new talent entering boardrooms. Intentional succession planning for board renewal is critical. As organisations confront increasingly complex challenges, a wider, more diverse pool of board-ready candidates strengthens outcomes for the future,” Gan Seow Kee, Co-Chair of the Council for Board Diversity and Chairman of Singapore LNG Corporation Pte Ltd, observed.
With the public and non-profit sectors continuing to build on board gender diversity and the Top 100 SGX-listed companies projected to cross 30% women on boards by 2030, CBD is reinforcing its emphasis on broader dimensions of diversity and more intentional integration of diversity into board composition. This is underpinned by a deepening pool of board talent.
