On the occasion of the International Women's Day yesterday, Statistics Lithuania has published statistical information related to women, reports LETA/ELTA.

Based on preliminary data of Statistics Lithuania, 1.6 million women lived in Lithuania in the beginning of 2015, by 229,000 more than men. Women constituted 53.9% of Lithuania's inhabitants. There were 117 women per 100 men.

Lithuanian women are the most educated in the European Union. Based on preliminary data of Eurostat, the statistical office of the EU, 94.7% of Lithuanian women aged 25-64 years had secondary or tertiary education. In universities the biggest proportion of women are studying medicine and veterinary medicine (78 and 75% respectively), pedagogy (75%), humanitarian (74%) and social (70%) sciences.

According to a study of research and development (R&D), in 2013 there were 3,800 women and 4,000 men with academic degrees participating in R&D activities in governmental and higher education sectors. More women than men had academic degrees in biomedicine and social sciences, 63 and 60% of the total number of scientists in the area respectively, and in humanitarian sciences – 58%. Most women (37%) with an academic degree were aged 35-44 years.

In the fourth quarter of 2014, women earned the average monthly gross wage of EUR 657.3, whereas men – EUR 774.1. Gender pay gap in the public sector (excluding public administration and defence, and mandatory social insurance areas) was 13.3% in 2013. Meanwhile, in the private sector it was 15.8%. The largest gender pay gap was in financial and insurance activity (39.9%), information and communications (27.8%) and manufacturing (25.7%) enterprises.