Q&A on the News

Q: How many other democracies are in the world, and how many have electoral colleges? —Don White, Atlanta

A: According to the Pew Research Center, 58 percent of countries with populations of at least 500,000 were considered democracies, as of the end of 2016.

The term democracy encompasses several designations, including: republics with a head of state chosen by an electoral college (the United States), republics with a combined head of state and head of government, republics with separate heads of state and government and even constitutional monarchies.

But Pew reported in 2016 that “no other democratic nation fills its top job quite the way the United States does, and only a handful are even similar.”

Sixty-five of the world’s electoral democracies directly elect their heads of state (popular vote), while 30 are considered constitutional monarchies with hereditary heads of state, says Pew.

The U.S. joins a group of 30 electoral democracies, including Germany and India, in which the head of state is indirectly elected.

But, reports Pew, only the U.S. has “a system in which voters elect a body of electors whose sole function is to actually choose the president.”

In the U.S., electors from each state cast votes in the Electoral College for the president based upon the winner of their state’s popular vote.

“The other 29 countries that indirectly elect their head of state give that task to their national legislatures, supplemented in five cases by representatives of states or regions,” according to Pew.

Q&A on the News runs Sunday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday. Fast Copy News Service wrote this column. Do you have a question? We’ll try to get the answer. Call 404222-2002 or email q&a@ajc.com (include name, phone and city)