Name: Election Day around the world
Creator: Pew Research Center
Published: 2026-07-02
License: https://www.pewresearch.org/terms-and-conditions/

More than 100 countries around the world can be considered democracies, yet no two of them do democracy exactly the same way. Even so, the United States – which celebrates the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence this year – stands apart from other democratic nations in several respects.

We looked at key aspects of the world’s 106 democracies (as defined by expert ratings from three organizations) to see how they compare with the U.S. and vice versa. Here are eight ways the U.S. political system differs from most – or all – of its peers.

About this research

Ahead of the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, Pew Research Center is exploring ways that American democracy stands out around the world.

Why did we do this?

Pew Research Center works to help the public, media and decision-makers understand important topics. This analysis brings together and expands on our previous work comparing various aspects of American government and politics with other countries.

How did we do this?

To develop a comparison group of global democracies, we used the same methodology as in our 2025 analysis of districting methods in democracies around the world. That analysis combined democracy ratings from three leading research organizations to identify countries that are generally considered democracies. (For more details, read the methodology.)

Using the most current democracy ratings, 106 nations and self-governing territories, including the U.S., qualified as democracies for this analysis.

For each country, we examined constitutions, statutory texts, official government websites and third-party sources for the elements of our analysis. In particular:

We used a scoring system developed by Donald S. Lutz to rate the difficulty of amending each country’s constitution.
We relied on a dataset of nations’ citizenship laws compiled by the Global Citizenship Observatory, a research project at the European University Institute’s Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies.
The population figures used to calculate representation ratios in national legislatures came from the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs’ Population Division.
We drew on a dataset of national debt and deficit rules maintained by the International Monetary Fund for our analysis of debt limits.

The U.S. Constitution is really hard to change.

In Pew Research Center surveys, Americans overwhelmingly favor several proposed changes to the U.S. political system, from term and age limits for government officials to campaign finance limitations. But many of those changes would require amending the Constitution, which is extremely difficult. The Constitution has been in effect for 237 years but has been formally amended just 27 times.

Using a classification scheme developed by the late political scientist Donald S. Lutz, we scored the amendment rules of 101 democratic constitutions. (The other five democracies have “uncodified” constitutions, meaning their governance rules are distributed across multiple statutes, legal precedents, customs and unwritten norms.) For constitutions that contain more than one amendment procedure, we used the “least difficult” path, which may or may not be the most frequently employed.

Of all 101 constitutions, the U.S. Constitution has the second-most onerous amendment process. Amendments must be approved by two-thirds votes in both the House and Senate – itself a tall order in these polarized times – and then be ratified by three-quarters of state legislatures, or 38 of 50.

The only democracy whose constitution is even harder to change is the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM), a former U.S. trust territory in the South Pacific with about 76,000 inhabitants. The easiest path to changing the FSM’s constitution involves two separate two-thirds majority votes in the 14-person legislature, approval by the country’s president, and subsequent approval by three-quarters of voters in at least three of the FSM’s four states.

Other countries with constitutions that are nearly as hard to change are Palau, Switzerland and Australia. Like the U.S. and the FSM, these countries all require ratification at both the national and state levels.

At the other extreme, many countries with unicameral (single-chamber) legislatures can amend their constitutions much like how they pass regular laws, just requiring a larger majority in favor.

Almost everyone born in the U.S. is automatically a citizen.

Only 21 other countries we classify as democracies have “birthright citizenship” in a form substantially like the United States. In those countries, most of them in the Western Hemisphere, virtually all children born there are automatically citizens, regardless of their parents’ citizenship or immigration status. In the U.S., birthright citizenship is guaranteed by the 14th Amendment, as the Supreme Court recently reaffirmed.

In three other democracies, nearly all children born to noncitizen parents are eligible to become citizens, but they or their parents must formally apply for it.

Another 25 democracies limit birthright citizenship to children whose parents are legal residents (13), whose parents were also born there (10), or who belong to specific ethnic or religious groups (2).

But nearly half of the 106 democracies (52) don’t recognize any kind of birthright citizenship. In all but one of those countries, newborns are automatically citizens only if at least one parent is also a citizen. (The remaining four democracies weren’t covered by the database of citizenship laws we used for this analysis.)

No other country fills its top executive position quite like the U.S.

The U.S. president combines the roles of head of government (the political leader) and head of state (the symbolic leader of the nation). Only 30 other democracies have one person who fills both those roles. The others have a monarch, ceremonial president or similar figure as head of state, and a prime minister or similar official as head of government.

That in itself doesn’t make the U.S. too much of an outlier. However, of the 31 countries with combined heads of state and government (almost universally termed “presidents”), 23 are elected directly by the people, and another seven are chosen by the national legislature.

That makes the U.S. the only country where the people vote for a special body – the Electoral College – whose sole function is to choose the president. That means the popular vote for president doesn’t necessarily determine the Electoral College winner.

Four times since 1828, when U.S. presidential elections began to resemble today’s system, a candidate won the Electoral College and became president despite getting fewer popular votes than the runner-up. The most recent instance was in 2016, when Donald Trump won the electoral vote – and the presidency – 304 to 227 despite getting 2.9 million fewer popular votes than Hillary Clinton. (In Trump’s second win in 2024, he won both the Electoral College and the popular vote.)

Majorities of Americans have long favored abolishing the Electoral College, Pew Research Center surveys have found. The last time we asked this question, in 2024, more than six-in-ten (63%) said they preferred changing the system so that the person who wins the most votes nationally wins the presidency. About a third (35%) favored retaining the Electoral College system.

Few countries draw legislative districts the way the U.S. does.

Until recently, redrawing the boundaries of U.S. House districts between decennial censuses has been fairly rare. But instances of midcycle redistricting have been more frequent in the current election cycle, and it’s already reshaping the 2026 midterm elections.

Most other democracies don’t – or can’t – experience anything similar.

For one thing, only 40 democracies besides the U.S. elect all or even a substantial share of their lawmakers from single-member districts. Most countries – especially those that use proportional representation – rely on multimember districts or else vote nationwide. (This analysis looks at districting in the lower chamber of bicameral legislatures, like the U.S. House of Representatives, or the sole chamber in unicameral systems.)

Of the democracies that rely on single-member districts, only in the U.S. and the Federated States of Micronesia (again!) do state legislatures primarily draw the district lines. In most of the rest, the main responsibility lies with independent boundary commissions (22) or national election agencies (9).

Fifty-two countries in our dataset rely mainly on multimember districts. More than half of those (27) base those districts on existing provinces, regions or similar subdivisions. And in 13 countries, there aren’t any districts at all: The entire legislature is elected proportionally in a single, nationwide vote.

U.S. lawmakers represent more people than almost anywhere else.

Representative democracy is based on the idea that legislators represent, in some sense, the people. But how many constituents can an individual lawmaker effectively represent?

Based on United Nations population projections, each of the 435 voting members of the U.S. House of Representatives represents about 802,000 people. That’s a higher “representation ratio” than any other democracy except India, the world’s most populous country. The 543 members of the Lok Sabha, the lower house of India’s Parliament, each represent an average of 2.72 million constituents.

At the other extreme, the 16 members of Tuvalu’s Parliament each represent an average of just 563 people.

Up to the 1910s, the number of U.S. representatives grew steadily as the population expanded and more states joined the Union. But today’s House is the same size it was over a century ago, even though the population has more than tripled.

The median representation ratio for all 106 democracies was about 31,000 constituents per lawmaker. For the U.S. to have that representation ratio, the House would have to balloon to 11,360 members – far larger than any country’s current legislature.

In the U.S., Election Day is a regular day.

Since the mid-19th century, Tuesday has been the standard day for U.S. elections (with certain exceptions). Back when the nation was primarily rural, getting to a polling place often required long trips there and back. Sunday was out because many people were in church, and Wednesday was farmers market day. Tuesday seemed like the best fit.

More recently, some lawmakers have proposed moving Election Day to a weekend or making it a national holiday. Supporters say the current schedule often forces people to take time off work to vote, and making Election Day a day off for everyone would boost turnout. (As of 2023, 12 states and Puerto Rico already make Election Day a paid day off for state employees; Kentucky also does so in presidential election years.)

As it stands, the U.S. is one of 28 democracies that routinely holds national elections on non-holiday weekdays. By contrast, 60 countries typically hold elections on Saturdays or Sundays. (Then there’s the Czech Republic, which typically holds elections over a 24-hour period from Friday afternoon to Saturday afternoon.) Sixteen other countries hold elections on weekdays but declare them public holidays.

Some countries hold elections on a fixed date instead of a set day of the week. Suriname, for instance, has held its general election on May 25 every five years since 2000. Its most recent election, in 2025, happened to fall on a Sunday, but that was by chance rather than by deliberate choice.

The U.S. capital city doesn’t have full representation.

Washington, D.C., is the only national capital of any democracy whose residents have no voting representation in the national legislature.

The capital being a separate district isn’t unusual on its own. Nearly four dozen other democracies also give their capital cities some kind of special status. For example, they may be:

Autonomous municipalities (such as Buenos Aires, Argentina)
Distinct units of local government (such as Paris, France)
The equivalent of states or provinces (such as Berlin, Germany)
Capital districts apart from other states or provinces (such as Canberra, Australia)

But the people who live in all of those other capitals, as well as capitals that lack any special status, get to elect lawmakers just like people in the rest of their country. Not so for the 694,000 residents of D.C., whose lone delegate to Congress can participate in committees but has no vote on the House floor.

Granting D.C. voting representation would require either making it a state or changing the Constitution. A proposed amendment that would have given D.C. two senators and a representative failed in the 1980s. The only other country whose capital elects no lawmakers is Palau, but there’s a good reason for that: Ngerulmud, the island nation’s capital area, has no resident population, just a cluster of government office buildings.

The U.S. has the strictest limit on its national debt – on paper, at least.

It’s common for countries to try to limit how much debt they (and sometimes their local governments) can take on. Two-thirds of the 106 democracies (70) have some sort of debt limit, though some are more aspirations or goals rather than hard caps. (This figure includes all 27 members of the European Union, which are bound by the EU’s Stability and Growth Pact even in the absence of any domestic debt limit.)

Most of those 70 countries define their limits, in laws or formal policy documents, as a percentage of gross domestic product (GDP). Defining the debt limit this way allows it to grow with the economy.

In contrast, the United States and Denmark legally define their limits in absolute terms. And Denmark’s limit – 2 trillion kroner, or about $309.4 billion – is so far above its actual debt that it’s largely irrelevant.

The U.S. debt limit is much more rigid and often affects how its democracy functions. The debt limit is currently $41.1 trillion, but large and persistent budget deficits require the country to borrow more each year. That means Congress has to raise the debt limit every so often, which makes it a political issue.

For decades, increasing the debt limit was fairly routine, but in recent years both Republican and Democratic lawmakers have held up the process to try to win policy concessions. That has led to repeated clashes between Congress and the White House, contributed to government shutdowns, and brought the country close enough to defaulting on its national debt to unnerve the investors and financial markets its economy depends on.

Congress could by law change the debt limit to a percentage formula or eliminate it entirely. But no matter which party controls the legislature, it has shown little interest in giving up what many see as key leverage over the executive branch.

Democracy	ratio	ISO3	pop_2026	Region
Albania	19650	ALB	2751000	Europe
Andorra	3000	AND	84000	Europe
Antigua and Barbuda	5588	ATG	95000	Americas
Argentina	179004	ARG	46004000	Americas
Armenia	27393	ARM	2931000	Europe
Australia	181513	AUS	27227000	Asia-Pacific
Austria	49765	AUT	9107000	Europe
Bahamas	9878	BHS	405000	Americas
Barbados	9433	BRB	283000	Americas
Belgium	78500	BEL	11775000	Europe
Belize	13839	BLZ	429000	Americas
Bhutan	17064	BTN	802000	Asia-Pacific
Bolivia	98069	BOL	12749000	Americas
Botswana	40046	BWA	2603000	Africa
Brazil	416302	BRA	213563000	Americas
Bulgaria	27783	BGR	6668000	Europe
Canada	117983	CAN	40468000	Americas
Cape Verde	7361	CPV	530000	Africa
Chile	128684	CHL	19946000	Americas
Colombia	294732	COL	53936000	Americas
Costa Rica	90789	CRI	5175000	Americas
Croatia	25311	HRV	3822000	Europe
Cyprus	17446	CYP	977000	Europe
Czech Republic	52640	CZE	10528000	Europe
Denmark	33654	DNK	6024000	Europe
Dominica	2063	DMA	66000	Americas
Dominican Republic	61105	DOM	11610000	Americas
East Timor	22108	TLS	1437000	Asia-Pacific
Ecuador	122152	ECU	18445000	Americas
Estonia	13178	EST	1331000	Europe
Fiji	17036	FJI	937000	Asia-Pacific
Finland	28110	FIN	5622000	Europe
France	115678	FRA	66746000	Europe
Germany	132768	DEU	83644000	Europe
Ghana	129341	GHA	35698000	Africa
Greece	32990	GRC	9897000	Europe
Grenada	7800	GRD	117000	Americas
Guyana	12938	GUY	841000	Americas
Hungary	48171	HUN	9586000	Europe
Iceland	6381	ISL	402000	Europe
India	2724402	IND	1476626000	Asia-Pacific
Ireland	30787	IRL	5357000	Europe
Israel	80400	ISR	9648000	Middle East
Italy	147315	ITA	58926000	Europe
Jamaica	44968	JAM	2833000	Americas
Japan	263286	JPN	122428000	Asia-Pacific
Kiribati	3067	KIR	138000	Asia-Pacific
Kosovo	13892	XKX	1667000	Europe
Latvia	18360	LVA	1836000	Europe
Lesotho	19908	LSO	2389000	Africa
Liberia	80192	LBR	5854000	Africa
Liechtenstein	1600	LIE	40000	Europe
Lithuania	19837	LTU	2797000	Europe
Luxembourg	11450	LUX	687000	Europe
Malawi	99502	MWI	22786000	Africa
Malaysia	163896	MYS	36385000	Asia-Pacific
Malta	8194	MLT	549000	Europe
Marshall Islands	1061	MHL	35000	Asia-Pacific
Mauritius	19167	MUS	1265000	Africa
Micronesia, Federated States	8143	FSM	114000	Asia-Pacific
Moldova	29317	MDA	2961000	Europe
Monaco	1583	MCO	38000	Europe
Mongolia	28230	MNG	3557000	Asia-Pacific
Montenegro	7728	MNE	626000	Europe
Namibia	32844	NAM	3153000	Africa
Nauru	632	NRU	12000	Asia-Pacific
Nepal	107742	NPL	29629000	Asia-Pacific
Netherlands	122993	NLD	18449000	Europe
New Zealand	42984	NZL	5287000	Asia-Pacific
North Macedonia	15033	MKD	1804000	Europe
Northern Cyprus	8100	CYP	405000	Europe
Norway	33450	NOR	5653000	Europe
Palau	1125	PLW	18000	Asia-Pacific
Panama	65155	PAN	4626000	Americas
Paraguay	88688	PRY	7095000	Americas
Peru	268631	PER	34922000	Americas
Philippines	370201	PHL	117724000	Asia-Pacific
Poland	82267	POL	37843000	Europe
Portugal	45196	PRT	10395000	Europe
Romania	56801	ROU	18801000	Europe
Samoa	4333	WSM	221000	Asia-Pacific
San Marino	567	SMR	34000	Europe
Sao Tome and Principe	4455	STP	245000	Africa
Senegal	117376	SEN	19367000	Africa
Seychelles	3971	SYC	135000	Africa
Slovakia	36340	SVK	5451000	Europe
Slovenia	23500	SVN	2115000	Europe
Solomon Islands	17160	SLB	858000	Asia-Pacific
South Africa	163633	ZAF	65453000	Africa
South Korea	172000	KOR	51600000	Asia-Pacific
Spain	136717	ESP	47851000	Europe
Sri Lanka	103769	LKA	23348000	Asia-Pacific
St. Kitts and Nevis	3133	KNA	47000	Americas
St. Lucia	10588	LCA	180000	Americas
St. Vincent and the Grenadines	4304	VCT	99000	Americas
Suriname	12647	SUR	645000	Americas
Sweden	30662	SWE	10701000	Europe
Switzerland	45040	CHE	9008000	Europe
Taiwan	203637	TWN	23011000	Asia-Pacific
Tonga	3433	TON	103000	Asia-Pacific
Trinidad and Tobago	36902	TTO	1513000	Americas
Tuvalu	563	TUV	9000	Asia-Pacific
United Kingdom	107588	GBR	69932000	Europe
United States	802379	USA	349035000	Americas
Uruguay	34172	URY	3383000	Americas
Vanuatu	6596	VUT	343000	Asia-Pacific

Democracy	Difficulty of amendment
Micronesia, Federated States	6.00
United States	5.10
Switzerland	4.75
Australia	4.65
Palau	4.50
Fiji	3.80
Costa Rica	3.65
Liberia	3.60
Romania	3.35
Grenada	3.30
Philippines	3.30
Marshall Islands	3.25
Belgium	3.10
Japan	3.10
Netherlands	3.10
Paraguay	3.00
Taiwan*	2.90
Brazil	0.90
Denmark	2.75
Northern Cyprus	2.55
South Korea	2.55
Ireland	2.50
Bolivia	2.40
Andorra	2.55
Ecuador	2.30
Liechtenstein	2.30
Colombia	2.25
Italy	2.25
North Macedonia	2.25
Greece	2.20
Argentina	2.10
Nepal	2.10
Lithuania	2.00
Montenegro	2.00
Peru	2.00
Dominican Republic	1.80
Chile	1.75
Ghana	1.75
Luxembourg	1.75
Solomon Islands	1.75
Uruguay	1.75
Poland	1.70
Estonia	1.65
Germany	1.60
India	1.60
Namibia	1.60
Finland	1.55
Croatia	1.45
Antigua and Barbuda	1.30
Monaco	1.30
South Africa	1.30
St. Lucia	1.30
Czech Republic	1.25
Iceland	1.25
Jamaica	1.25
Spain	1.25
Bulgaria	2.00
Guyana	1.15
Lesotho	1.15
Senegal	1.15
Albania	1.05
Armenia	1.05
Kosovo	1.55
Moldova	1.55
Slovenia	1.05
Bahamas	1.00
Barbados	1.00
Botswana	1.00
Malaysia	1.00
Tonga	1.00
Trinidad and Tobago	1.00
Bhutan	0.90
France	0.90
Mongolia	0.90
Panama	0.90
Austria	0.80
Belize	0.80
Cape Verde	0.80
Cyprus	0.80
Dominica	0.80
East Timor	0.80
Hungary	0.80
Kiribati	0.80
Latvia	0.80
Malawi	0.80
Mauritius	0.80
Nauru	0.80
Norway	0.80
Portugal	0.80
Samoa	0.80
Sao Tome and Principe	0.80
Seychelles	0.80
Sri Lanka	0.80
St. Kitts and Nevis	0.80
St. Vincent and the Grenadines	0.80
Suriname	0.80
Tuvalu	0.80
Vanuatu	0.80
Sweden**	0.75
Malta	0.65
Slovakia	0.65

Country	Form of birthright citizenship, if any	Region
Albania	Not recognized	Europe
Andorra	Data unavailable	Europe
Antigua and Barbuda	Recognized	Americas
Argentina	Recognized	Americas
Armenia	Not recognized	Europe
Australia	Limited to those with parents who are legal residents	Asia-Pacific
Austria	Not recognized	Europe
Bahamas	Not recognized	Americas
Barbados	Recognized	Americas
Belgium	Limited to those with parents born in country	Europe
Belize	Recognized	Americas
Bhutan	Not recognized	Asia-Pacific
Bolivia	Recognized	Americas
Botswana	Not recognized	Africa
Brazil	Recognized	Americas
Bulgaria	Not recognized	Europe
Canada	Recognized	Americas
Cape Verde	Limited to those with parents who are legal residents	Africa
Chile	Limited to those with parents who are legal residents	Americas
Colombia	Limited to those with parents who are legal residents	Americas
Costa Rica	Recognized, but parents or individual must apply	Americas
Croatia	Not recognized	Europe
Cyprus	Not recognized	Europe
Czech Republic	Not recognized	Europe
Denmark	Not recognized	Europe
Dominica	Recognized	Americas
Dominican Republic	Limited to those with parents who are legal residents	Americas
East Timor	Limited to those with parents born in country	Asia-Pacific
Ecuador	Recognized	Americas
Estonia	Not recognized	Europe
Fiji	Not recognized	Asia-Pacific
Finland	Not recognized	Europe
France	Limited to those with parents born in country	Europe
Germany	Limited to those with parents who are legal residents	Europe
Ghana	Not recognized	Africa
Greece	Limited to those with parents born in country	Europe
Grenada	Recognized	Americas
Guyana	Recognized	Americas
Hungary	Not recognized	Europe
Iceland	Not recognized	Europe
India	Not recognized	Asia-Pacific
Ireland	Limited to those with parents who are legal residents	Europe
Israel	Limited to particular ethnic or religious groups	Middle East
Italy	Not recognized	Europe
Jamaica	Recognized	Americas
Japan	Not recognized	Asia-Pacific
Kiribati	Not recognized	Asia-Pacific
Kosovo	Limited to those with parents who are legal residents	Europe
Latvia	Not recognized	Europe
Lesotho	Recognized	Africa
Liberia	Limited to particular ethnic or religious groups	Africa
Liechtenstein	Not recognized	Europe
Lithuania	Not recognized	Europe
Luxembourg	Limited to those with parents born in country	Europe
Malawi	Not recognized	Africa
Malaysia	Limited to those with parents who are legal residents	Asia-Pacific
Malta	Limited to those with parents born in country	Europe
Marshall Islands	Not recognized	Asia-Pacific
Mauritius	Not recognized	Africa
Micronesia, Federated States	Not recognized	Asia-Pacific
Moldova	Recognized, but parents or individual must apply	Europe
Monaco	Data unavailable	Europe
Mongolia	Not recognized	Asia-Pacific
Montenegro	Not recognized	Europe
Namibia	Limited to those with parents that are legal residents	Africa
Nauru	Not recognized	Asia-Pacific
Nepal	Not recognized	Asia-Pacific
Netherlands	Limited to those with parents born in country	Europe
New Zealand	Limited to those with parents who are legal residents	Asia-Pacific
North Macedonia	Not recognized	Europe
Northern Cyprus	Data unavailable	Not recognized
Norway	Not recognized	Europe
Palau	Not recognized	Asia-Pacific
Panama	Recognized	Americas
Paraguay	Recognized, but parents or individual must apply	Americas
Peru	Recognized	Americas
Philippines	Not recognized	Asia-Pacific
Poland	Not recognized	Europe
Portugal	Limited to those with parents born in country	Europe
Romania	Not recognized	Europe
Samoa	Not recognized	Asia-Pacific
San Marino	Data unavailable	Europe
Sao Tome and Principe	Limited to those with parents who are legal residents	Africa
Senegal	Limited to those with parents born in country	Africa
Seychelles	Not recognized	Africa
Slovakia	Not recognized	Europe
Slovenia	Not recognized	Europe
Solomon Islands	Not recognized	Asia-Pacific
South Africa	Not recognized	Africa
South Korea	Not recognized	Asia-Pacific
Spain	Limited to those with parents born in country	Europe
Sri Lanka	Not recognized	Asia-Pacific
St. Kitts and Nevis	Recognized	Americas
St. Lucia	Recognized	Americas
St. Vincent and the Grenadines	Recognized	Americas
Suriname	Not recognized	Americas
Sweden	Not recognized	Europe
Switzerland	Not recognized	Europe
Taiwan	Not recognized	Asia-Pacific
Tonga	Not recognized	Asia-Pacific
Trinidad and Tobago	Recognized	Americas
Tuvalu	Recognized	Asia-Pacific
United Kingdom	Limited to those with parents who are legal residents	Europe
United States	Recognized	Americas
Uruguay	Recognized	Americas
Vanuatu	Not recognized	Asia-Pacific

Democracy	Structure of government leadership	How leader is chosen
United States	Republic with combined head of state and government	Indirectly elected (by Electoral College)
Botswana	Republic with combined head of state and government	Indirectly elected (by legislature)
Marshall Islands	Republic with combined head of state and government	Indirectly elected (by legislature)
Micronesia, Federated States	Republic with combined head of state and government	Indirectly elected (by legislature)
Nauru	Republic with combined head of state and government	Indirectly elected (by legislature)
South Africa	Republic with combined head of state and government	Indirectly elected (by legislature)
Suriname	Republic with combined head of state and government	Indirectly elected (by legislature)
Switzerland	Republic with combined head of state and government	Indirectly elected (by legislature)
Argentina	Republic with combined head of state and government	Directly elected
Bolivia	Republic with combined head of state and government	Directly elected
Brazil	Republic with combined head of state and government	Directly elected
Chile	Republic with combined head of state and government	Directly elected
Colombia	Republic with combined head of state and government	Directly elected
Costa Rica	Republic with combined head of state and government	Directly elected
Cyprus	Republic with combined head of state and government	Directly elected
Dominican Republic	Republic with combined head of state and government	Directly elected
Ecuador	Republic with combined head of state and government	Directly elected
Ghana	Republic with combined head of state and government	Directly elected
Kiribati	Republic with combined head of state and government	Directly elected
Liberia	Republic with combined head of state and government	Directly elected
Malawi	Republic with combined head of state and government	Directly elected
Namibia	Republic with combined head of state and government	Directly elected
Palau	Republic with combined head of state and government	Directly elected
Panama	Republic with combined head of state and government	Directly elected
Paraguay	Republic with combined head of state and government	Directly elected
Peru	Republic with combined head of state and government	Directly elected
Philippines	Republic with combined head of state and government	Directly elected
Seychelles	Republic with combined head of state and government	Directly elected
South Korea	Republic with combined head of state and government	Directly elected
Sri Lanka	Republic with combined head of state and government	Directly elected
Uruguay	Republic with combined head of state and government	Directly elected
Albania	Republic with separate heads of state and government	Indirectly elected (by legislature)
Armenia	Republic with separate heads of state and government	Indirectly elected (by legislature)
Barbados	Republic with separate heads of state and government	Indirectly elected (by legislature)
Dominica	Republic with separate heads of state and government	Indirectly elected (by legislature)
Estonia	Republic with separate heads of state and government	Indirectly elected (by legislature)
Fiji	Republic with separate heads of state and government	Indirectly elected (by legislature)
Germany	Republic with separate heads of state and government	Indirectly elected (by assembly of national and local lawmakers)
Greece	Republic with separate heads of state and government	Indirectly elected (by legislature)
Hungary	Republic with separate heads of state and government	Indirectly elected (by legislature)
India	Republic with separate heads of state and government	Indirectly elected (by assembly of national and local lawmakers)
Israel	Republic with separate heads of state and government	Indirectly elected (by legislature)
Italy	Republic with separate heads of state and government	Indirectly elected (by assembly of national and local lawmakers)
Kosovo	Republic with separate heads of state and government	Indirectly elected (by legislature)
Latvia	Republic with separate heads of state and government	Indirectly elected (by legislature)
Malta	Republic with separate heads of state and government	Indirectly elected (by legislature)
Mauritius	Republic with separate heads of state and government	Indirectly elected (by legislature)
Nepal	Republic with separate heads of state and government	Indirectly elected (by assembly of national and local lawmakers)
Samoa	Republic with separate heads of state and government	Indirectly elected (by legislature)
San Marino	Republic with separate heads of state and government	Indirectly elected (by legislature)
Trinidad and Tobago	Republic with separate heads of state and government	Indirectly elected (by legislature)
Vanuatu	Republic with separate heads of state and government	Indirectly elected (by assembly of national and local lawmakers)
Austria	Republic with separate heads of state and government	Directly elected
Bulgaria	Republic with separate heads of state and government	Directly elected
Cape Verde	Republic with separate heads of state and government	Directly elected
Croatia	Republic with separate heads of state and government	Directly elected
Czech Republic	Republic with separate heads of state and government	Directly elected
East Timor	Republic with separate heads of state and government	Directly elected
Finland	Republic with separate heads of state and government	Directly elected
France	Republic with separate heads of state and government	Directly elected
Guyana	Republic with separate heads of state and government	Directly elected
Iceland	Republic with separate heads of state and government	Directly elected
Ireland	Republic with separate heads of state and government	Directly elected
Lithuania	Republic with separate heads of state and government	Directly elected
Moldova	Republic with separate heads of state and government	Directly elected
Mongolia	Republic with separate heads of state and government	Directly elected
Montenegro	Republic with separate heads of state and government	Directly elected
North Macedonia	Republic with separate heads of state and government	Directly elected
Northern Cyprus	Republic with separate heads of state and government	Directly elected
Poland	Republic with separate heads of state and government	Directly elected
Portugal	Republic with separate heads of state and government	Directly elected
Romania	Republic with separate heads of state and government	Directly elected
Sao Tome and Principe	Republic with separate heads of state and government	Directly elected
Senegal	Republic with separate heads of state and government	Directly elected
Slovakia	Republic with separate heads of state and government	Directly elected
Slovenia	Republic with separate heads of state and government	Directly elected
Taiwan	Republic with separate heads of state and government	Directly elected
Antigua and Barbuda	Constitutional monarchy	Hereditary monarch
Australia	Constitutional monarchy	Hereditary monarch
Bahamas	Constitutional monarchy	Hereditary monarch
Belgium	Constitutional monarchy	Hereditary monarch
Belize	Constitutional monarchy	Hereditary monarch
Bhutan	Constitutional monarchy	Hereditary monarch
Canada	Constitutional monarchy	Hereditary monarch
Denmark	Constitutional monarchy	Hereditary monarch
Grenada	Constitutional monarchy	Hereditary monarch
Jamaica	Constitutional monarchy	Hereditary monarch
Japan	Constitutional monarchy	Hereditary monarch
Lesotho	Constitutional monarchy	Hereditary monarch
Liechtenstein	Constitutional monarchy	Hereditary monarch
Luxembourg	Constitutional monarchy	Hereditary monarch
Monaco	Constitutional monarchy	Hereditary monarch
Netherlands	Constitutional monarchy	Hereditary monarch
New Zealand	Constitutional monarchy	Hereditary monarch
Norway	Constitutional monarchy	Hereditary monarch
Solomon Islands	Constitutional monarchy	Hereditary monarch
Spain	Constitutional monarchy	Hereditary monarch
St. Kitts and Nevis	Constitutional monarchy	Hereditary monarch
St. Lucia	Constitutional monarchy	Hereditary monarch
St. Vincent and the Grenadines	Constitutional monarchy	Hereditary monarch
Sweden	Constitutional monarchy	Hereditary monarch
Tonga	Constitutional monarchy	Hereditary monarch
Tuvalu	Constitutional monarchy	Hereditary monarch
United Kingdom	Constitutional monarchy	Hereditary monarch
Andorra	Constitutional monarchy	Other
Malaysia	Constitutional monarchy	Other

Democracy	District type	Region
Antigua and Barbuda	Mostly single-member districts	Americas
Australia	Mostly single-member districts	Asia-Pacific
Bahamas	Mostly single-member districts	Americas
Barbados	Mostly single-member districts	Americas
Belize	Mostly single-member districts	Americas
Bhutan	Mostly single-member districts	Asia-Pacific
Bolivia	Mostly single-member districts	Americas
Botswana	Mostly single-member districts	Africa
Canada	Mostly single-member districts	Americas
Dominica	Mostly single-member districts	Americas
France	Mostly single-member districts	Europe
Germany	Mostly single-member districts	Europe
Ghana	Mostly single-member districts	Africa
Grenada	Mostly single-member districts	Americas
Hungary	Mostly single-member districts	Europe
India	Mostly single-member districts	Asia-Pacific
Jamaica	Mostly single-member districts	Americas
Japan	Mostly single-member districts	Asia-Pacific
Lesotho	Mostly single-member districts	Africa
Liberia	Mostly single-member districts	Africa
Lithuania	Mostly single-member districts	Europe
Malawi	Mostly single-member districts	Africa
Malaysia	Mostly single-member districts	Asia-Pacific
Marshall Islands	Mostly single-member districts	Asia-Pacific
Micronesia, Federated States	Mostly single-member districts	Asia-Pacific
Nepal	Mostly single-member districts	Asia-Pacific
New Zealand	Mostly single-member districts	Asia-Pacific
Palau	Mostly single-member districts	Asia-Pacific
Philippines	Mostly single-member districts	Asia-Pacific
Samoa	Mostly single-member districts	Asia-Pacific
Seychelles	Mostly single-member districts	Africa
Solomon Islands	Mostly single-member districts	Asia-Pacific
South Korea	Mostly single-member districts	Asia-Pacific
St. Kitts and Nevis	Mostly single-member districts	Americas
St. Lucia	Mostly single-member districts	Americas
St. Vincent and the Grenadines	Mostly single-member districts	Americas
Taiwan	Mostly single-member districts	Asia-Pacific
Tonga	Mostly single-member districts	Asia-Pacific
Trinidad and Tobago	Mostly single-member districts	Americas
United Kingdom	Mostly single-member districts	Europe
United States	Mostly single-member districts	Americas
Albania	Mostly multimember districts	Europe
Andorra	Mostly multimember districts	Europe
Argentina	Mostly multimember districts	Americas
Austria	Mostly multimember districts	Europe
Belgium	Mostly multimember districts	Europe
Brazil	Mostly multimember districts	Americas
Bulgaria	Mostly multimember districts	Europe
Cape Verde	Mostly multimember districts	Africa
Chile	Mostly multimember districts	Americas
Colombia	Mostly multimember districts	Americas
Costa Rica	Mostly multimember districts	Americas
Croatia	Mostly multimember districts	Europe
Cyprus	Mostly multimember districts	Europe
Czech Republic	Mostly multimember districts	Europe
Denmark	Mostly multimember districts	Europe
Dominican Republic	Mostly multimember districts	Americas
Ecuador	Mostly multimember districts	Americas
Estonia	Mostly multimember districts	Europe
Finland	Mostly multimember districts	Europe
Greece	Mostly multimember districts	Europe
Guyana	Mostly multimember districts	Americas
Iceland	Mostly multimember districts	Europe
Ireland	Mostly multimember districts	Europe
Italy	Mostly multimember districts	Europe
Kiribati	Mostly multimember districts	Asia-Pacific
Latvia	Mostly multimember districts	Europe
Liechtenstein	Mostly multimember districts	Europe
Luxembourg	Mostly multimember districts	Europe
Malta	Mostly multimember districts	Europe
Mauritius	Mostly multimember districts	Africa
Mongolia	Mostly multimember districts	Asia-Pacific
Nauru	Mostly multimember districts	Asia-Pacific
North Macedonia	Mostly multimember districts	Europe
Northern Cyprus	Mostly multimember districts	Europe
Norway	Mostly multimember districts	Europe
Panama	Mostly multimember districts	Americas
Paraguay	Mostly multimember districts	Americas
Peru	Mostly multimember districts	Americas
Poland	Mostly multimember districts	Europe
Portugal	Mostly multimember districts	Europe
Romania	Mostly multimember districts	Europe
Sao Tome and Principe	Mostly multimember districts	Africa
Senegal	Mostly multimember districts	Africa
Slovenia	Mostly multimember districts	Europe
South Africa	Mostly multimember districts	Africa
Spain	Mostly multimember districts	Europe
Sri Lanka	Mostly multimember districts	Asia-Pacific
Sweden	Mostly multimember districts	Europe
Switzerland	Mostly multimember districts	Europe
Tuvalu	Mostly multimember districts	Asia-Pacific
Uruguay	Mostly multimember districts	Americas
Vanuatu	Mostly multimember districts	Asia-Pacific
Armenia	No districts (nationwide vote)	Europe
East Timor	No districts (nationwide vote)	Asia-Pacific
Fiji	No districts (nationwide vote)	Asia-Pacific
Israel	No districts (nationwide vote)	Middle East
Kosovo	No districts (nationwide vote)	Europe
Moldova	No districts (nationwide vote)	Europe
Monaco	No districts (nationwide vote)	Europe
Montenegro	No districts (nationwide vote)	Europe
Namibia	No districts (nationwide vote)	Africa
Netherlands	No districts (nationwide vote)	Europe
San Marino	No districts (nationwide vote)	Europe
Slovakia	No districts (nationwide vote)	Europe
Suriname	No districts (nationwide vote)	Americas

Topics

Regions & Countries

Formats

8 ways that U.S.-style democracy stands out globally

Why did we do this?

How did we do this?

Democracy	Election day	Region
Albania	Saturday or Sunday	Europe
Andorra	Saturday or Sunday	Europe
Antigua and Barbuda	Ordinary weekday	Americas
Argentina	Saturday or Sunday	Americas
Armenia	Saturday or Sunday	Europe
Australia	Saturday or Sunday	Asia-Pacific
Austria	Saturday or Sunday	Europe
Bahamas	Ordinary weekday	Americas
Barbados	Ordinary weekday	Americas
Belgium	Saturday or Sunday	Europe
Belize	Ordinary weekday	Americas
Bhutan	Ordinary weekday	Asia-Pacific
Bolivia	Saturday or Sunday	Americas
Botswana	Weekday designated as national holiday	Africa
Brazil	Saturday or Sunday	Americas
Bulgaria	Saturday or Sunday	Europe
Canada	Ordinary weekday	Americas
Cape Verde	Saturday or Sunday	Africa
Chile	Saturday or Sunday	Americas
Colombia	Saturday or Sunday	Americas
Costa Rica	Saturday or Sunday	Americas
Croatia	Saturday or Sunday	Europe
Cyprus	Saturday or Sunday	Europe
Czech Republic*	Other	Europe
Denmark	Ordinary weekday	Europe
Dominica	Ordinary weekday	Americas
Dominican Republic	Saturday or Sunday	Americas
East Timor	Saturday or Sunday	Asia-Pacific
Ecuador	Saturday or Sunday	Americas
Estonia	Saturday or Sunday	Europe
Fiji	Weekday designated as national holiday	Asia-Pacific
Finland	Saturday or Sunday	Europe
France	Saturday or Sunday	Europe
Germany	Saturday or Sunday	Europe
Ghana	Saturday or Sunday	Africa
Greece	Saturday or Sunday	Europe
Grenada	Ordinary weekday	Americas
Guyana	Weekday designated as national holiday	Americas
Hungary	Saturday or Sunday	Europe
Iceland	Saturday or Sunday	Europe
India	Ordinary weekday	Asia-Pacific
Ireland	Ordinary weekday	Europe
Israel	Weekday designated as national holiday	Middle East
Italy	Saturday or Sunday	Europe
Jamaica	Ordinary weekday	Americas
Japan	Saturday or Sunday	Asia-Pacific
Kiribati	Ordinary weekday	Asia-Pacific
Kosovo	Saturday or Sunday	Europe
Latvia	Saturday or Sunday	Europe
Lesotho	Weekday designated as national holiday	Africa
Liberia	Ordinary weekday	Africa
Liechtenstein	Saturday or Sunday	Europe
Lithuania	Saturday or Sunday	Europe
Luxembourg	Saturday or Sunday	Europe
Malawi	Weekday designated as national holiday	Africa
Malaysia	Saturday or Sunday	Asia-Pacific
Malta	Saturday or Sunday	Europe
Marshall Islands	Ordinary weekday	Asia-Pacific
Mauritius	Saturday or Sunday	Africa
Micronesia, Federated States	Ordinary weekday	Asia-Pacific
Moldova	Saturday or Sunday	Europe
Monaco	Saturday or Sunday	Europe
Mongolia	Weekday designated as national holiday	Asia-Pacific
Montenegro	Saturday or Sunday	Europe
Namibia	Weekday designated as national holiday	Africa
Nauru	Saturday or Sunday	Asia-Pacific
Nepal	Weekday designated as national holiday	Asia-Pacific
Netherlands	Ordinary weekday	Europe
New Zealand	Saturday or Sunday	Asia-Pacific
North Macedonia	Weekday designated as national holiday	Europe
Northern Cyprus	Saturday or Sunday	Europe
Norway	Ordinary weekday	Europe
Palau	Ordinary weekday	Asia-Pacific
Panama	Saturday or Sunday	Americas
Paraguay	Saturday or Sunday	Americas
Peru	Saturday or Sunday	Americas
Philippines	Weekday designated as national holiday	Asia-Pacific
Poland	Saturday or Sunday	Europe
Portugal	Saturday or Sunday	Europe
Romania	Saturday or Sunday	Europe
Samoa	Weekday designated as national holiday	Asia-Pacific
San Marino	Saturday or Sunday	Europe
Sao Tome and Principe	Saturday or Sunday	Africa
Senegal	Saturday or Sunday	Africa
Seychelles	Saturday or Sunday	Africa
Slovakia	Saturday or Sunday	Europe
Slovenia	Saturday or Sunday	Europe
Solomon Islands	Weekday designated as national holiday	Asia-Pacific
South Africa	Weekday designated as national holiday	Africa
South Korea	Weekday designated as national holiday	Asia-Pacific
Spain	Saturday or Sunday	Europe
Sri Lanka	Ordinary weekday	Asia-Pacific
St. Kitts and Nevis	Ordinary weekday	Americas
St. Lucia	Ordinary weekday	Americas
St. Vincent and the Grenadines	Ordinary weekday	Americas
Suriname**	Other	Americas
Sweden	Saturday or Sunday	Europe
Switzerland	Saturday or Sunday	Europe
Taiwan	Saturday or Sunday	Asia-Pacific
Tonga	Ordinary weekday	Asia-Pacific
Trinidad and Tobago	Ordinary weekday	Americas
Tuvalu	Ordinary weekday	Asia-Pacific
United Kingdom	Ordinary weekday	Europe
United States	Ordinary weekday	Americas
Uruguay	Saturday or Sunday	Americas
Vanuatu	Weekday designated as national holiday	Asia-Pacific

8 ways that U.S.-style democracy stands out globally

Share this chart

Why did we do this?

How did we do this?

Share this chart

Share this chart

Share this chart

Share this chart

Share this chart

Share this chart