Democracy – Facts and Figures

All data is taken from the IPU PARLINE database on national parliaments.

44148: The number of members of parliament in the world. The statutory number of seats in parliament is in fact 44766, but not all seats are filled at any given time. In the House of Representatives of Cyprus, for example, the 24 seats allocated to the Turkish Cypriot community have remained vacant since 1963.

265: The total number of national parliamentary chambers. There are functioning parliaments in 189 countries, but the number of chambers is greater, as 77 (40.31%) parliaments are bicameral (meaning that there is a lower and an upper chamber). There is no functioning parliament in Bangladesh, Fiji or Myanmar. 

3000 The world's largest parliament, the National People's Congress of China, has 3000 members. 637 (21.33%) are women. Deputies are elected by the People's Congresses of the country's 23 provinces, five autonomous regions and four municipalities directly under the Central Government, and by the armed forces (PLA). The full parliament meets for only a few days each year, and deputies have their own professions. The 175-member Standing Committee of the National People's Congress exercises legislative and oversight powers between full sessions of parliament. 

9: The Senate of Palau has only 9 members. The lower house of the Palau Parliament, the Chamber of Delegates, is larger, with 16 members. Unusually, both chambers are directly elected. 

0: The number of women in the parliaments of Belize, Federated States of Micronesia, Nauru, Oman, Palau, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Solomon Islands and Tuvalu.