Which countries have adopted forms of proportional representation?

Proportional representation is an electoral system designed to ensure that the number of seats a political party holds in a legislature reflects its share of the popular vote. Many countries have adopted various forms of this system to better represent the diversity of public opinion.12

Countries that utilize forms of proportional representation include:

• Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Greece, Hungary, Israel, Italy, Luxembourg, Norway, Russia, Spain, Sweden, and Switzerland.1
• Ireland and Malta, which use the single-transferable-vote method for national elections.1
• Germany, which famously employs an additional-member system that combines constituency-based voting with proportional representation.13
• New Zealand, Japan, and Ukraine, which have adopted variants of the hybrid or mixed-member proportional system.3

Additionally, some nations have implemented these systems for specific regional or local bodies, such as the use of proportional representation for devolved assemblies in Scotland and Wales, as well as for European Parliament elections in the United Kingdom.13