Types of Legislature: Unicameral and Bicameral

In one of our posts, we pointed out the roles of the legislature in a democratic government to include oversight, legislation, and a platform for debate.

The roles of the law-making organ of government can be carried out by a chamber or two chambers.

The two types of legislature are unicameral and bicameral and we shall briefly look at their meaning and the countries where they are practised.

Composition of the legislature

When a legislature is made up of a single house of the legislature, it is called unicameralism. It is called bicameralism when there are two houses within a legislature. The composition varies from country to country.

Countries where there is unicameral legislature

The unicameral legislature is practised in over 100 countries around the world. They are:

1. Niger
2. Guinea
3. Tanzania
4. Togo
5. Africa
6. Angola
7. Benin
8. Mauritania
9. Mauritius
10. Burkina Faso
11. Guinea-Bissau
12. Mozambique
13. Cape Verde
14. Libya
15. Malawi
16. Maldives
17. Botswana
18. The Gambia
19. Ghana
20. Bangladesh
21. Brunei
22. East Timor
23. Georgia
24. Iran
25. Israel
26. North Korea
27. South Korea
28. Kuwait
29. Kyrgyzstan
30. Laos
31. Lebanon
32. Mongolia
33. Palestine
34. Qatar
35. Saudi Arabia
36. Singapore
37. Sierra Leone
38. Afghanistan
39. Armenia
40. Azerbaijan
41. Sri Lanka
42. Kiribati
43. Nauru
44. New Zealand
45. Niue
46. Samoa
47. Solomon Islands
48. Syria
49. Turkey
50. Vietnam
51. Albania
52. Bulgaria
53. Croatia
54. Denmark
55. Estonia
56. Finland
57. Greece
58. Hungary
59. Iceland
60. Latvia
61. Liechtenstein
62. Norway
63. Costa Rica
64. Cuba
65. Dominica
66. El Salvador
67. Guatemala
68. Honduras
69. Nicaragua
70. Panama
71. Cook Islands
72. Fiji
73. Tonga
74. Tuvalu
75. Vanuatu
76. Ecuador
77. Guyana
78. Suriname
79. Lithuania
80. Luxembourg
81. Malta
82. Moldova
83. Monaco
84. Montenegro
85. Portugal
86. San Marino
87. Serbia
88. Slovakia
89. Sweden
90. Ukraine
91. Vatican City
92. Chad
93. Djibouti
94. Eritrea
95. Mali
96. Senegal
97. Tunisia
98. Uganda
99. Zambia
100. Seychelles
101. Marshall Islands
102. North Macedonia
103. Republic of Peru
104. Papua New Guinea
105. São Tomé and Príncipe
106. Central African Republic
107. Saint Vincent and the Grenadines

Countries where there is a bicameral legislature

Over 80 countries including the United States, United Kingdom, and Australia all have bicameral legislatures. They are:

1. Cameroon
2. Chile
3. Colombia
4. DR Congo
5. Algeria
6. Bahamas
7. Bahrain
8. Barbados
9. Belarus
10. Belize
11. Bhutan
12. Bolivia
13. Burundi
14. Cambodia
15. Congo
16. Eswatini
17. Ivory Coast
18. Jamaica
19. Japan
20. Jordan
21. Kazakhstan
22. France
23. Gabon
24. Grenada
25. Haiti
26. Indonesia
27. Ireland
28. Italy
29. Kenya
30. Lesotho
31. Liberial
32. Madagascar
33. Morocco
34. Myanmar
35. Namibia
36. Netherlands
37. Argentina
38. Spain
39. Tajikistan
40. Thailand
41. Palau
42. Oman
43. Paraguay
44. Philippines
45. Polan
46. Romania
47. Rwanda
48. Saint Lucia
49. Slovenia
50. Somaliland
51. South Africa
52. Turkmenistan
53. Uruguay
54. Yemen
55. Uzbekistan
56. Zimbabwe
57. United States
58. Switzerland
59. Belgium
60. Brazil
61. Somalia
62. Russsia
63. Pakistan
64. Nigeria
65. Mexico
66. Nepal
67. India
68. Austria
69. Australia
70. Malaysia
71. Germany
72. Ethiopia
73. Canada
74. United Kingdom
75. Czech Republic
76. Equatorial Guinea
77. Dominican Republic
78. Antigua and Barbuda
79. Bosnia and Herzegovina
80. Trinidad and Tobago
81. Central African Republic

Takeaway:

There are two types of legislature, they are unicameral (one legislative house) and bicameral (two houses of lawmakers).

In another article, we will examine the merits and the demerits of each of the systems in a modern-day democracy.