Jacinda Ardern only one of 7 per cent of world leaders who are women

/ Mark Mitchell

New Zealand's new prime minister Jacinda Ardern is part of a very exclusive club of people: the 7 per cent of world leaders who are women.

She is also New Zealand's third female prime minister and the country's youngest leader in 150 years.

Ardern now joins a group of only 13 other women who are heads of state.

This number means that fewer than 7 per cent of the world's nations are led by women, according to The Guardian.

Out of those 13 countries, six are in Europe and two are in South America.

Out of those 13 women currently heading governments, four are the first females to do so in their countries.

The only other woman leading a country in the Asia Pacific is Hilda Heine, president of the Marshall Islands.

The Guardian compiled a list of females head of government, as follows:

- Sheikh Hasina, prime minister of Bangladesh
- Michelle Bachelet, president of Chile
- Angela Merkel, chancellor of Germany
- Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, president of Liberia
- Hilda Heine, president of the Marshall Islands
- Erna Solberg, prime minister of Norway
- Beata Szydlo, prime minister of Poland
- Doris Leuthard, president of the Swiss Confederation, Switzerland
- Theresa May, prime minister of the United Kingdom
- Jacinda Ardern, prime minister of New Zealand
- Ana Brnabic, prime minister of Serbia
- Saara Kuugongelwa, prime minister of Namibia
- Mercedes Araoz, prime minister of Peru