The survey, which was presented at a corporate governance conference organised by the Slovenian Directors' Association earlier this week, showed that 43% of management board members in Slovenia are between 41 and 50 years old. Only 3% are older than 61 and 22% are younger than 41.

The media are a sector that typically has younger management board members. Compared to their counterparts in other industries, management members in the media have served by far the shortest period on the board. The longest serving are management members in tourism and manufacturing.

Only 21% of management board members are women and only 10% of chairmen are female. No state-owned company has a management board headed by a woman.

As many as 59% of the companies surveyed have male-only management boards, compared to 10% in the EU and 40% in the European companies included in the survey for reference (Volkswagen, Eon, ING, Daimler, Allianz, Siemens, Basf, BMW, Metro Group in Munich Re).

International experience is not a factor in the appointment and speed of promotion; only 21% of all management board members in Slovenia have international experience, which compares to 76% in the foreign reference companies.

Only 27% have a master's or a doctor's degree; 4% boast a doctor's degree, 23% have a master's degree and 44% are graduates. Meanwhile, 49% of management board members in the reference foreign companies have a doctor's degree.

The survey was conducted in July and August among 61 Slovenian companies listed on the Ljubljana Stock Exchange, plus ten leading European companies with two-tier management systems.