Japan has the lowest female representation on corporate boards in a listing of the world's 200 largest companies, according to a study released Friday.
The study by the nonprofit Corporate Women Directors International shows that Japan, despite boasting the world's second-largest economy and 27 companies in Fortune magazine's Global 200, has only three board seats held by women out of 431, or 0.7 percent.
The three women sit on the boards of Sony Corp., Hitachi Ltd. and Nippon Life Insurance Co.
The United States ranked first at 17.5 percent, Britain second at 12.5 percent Germany third at 10.3 percent.
Other Asian countries were also low on the list.
"Only one of the three Global 200 companies in China had a female board member and there are no women serving on the four South Korean Global 200 boards," the nonprofit group said.
Women hold just 10.4 percent of all board seats for the 200 companies.