The IPU facilitates parliamentary diplomacy and empowers parliaments and parliamentarians to promote peace, democracy and sustainable development around the world.
We help parliaments build peaceful and inclusive societies, fight terrorism and violent extremism and curb the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.
Nearly every country in the world has some form of parliament. Parliamentary systems fall into two categories: bicameral and unicameral. Out of 188 national parliaments in the world, 81 are bicameral (162 chambers) and 107 are unicameral, making a total of 269 chambers of parliament with some 44,000 members of parliament. IPU membership is made up of 183 national parliaments
Throughout the year, the IPU and its Members organize many events for parliamentarians to exchange good practices, acquire the latest information and identify avenues for action.
The IPU has been collecting data on parliaments since its inception in 1889, including information on women’s participation in politics since 1945. In this section, discover the IPU's knowledge bank for and about parliaments.
Research shows that female political leadership directs countries to adopt more robust climate change policies. Even though women globally are just 26.4 per cent of all parliamentarians, they are able to make a disproportionate impact. These seven representative women MPs
The National Assembly of Cabo Verde hosted a meeting of the IPU’s Community of Portuguese-Speaking Countries last week in Praia on the theme Climate change in the face of the challenges of sustainable development. The Portuguese-speaking parliaments shared the specific
To meet the demand for learning and guidance on digital transformation, the Centre for Innovation in Parliament, in collaboration with its hubs and with support from the Inter-Pares project, has developed a series of quick guides.
From big data to the cloud, innovation trends are shaking up parliamentary business. The IPU’s Centre for Innovation in Parliament (CIP) is pleased to present the Transforming parliaments webinar series organized by CIP’s Open Data Hub and IT Governance Hub .
The new IPU Centre for Innovation in Parliament public engagement hub organizes a webinar series intended to encourage and assist parliaments to further develop their public engagement activities and share their good practice with others.
The 11th edition of the Innovation Tracker highlights the continued knowledge exchanges on innovation over the past months, as parliaments emerge from the pandemic.
The Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) is the global organization of parliaments. It was founded more than 130 years ago as the first multilateral political organization in the world, encouraging cooperation and dialogue between all nations. Today, the IPU comprises 179 national