US stands out globally in how it draws legislative districts

So far this year, at least four states have redrawn their congressional districts with the stated goal of advantaging one party or the other in the 2026 midterms. Several others are exploring similar moves.

With this unprecedented wave of voluntary midcycle redistricting in the United States, we wondered how redistricting works in other democracies – and whether the process is as inherently political as it is in the U.S.

We analyzed how 107 democracies elect their national legislatures (mostly unicameral, or the “lower house” in bicameral systems). We found that only one other country uses the same redistricting approach as the U.S. – that is, single-member districts drawn mainly by state legislatures. That country is the Federated States of Micronesia, with a population of around 100,000, which was formerly administered by the U.S. under a United Nations trusteeship.

(Read “How we did this” for details on how we defined democracies and other key concepts in this analysis.)

How we did this

Given the continuing battles over midcycle redistricting in the United States, Pew Research Center decided to compare districting procedures in the U.S. with those in other nations determined to be democratic using the process below.

Our first task was to decide which nations counted as democracies. We consulted the democracy rankings of three leading research organizations: Freedom House, the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), and the Varieties of Democracy (V-Dem) Institute at Sweden’s University of Gothenburg.

Since not all countries were rated by all three organizations, and they each use their own rating system, we chose to define a country as a democracy in one of two ways:

When ranked by at least two organizations, it met at least two of the following criteria:
- Freedom House: Rated “free” or “partly free,” but only if it also met the organization’s definition of an “electoral democracy”
- EIU: Rated “full democracy” or “flawed democracy”
- V-Dem: Rated as a “liberal democracy” or “electoral democracy”
When ranked only by Freedom House, it was both rated “free” and met the organization’s definition of an “electoral democracy.”

Using these criteria, 107 nations and other self-governing territories qualified as democracies.

Of those countries, 62 have unicameral (one-chamber) national legislatures, and 45 are bicameral (two chambers). We chose to focus on the unicameral legislatures and the “lower chambers” of the bicameral bodies. That was because the lower chambers tend to be larger and more powerful, and because only 24 of the upper chambers are directly elected.

For each country, we checked a variety of sources to learn how the legislative body in question was elected; whether districts were used and, if so, whether they were single-member, multimember or a combination; and how and by whom districting decisions were made. For countries that primarily use multimember districts, we also researched how they determine the number of lawmakers elected by each district.

To answer these questions, we turned first to three reference guides: the CIA World Factbook, a compendium of information on 258 countries and other territories; the Inter-Parliamentary Union’s Parline dataset about how national legislatures are chosen and operate; and the ACE Electoral Knowledge Network, an online repository of information and data about elections and election systems around the world. We also examined each country’s constitution and electoral laws, as appropriate, and the websites of relevant election administration agencies and boundary commissions.

Finally, we used ACE’s online encyclopedia of boundary delimitation and the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance’s handbook of electoral system design to inform our classification of electoral systems and districting schemes.

We split our group of 107 democracies into two main subgroups: those that make substantial use of single-member districts and those that primarily use multimember districts. Of the latter group, the 42 that use a proportional-representation electoral system were automatically put in the “primarily multimember” subgroup; so were Tuvalu and Nauru, which elect all their lawmakers from multimember districts but use plurality/majority electoral systems. The 22 countries that elect all their lawmakers from single-member districts were the core of the “substantially single-member” subgroup.

We found that 28 other countries use various combinations of single- and multimember districts, at-large voting, appointed members and ex-officio members. If a country elected at least 45% of its legislators from single-member districts, it was deemed to be a “substantially single-member” system.

We didn’t do any detailed analysis of the 13 countries that elect all their lawmakers in a nationwide at-large vote, since they don’t use districts of any kind.

In some countries, particularly the United Kingdom and its former colonies, the head of state (monarch, governor-general or president) formally decrees new districting plans. However, since in practice those plans are drawn up elsewhere and the head of state’s role is purely ceremonial, we did not count them as being part of the process.

How districts are used in other countries

For starters, many democracies around the world don’t use single-member districts, at least not to the same extent as the U.S., where they’re universal in both Congress and state legislatures. Single-member districts are those in which one lawmaker is elected to represent a specific geographic area.

Among the 107 democracies we examined, 22 (or 21%) elect all their national legislators from such districts. Of the remaining places:

20 elect a substantial share of lawmakers from single-member districts and the rest in some other way, such as from multimember districts or by a national vote.
52 use multimember districts primarily or exclusively.
13 elect all their lawmakers at-large nationwide.

Of the 42 democracies that use single-member districts exclusively or substantially, all but nine have historical links to either the United Kingdom, the U.S. or one of their former colonies.

ISO-3	ISO	Country*	Category
ALB	008	Albania	Primarily use multimember districts
AND	020	Andorra	Primarily use multimember districts
ATG	028	Antigua and Barbuda	Make substantial use of single-member districts
ARG	032	Argentina	Primarily use multimember districts
ARM	051	Armenia	Employ a nationwide vote
AUS	036	Australia	Make substantial use of single-member districts
AUT	040	Austria	Primarily use multimember districts
BHS	044	Bahamas	Make substantial use of single-member districts
BRB	052	Barbados	Make substantial use of single-member districts
BEL	056	Belgium	Primarily use multimember districts
BLZ	084	Belize	Make substantial use of single-member districts
BTN	064	Bhutan	Make substantial use of single-member districts
BOL	068	Bolivia	Make substantial use of single-member districts
BWA	072	Botswana	Make substantial use of single-member districts
BRA	076	Brazil	Primarily use multimember districts
BGR	100	Bulgaria	Primarily use multimember districts
CPV	132	Cape Verde	Primarily use multimember districts
CAN	124	Canada	Make substantial use of single-member districts
CHL	152	Chile	Primarily use multimember districts
COL	170	Colombia	Primarily use multimember districts
CRI	188	Costa Rica	Primarily use multimember districts
HRV	191	Croatia	Primarily use multimember districts
CYP	196	Cyprus	Primarily use multimember districts
CZE	203	Czech Republic	Primarily use multimember districts
DNK	208	Denmark	Primarily use multimember districts
DMA	212	Dominica	Make substantial use of single-member districts
DOM	214	Dominican Republic	Primarily use multimember districts
TLS	626	East Timor	Employ a nationwide vote
ECU	218	Ecuador	Primarily use multimember districts
EST	233	Estonia	Primarily use multimember districts
FJI	242	Fiji	Employ a nationwide vote
FIN	246	Finland	Primarily use multimember districts
FRA	250	France	Make substantial use of single-member districts
DEU	276	Germany	Make substantial use of single-member districts
GHA	288	Ghana	Make substantial use of single-member districts
GRC	300	Greece	Primarily use multimember districts
GRD	308	Grenada	Make substantial use of single-member districts
GUY	328	Guyana	Primarily use multimember districts
HUN	348	Hungary	Make substantial use of single-member districts
ISL	352	Iceland	Primarily use multimember districts
IND	356	India	Make substantial use of single-member districts
IRL	372	Ireland	Primarily use multimember districts
ISR	376	Israel	Employ a nationwide vote
ITA	380	Italy	Primarily use multimember districts
JAM	388	Jamaica	Make substantial use of single-member districts
JPN	392	Japan	Make substantial use of single-member districts
KIR	296	Kiribati	Primarily use multimember districts
XKX		Kosovo	Employ a nationwide vote
LVA	428	Latvia	Primarily use multimember districts
LSO	426	Lesotho	Make substantial use of single-member districts
LBR	430	Liberia	Make substantial use of single-member districts
LIE	438	Liechtenstein	Primarily use multimember districts
LTU	440	Lithuania	Make substantial use of single-member districts
LUX	442	Luxembourg	Primarily use multimember districts
MWI	454	Malawi	Make substantial use of single-member districts
MYS	458	Malaysia	Make substantial use of single-member districts
MLT	470	Malta	Primarily use multimember districts
MHL	584	Marshall Islands	Make substantial use of single-member districts
MUS	480	Mauritius	Primarily use multimember districts
MEX	484	Mexico	Make substantial use of single-member districts
FSM	583	Micronesia, Federated States	Make substantial use of single-member districts
MDA	498	Moldova	Employ a nationwide vote
MCO	492	Monaco	Employ a nationwide vote
MNG	496	Mongolia	Primarily use multimember districts
MNE	499	Montenegro	Employ a nationwide vote
NAM	516	Namibia	Employ a nationwide vote
NRU	520	Nauru	Primarily use multimember districts
NPL	524	Nepal	Make substantial use of single-member districts
NLD	528	Netherlands	Employ a nationwide vote
NZL	554	New Zealand	Make substantial use of single-member districts
MKD	807	North Macedonia	Primarily use multimember districts
CYP	196	Northern Cyprus	Primarily use multimember districts
NOR	578	Norway	Primarily use multimember districts
PLW	585	Palau	Make substantial use of single-member districts
PAN	591	Panama	Primarily use multimember districts
PRY	600	Paraguay	Primarily use multimember districts
PER	604	Peru	Primarily use multimember districts
PHL	608	Philippines	Make substantial use of single-member districts
POL	616	Poland	Primarily use multimember districts
PRT	620	Portugal	Primarily use multimember districts
ROU	642	Romania	Primarily use multimember districts
WSM	882	Samoa	Make substantial use of single-member districts
SMR	674	San Marino	Employ a nationwide vote
STP	678	Sao Tome and Principe	Primarily use multimember districts
SEN	686	Senegal	Primarily use multimember districts
SYC	690	Seychelles	Make substantial use of single-member districts
SVK	703	Slovakia	Employ a nationwide vote
SVN	705	Slovenia	Primarily use multimember districts
SLB	090	Solomon Islands	Make substantial use of single-member districts
ZAF	710	South Africa	Primarily use multimember districts
KOR	410	South Korea	Make substantial use of single-member districts
ESP	724	Spain	Primarily use multimember districts
LKA	144	Sri Lanka	Primarily use multimember districts
KNA	659	St. Kitts and Nevis	Make substantial use of single-member districts
LCA	662	St. Lucia	Make substantial use of single-member districts
VCT	670	St. Vincent and the Grenadines	Make substantial use of single-member districts
SUR	740	Suriname	Employ a nationwide vote
SWE	752	Sweden	Primarily use multimember districts
CHE	756	Switzerland	Primarily use multimember districts
TWN	158	Taiwan	Make substantial use of single-member districts
TON	776	Tonga	Make substantial use of single-member districts
TTO	780	Trinidad and Tobago	Make substantial use of single-member districts
TUV	798	Tuvalu	Primarily use multimember districts
GBR	826	United Kingdom	Make substantial use of single-member districts
USA	840	United States	Make substantial use of single-member districts
URY	858	Uruguay	Primarily use multimember districts
VUT	548	Vanuatu	Primarily use multimember districts

Why does the type of district matter?

Single-member districts are closely associated with “first past the post” electoral systems, where the candidate with the most votes – even if less than a majority – wins the seat. Indeed, of the 42 primarily or exclusively single-member district countries referred to above, 39 use this kind of system, including the U.S. (The other three use either two-round or ranked-choice voting systems.)

As a result, how single-member districts are drawn – whether they have reasonably equal populations, whether they include or exclude certain areas or discrete population groups, and so on – can dramatically affect election outcomes. Single-member districts also are especially vulnerable to gerrymandering, where boundaries are intentionally manipulated to favor one party or interest group over another.

Multimember districts, by contrast, are typical of electoral systems that use proportional representation. In fact, of the 52 democracies that rely mainly on multimember districts, 42 elect all their lawmakers through some sort of proportional representation system. Two others, Italy and Panama, employ proportional representation as part of a mixed system. (The other eight multimember countries use a variety of other voting systems.)

Multimember districts tend to be fewer and larger than single-member districts. Countries using such districts can account for population shifts simply by changing how many legislators a district elects, rather than redrawing it. Voters in this type of system also generally choose parties rather than individual candidates, so district boundaries tend to matter less than the number of lawmakers each district elects.

How countries draw single-member districts

In the U.S., 44 states currently have more than one member of the House of Representatives and draw districts for them, normally once a decade after each census. The other six states have only one representative, elected at large.

Of the states with more than one House district, most (25) give their legislatures sole authority for redistricting, while commissions draw the lines in nine states. In the other 10 states, commissions and legislatures share the job to varying degrees.

Name	FIPS	Primary authority	Redistricted in 2025?
Alabama	01	Legislature	No
Alaska	02	None (1 district)	N/A
Arizona	04	Commission	No
Arkansas	05	Legislature	No
California	06	Commission	Voluntarily, to give one party or the other an electoral advantage
Colorado	08	Commission	No
Connecticut	09	Shared	No
Delaware	10	None (1 district)	N/A
Florida	12	Legislature	No
Georgia	13	Legislature	No
Hawaii	15	Commission	No
Idaho	16	Commission	No
Illinois	17	Legislature	No
Indiana	18	Shared	No
Iowa	19	Shared	No
Kansas	20	Legislature	No
Kentucky	21	Legislature	No
Louisiana	22	Legislature	No
Maine	23	Shared	No
Maryland	24	Legislature	No
Massachusetts	25	Legislature	No
Michigan	26	Commission	No
Minnesota	27	Legislature	No
Mississippi	28	Legislature	No
Missouri	29	Legislature	Voluntarily, to give one party or the other an electoral advantage
Montana	30	Commission	No
Nebraska	31	Legislature	No
Nevada	32	Legislature	No
New Hampshire	33	Legislature	No
New Jersey	34	Commission	No
New Mexico	35	Shared	No
New York	36	Shared	No
North Carolina	37	Legislature	Voluntarily, to give one party or the other an electoral advantage
North Dakota	38	None (1 district)	N/A
Ohio	39	Shared	Pursuant to state law or a court order
Oklahoma	40	Legislature	No
Oregon	41	Legislature	No
Pennsylvania	42	Legislature	No
Rhode Island	44	Shared	No
South Carolina	45	Legislature	No
South Dakota	46	None (1 district)	N/A
Tennessee	47	Legislature	No
Texas	48	Legislature	Voluntarily, to give one party or the other an electoral advantage
Utah	49	Shared	Pursuant to state law or a court order
Vermont	50	None (1 district)	N/A
Virginia	51	Shared	No
Washington	53	Commission	No
West Virginia	54	Legislature	No
Wisconsin	55	Legislature	No
Wyoming	56	None (1 district)	N/A

This isn’t how it’s done in most other places. In more than two-thirds of the democracies that heavily rely on single-member districts (29 of 42), special commissions or national election agencies have primary responsibility for drawing the lines. Lawmakers’ role, if any, is limited.

Country*	Primary delimitation authority	Notes
Antigua and Barbuda	National commission (with legislative approval)
Australia	Subnational commissions
Bahamas	National commission (with legislative approval)
Barbados	National commission (with legislative approval)
Belize	National legislature (upon recommendation of national election agency)
Bhutan	National commission (alone)
Bolivia	National election agency (alone)
Botswana	National commission (alone)
Canada	Subnational commissions
Dominica	National commission (with legislative approval)
France	Hybrid (executive, legislature, judiciary)
Germany	National commission (with legislative approval)
Ghana	National election agency (alone)
Grenada	National commission (with legislative approval)
Hungary	National legislature (alone)
India	National commission (alone)	No actual redistricting has occurred since early 2000s.
Jamaica	National legislature (alone)
Japan	National legislature (alone)
Lesotho	National election agency (alone)
Liberia	National election agency (alone)
Lithuania	National election agency (alone)
Malawi	National election agency (with legislative approval)
Malaysia	National election agency (with legislative approval)
Marshall Islands	Constitution
Mexico	National election agency (alone)
Micronesia, Fed. States	State legislatures
Nepal	National commission (alone)
New Zealand	National commission (alone)
Palau	Coterminous with existing state boundaries
Philippines	National legislature (alone)	The Philippine Congress has not passed a general reapportionment law since 1987, though many individual districts have been created and redrawn ad hoc.
Samoa	National legislature (alone)
Seychelles	National legislature (upon recommendation of national election agency)
Solomon Islands	National election agency (with legislative approval)
South Korea	National commission (with legislative approval)
St. Kitts and Nevis	National commission (with legislative approval)
St. Lucia	National commission (with legislative approval)
St. Vincent and the Grenadines	National commission (alone)
Taiwan	National legislature (upon recommendation of national election agency)
Tonga	National commission (alone)
Trinidad and Tobago	National election agency (with legislative approval)
United Kingdom	Subnational commissions
United States	State legislatures	In most U.S. states the legislature has ultimate authority over district boundaries.

In the United Kingdom, for instance, the government appoints boundary commissions for England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. The four commissions, operating independently of the government, review the boundaries of the UK’s 650 parliamentary districts (called “constituencies”) every eight years. Their recommendations are implemented by government order; since 2020, Parliament itself hasn’t played any direct role.

Other countries use similar systems as the UK:

In Canada, commissions in each of the country’s 10 provinces redraw the 343 election districts (called “ridings”) for the House of Commons.
In New Zealand, where 71 of the 120 or so members of the House of Representatives are elected from single-member districts, an independent Representation Commission redraws boundaries for the entire nation.
In Mexico, where 300 of the 500 members of the Chamber of Deputies are chosen from single-member districts, drawing those districts is one of the tasks of the National Electoral Institute, the country’s highest election authority.

In eight of the 42 countries that make substantial use of single-member districts, the national legislature sets district boundaries by law. Three do so upon the recommendation of the national election agency, while two – the U.S. and the Federated States of Micronesia – give the responsibility to states. (In addition to sharing 10 district seats, each of Micronesia’s four states elects one legislator at large.)

The other three countries in this group use different methods: Palau has each of its 16 states elect one lawmaker. The Marshall Islands sets district boundaries in its constitution. And France employs a hybrid system involving all three branches of the national government.

Having a commission in law, though, doesn’t always mean it operates in practice. For example, after every decennial census, India’s Delimitation Commission is supposed to reallocate seats in the lower house of Parliament among the states and redraw district boundaries. However, both procedures have been repeatedly delayed: Boundaries were last redrawn in the early 2000s, based on the 2001 census, and the current seat allocation is based on the 1971 census. Seats won’t be reallocated or districts redrawn until after the next Indian census, currently set for 2027.

How countries draw multimember districts

Nearly half – 24 – of the 52 multimember-centric democracies base their districts on existing states, provinces or administrative divisions. Two others have districts based on historic provinces (Finland) or counties (Norway), though the precise boundaries are set otherwise.

Twenty-one multimember countries specify their district divisions in their national electoral laws. In most of those (17), the legislature can act alone. In two (Panama and Kiribati), the legislature acts on the recommendation of the national election agency. And in two others (Mauritius and Ireland), it acts on the recommendation of an independent commission.

Among the remaining multimember countries:

3 specify district composition in their constitutions.
2 have their national election agencies set boundaries (alone in Vanuatu, with legislative approval in Malta).
A different government agency draws the lines in Norway.
Sri Lanka uses a boundary commission.

Allocating seats in multimember district countries

Since multimember countries can account for population changes by adjusting the number of legislators a district elects (rather than redrawing its boundaries), we also looked at how the 52 multimember democracies decide how many lawmakers each district gets to choose.

In 20 countries, seats are allocated via electoral laws. The national legislature can change those allocations on its own in 17 countries. In the other three, it acts on the recommendation of the national elections agency.

Three countries specify seat allocations in their constitutions, while 15 others include population-based allocation formulas in their constitutions or electoral law. (Some, but not all, also specify which agency or official actually makes the calculations.)

In 10 countries, the national elections agency allots the seats (also based on population, but without reference to a specific formula or method). In three countries, the executive branch allocates seats, and in Sao Tome and Principe, the job falls to the Constitutional Court.

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U.S. stands out globally in how it draws legislative districts

How districts are used in other countries

Why does the type of district matter?

How countries draw single-member districts

How countries draw multimember districts

Allocating seats in multimember district countries

U.S. stands out globally in how it draws legislative districts

How districts are used in other countries

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Why does the type of district matter?

How countries draw single-member districts

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How countries draw multimember districts

Allocating seats in multimember district countries