A survey by the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) shows South Korea ranks 80th in the world in terms of its percentage of female lawmakers.

The percentage of seats in the South Korean National Assembly occupied by women was 14-and-a-half percent as of late last year.
The figure ties South Korea with the African nation of Gabon for 80th out of the 155 nations surveyed.

South Korea had been ranked 104th in 2003 with a figure of eight-point-nine percent before rising to 62nd place with 13 percent in 2004.

The IPU says that overall, the percentage of women in parliaments worldwide exceeded 19 percent late last year, which is a record figure.