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.

IPU PUBLICATIONS

Evaluating parliament: A self-assessment toolkit for parliaments

This self-assessment toolkit invites parliaments to evaluate their democratic performance against a set of criteria based on the core values set out in IPU's groundbreaking study Parliament and democracy in the twenty-first century: A guide to good practice. The purpose is not to rank parliaments but to help them identify their strengths and weaknesses on the basis of international criteria in order to determine priorities for strengthening the institution of parliament.

IPU Programes

Setting standards and guidelines

Key documents and publications

• Declaration on Criteria for Free and Fair Elections (1994)
• Universal Declaration on Democracy (1997)
• Parliament and democracy in the twenty-first century: A guide to good practice (2006)

Strengthening representative institutions

The IPU provides advice, guidance and technical support for parliaments in political transition or in post-conflict situations in order to help them fulfil their constitutional mandates. In recent years, the IPU has played an active part in the development of parliamentary systems in over 50 countries, including Afghanistan, Albania, Burundi, Cambodia, Republic of Congo, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Haiti, Iraq, Nigeria, Pakistan, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, Sri Lanka, Timor-Leste, United Arab Emirates, Uruguay, and Viet Nam.

Promoting respect for human rights

The IPU helps the parliamentary community - more than 40,000 legislators - to represent their constituents, freely and safely. In 1976, it established its Committee on the Human Rights of Parliamentarians, which investigates violations of these rights. Since then, it has examined more than 500 incidents in over 100 countries and in a great many cases been able to secure a satisfactory outcome. It also builds the capacity of parliaments and parliamentarians to defend human rights.

Promoting partnership between men and women in politics

The IPU promotes the improvement of the status of women and, in particular, encourages their participation in politics. For the world organization of parliaments, the achievement of democracy presupposes a genuine partnership between men and women in the conduct of the affairs of society in which they work in equality and in a complementary way. In spite of a growing number of women in high office, over 80 per cent of the world's parliamentarians are men. The IPU monitors the progress of women in politics around the world. It has become the recognized authority and source of statistical information in this field. Through training programmes, the IPU also ensures that women elected to parliament can contribute effectively to parliamentary processes.

Promoting knowledge of parliaments

The PARLINE database on national parliaments contains authoritative information on the structure and working methods of every national parliament. IPU also undertakes original research in cooperation with parliaments and other partners.

Democracy in international affairs

The IPU also promotes democracy in international relations. Since the early 1990s, the IPU has been working closely with the United Nations to make international relations and decision-making more transparent as well as more effective and to create a two-way direct line of communication between the United Nations and the world organization of parliaments. Two major conferences of Speakers of Parliament have come to define the terms and overall objectives of this cooperation. In order to encourage transparency in the World Trade Organization, the IPU convenes once a year, together with the European Parliament, the Parliamentary Conference on the WTO, which encourages parliamentary involvement in the conduct of international relations.

Peace-building

The IPU fosters political dialogue in an effort to resolve certain protracted conflicts. Over many years, the IPU has sought to promote such dialogue in Cyprus and between the Israelis and Palestinians.