The proportion of female presidents at companies in Japan rose to a record high of 8.4% as of October, a survey by research firm Teikoku Databank showed Thursday.
The survey covered about 1.19 million companies. The proportion of female presidents has been rising slowly but steadily since it stood at 4.5% in 1990, the oldest data available.
By industry, the proportion was highest in real estate at 17.4%, followed by services at 11.3% and retail at 11.1%.
By sales value, the proportion was 11.9% for companies with sales of less than ¥50 million, but only 2% for those with sales of ¥10 billion or higher.
By prefecture, Tokushima topped the table for the third year in a row, with 12.1%, followed by Okinawa with 11.6% and Saga with 11.1%.