In 1979 when the European Union elected its first Parliament, the

Question

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In 1979 when the European Union elected its first Parliament, the Union had 9 member states: Belgium (BE), Denmark (DK), Germany (DE), Ireland (IE), France (FR), Italy (IT), Luxembourg (LU), the Netherlands (NL), and the United Kingdom (UK).

The graph shown has 9 pairs of bars—1 pair for each of those 9 member states. The first bar in each pair represents the composition by gender of the state’s members in the Parliament elected in 1979, and the second bar represents the composition by gender of the state’s members in the Parliament elected in 2009.

In the following statements, the terms  least ,  greatest , and  most  apply to only the 9 member states represented in the graph. Use the drop-down menus to create the most accurate statements based on the information provided.

If a member were chosen at random from each state’s members in the 1979 Parliament, the state most likely to have had a woman chosen is  GRAPH_1_PLACEHOLDER .

If the member states were arranged in order from least number of members to greatest number of members in the 1979 Parliament,  GRAPH_2_PLACEHOLDER  would be in the middle.

ID: 100380

mayankdgmat · Accepted Answer

DK, NL

For (1), We need to find probability of women in each case. we can see option has choice between DK, NL, FR, UK. FR and UK has same height bar. UK can be eliminated since blue bar is shorter. Hence we are left with DK, NL, FR. DK, NL has approximate same blue bar but total members more in NL, So NL can be eliminated. We are left with DK and FR in which FR probability will come around (1/4) and DK will come around (1/3). Hence DK will be our answer.

For (2) we need to see 5th highest bar which is NL

Py4041 · Answer

please explain 1st question in this

Sujithz001 · Answer

So here, we shouldn't be deceived by the heights' comparison between bars. My approach would be to use the calculator & start finding the ratios of women vs men, for each of the 4 given choices. The greater the value, the greater the probability of choosing a woman in random

1. DK = 6/10 = 0.6
2. FR = 17/63 = 0.26
3. NL = 5/20 = 0.25
4. UK = 10/70 = 0.14.

Hence DK is the answer.

Chloee · Answer

I don't understand question 1.

If we are to select a region where the probability of electing a female representative at random is the highest in each state, shouldn't France, which has the highest absolute number of female representatives, be the correct answer?

Is anyone else confused like me?

mollyweasley · Answer

The probability of choosing a woman here would be  / . While france has a high number of women, it also has a high total number of men+women, therefore making the denominator extremely high and the overall probability value lower. In comparison, DK has a lower total number of men+women, making the probability of picking a woman from the pool higher. Hope this helps!

surajexp · Answer

Hi  Chloee ,

In questions 1 - If a member were chosen at random from each state’s members in the 1979 Parliament, the state most likely to have had a woman chosen is " we have to find a state in which probability of women randomly being chosen would be the highest.c5

So, Probability = Cases for a women being chosen from all women / Cases for a women being chosen from all (men+women)
, so for
DK = 5c1 / 16c1 = 5/16
FR = 18/81
NL = 6/25
UK = 11/81

In all the state probability for a women being chosen from all is highest for the DK, hence this is the answer.

Hope my explaination would clear your doubt.

Santu290795 · Answer

Its easy question but need to read the question clearly what exactly he is asking as selection of women in overall member states it will be FR has it has highest number of women if it is about individual states it will be Denmark.

manrasingh · Answer

Hi experts  bb   GMATCoachBen   chetan2u   KarishmaB  
To answer statement 2, how do we know from the question that the graph provides a "number" of members. I thought the graph was showing a percentage.

KarishmaB · Answer

The graph shows the number of men and women in the parliament of 9 states in 1979 and 2009. If a member were chosen at random from each state’s members in the 1979 Parliament, the state most likely to have had a woman chosen is ____ The state that has the max percentage of women will have the highest probability that a woman will be chosen. Focus on only the given options. DK - about 1/3rd of total are women FR - Much less than 1/3rd are women NL - Much less than 1/3rd are women UK - Much less than 1/3rd are women Select DK If the member states were arranged in order from least number of members to greatest number of members in the 1979 Parliament, ____ would be in the middle. Look at the 1979 bars (white and blue ones) 5 are very small - BE, DK, IE, LU, NL 4 are very tall - DE, FR, IT, UK In the centre we will have the bar which is tallest among the small ones i.e. NL. Select NL Check this video for discussion on Graphs: https://youtu.be/ilMxPjHNeic manrasingh - We are not given that these are percentages. Just because the y axis goes up to 100 does not mean they are percentages. No where has it been mentioned in the text. Also, the data is self-explanatory. It gives information on men and women both. If it represented percentages, all bars would have been almost at 100%

Adarsh_24 · Answer

Better to compare DK vs NL and Fr vs UK first as we can compare without calculations. DK vs NL has similar women count and FR vs Uk has similar total count. Then DK vs FR using values.

R333333 · Answer

you only divided the number of men, should be devided the number of total

egmat · Answer

This type of question tests both your ability to read charts carefully and apply basic statistical concepts. Let me walk you through the key insights you need to solve both parts.

For the first blank (country most likely to have a woman chosen):

Let's think about what "most likely" really means here. If we're randomly selecting one member from each country's 1979 delegation, we need to find which country had the  highest proportion  of women - not just the most women in total.

Here's your approach: 
Looking at the 1979 bars (the first bar in each pair), you need to compare the blue segment (women) to the total bar height for each country.

From the chart, let's estimate for the key countries:
- Denmark: roughly 5 women out of 16 total =  \frac{5}{16}  ≈ 31%
- France: about 18 women out of 81 total =  \frac{18}{81}  ≈ 22%
- Netherlands: around 6 women out of 25 total =  \frac{6}{25}  = 24%

Notice how Denmark, despite having fewer women in absolute numbers than France, has the highest  percentage  of women. This is the critical insight - we're looking at proportions, not totals.

For the second blank (median country by member count):

This one's about ordering and finding the middle value. With 9 countries total, the median will be the 5th country when arranged from smallest to largest.

Looking at the 1979 bar heights, you can see:
- Smallest: Luxembourg (6 members)
- Then: Ireland (15), Denmark (16), Belgium (24)
-  5th position: Netherlands (25) 
- Largest group: Germany, France, Italy, UK (all with 81 members each)

So Netherlands sits right in the middle - it's your median country.

Key Takeaway:  These Data Insights questions often test whether you understand the difference between absolute values and proportions, and whether you can properly order and identify positional statistics like the median.

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Want to master the systematic framework for tackling all variations of proportion-based Data Insights questions? You can check out the  complete step-by-step solution on Neuron by e-GMAT , which includes alternative approaches and time-saving techniques for similar chart interpretation problems. You can also explore  other GMAT official questions with detailed solutions here  to build consistent accuracy in Data Insights.

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