New Delhi, March 7 (IANS) Countries in Asia and the Pacific region have increased women's representation in local bodies but the figures are still low at the national levels, says a report from the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).

The report, Women's Representation in Local Government in Asia and the Pacific, says while women representation has improved at local levels, the picture at the national level is dismal despite most Asia-Pacific countries committing at the Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing in 1995 to achieve a target of 30 percent.

"Then (in 1995) the global representation of women in parliament was only around 11 percent, while in 2009 that number had shifted to 18.4 percent. In Asia and the Pacific the picture is even worse, with Asia (18.2 percent) and the Pacific (15.2 percent) ranking as the second and third worst regions for women's representation in parliament in the world," a statement on the report said.

While India leads in representation at rural bodies with more than 35 percent seats reserved for women, China leads in urban bodies having 48.2 percent women.

"At the rural council level, the percentage of women elected has a wide distribution. India leads at more than 35 percent, Pakistan just over 30 percent and Bangladesh at nearly 25 percent, while Tuvalu, Kiribati, Vanuatu and Tonga all have less than 10 percent of women elected at the rural council level. Sri Lanka has the second lowest representation recorded at just 1.6 percent," the statement said.

In urban bodies, other countries with significant representation are Australia (24.65 percent), Bangladesh (28.4 percent) and the Republic of Korea (21.78 percent). However, with the exception of Australia (21.6 percent) and Philippines (20.5 percent) women are unlikely to be elected into leadership positions. Bangladesh has only 1.37 percent of women elected to these positions.

"Women's representation in local councils is critical. Bold steps are needed to significantly increase the numbers," said Nicholas Rosellini, UNDP Deputy Regional Director for Asia-Pacific.

"For most poor people in Asia-Pacific, local governments are the most important political arena. They also have an important role in encouraging women's political participation."

The report says one of the main obstacles to women's representation is the process of candidate selection in political parties. Women find it more difficult to be nominated as candidates where offices are traditionally held by men.