Based on the fact that there are very few comparative available databases on legislatures, the project  Vital statistics on European legislatures and legislators aims at gathering basic statistics on European Parliaments and MPs. In cases of bicameral legislatures, we were only interested in the Lower Chamber.  The study was conducted between June and October 2016 and most of the data refer to the year 2014/2015. For the collection of the data academics from the PADEMIA network and beyond, as well as Parliamentary Services were contacted. Participants had to reply to a questionnaire with 17 structured, semi-structured and open-ended questions. They were also asked to provide the latest data available, excluding, however, years when elections had taken place (when possible). The goal was to collect in one dataset available statistical data on the work of Parliaments throughout Europe as well as basic data on the sociology of MPs.

 

Responsible for the design and implementation of the study is Associate Professor Olivier Rozenberg (Sciences Po Paris) and Research Assistant Eleni Tsaireli. 

 

The project was conducted as part of the PADEMIA network (2013-2016). 

 

PADEMIA was a Europe-wide network of 56 academic institutions from 31 countries, whose aim was to promote research and teaching in reaction to the growing demand to study parliamentary democracy in Europe. Funded by the European Commission, PADEMIA sought to enhance the dialogue among students, junior and senior researchers, as well as official stakeholders, on how to deal with the new challenges, which parliaments and citizens across Europe are facing today.

See www.pademia.eu for more information.