How Many Politicians Is Enough?

It's clear that European democracies are under a heavy strain right now. The digital age, coupled with both geopolitical tensions and domestic forces amplifying right-wing narratives, has fueled widespread division, distrust, and social unrest. Amid this turmoil, a common sentiment echoes on the street: that those in power are increasingly out of touch with everyday reality. Politics is often perceived as a theatre of manipulation, strategic maneuvering, and polished rhetoric that says nothing of substance—raising the question of whether today’s political class genuinely cares about the common good, or even shares a common understanding of what that means.

Discussing this at the hairdresser, we both agreed that there were way too many politicians per capita, and that this wasn't like that before.

As I went home, I realised this was an assumption, worse, a feeling. What are the facts telling us: do we have too many politicians? Or… not enough?

I set out to research using OpenAI Deep Research for the bibliographical finding, and tested this hypothesis:

Has the number of politicians per capita steadily increased in Europe since 1945—and if so, does this reflect democratic health, or administrative bloat?

I focused mostly on Belgium (as we have 9 governments for less than 12 million citizen).

A Multi-Layered Reality

Looking across Europe, the answer turns out to be more nuanced than expected.

Some countries, like France, have long had extremely high numbers of elected officials—over 618,000, or 1 for every 104 residents. This is largely due to its 35,000+ communes.

Others, like Ireland, are strikingly under-represented, with only 949 municipal councillors for 5.3 million people—about 0.18 per 1,000 residents.

In Sweden, municipal mergers since the 1950s reduced the number of local councils from ~2,500 to 290, slashing politicians per capita from ~28/1,000 to ~3.6/1,000.

Belgium in 2025: A Case Study

Few countries illustrate the complexity of political representation better than Belgium.

Today, Belgium’s multi-level federal system includes:

210 federal parliamentarians

407 community & regional parliamentarians

398 provincial councillors

565 mayors, ~2,825 aldermen, and ~14,125 municipal councillors

That gives us a total of roughly 18,530 elected officials for a population of 11.76 million in 2025

→ Source: Worldometers

That’s approximately 1.58 politicians per 1,000 inhabitants—a high ratio by European standards, but still far behind France’s.

Is More Representation Always Better?

Interestingly, having more politicians doesn’t automatically mean higher public trust.

According to Eurobarometer, only 34% of Europeans trust their national government, while 50% trust their local or regional authorities.

In places like Ireland, trust is also low—but so is representation. There, local councillors are often overwhelmed with casework that would normally be handled by regional tiers in other countries.

→ Suggesting that too few representatives can also weaken democracy, especially if citizens feel disconnected from decision-makers.

Populism, Perception & Power

In several countries, far-right or populist movements have weaponised the “political class” narrative:

In Italy, the populist 5-Star Movement succeeded in cutting Parliament by one-third in a 2020 referendum.

In France, Marine Le Pen’s party frequently criticizes the country’s bloated public sector—including its vast number of elected officials.

Yet paradoxically, populism often flourishes in places where citizens feel unrepresented.

Final Thoughts

Europe finds itself grappling with a dual challenge:

Too much representation can breed bureaucracy, inefficiency, or public resentment.

Too little representation risks detachment, weak local governance, and susceptibility to populism.

Based on this, it's really hard to tell if we need more - or less representation in terms of headcount...

So, what could save democracy ?

I do believe that our democracies are overdue for a reboot—one that moves us beyond the passive act of voting once every five years, or the occasional referendum that surfaces only when politically convenient.

In an era where technology connects us in real time, it’s time for citizens to have a permanent, accessible channel to participate in public decision-making. Imagine an app—not just for feedback, but for real influence—where people can challenge policies, scrutinize actions, and voice their perspectives regularly and transparently. This isn’t a utopian dream; it’s a logical evolution of democratic engagement in the digital age.

It’s basically that, or we risk watching our democratic institutions erode into performative rituals—detached from the people they claim to serve, vulnerable to manipulation, and increasingly unable to inspire trust, participation, or legitimacy. In the worst-case scenario, this vacuum of engagement and accountability could pave the way for a slide back into authoritarianism—a new form of dictatorship cloaked in populism, where strongmen rise by exploiting frustration, silencing dissent, and reducing democracy to a hollow spectacle.

Thanks for reading!