Why Do Some Countries Have More Seats Than Others?

Imagine you and your friends are playing a game where everyone gets to pick one candy. You all have the same number of votes, but some of your friends live in tiny houses on hills, while others live in big crowded cities. If there is only one candy for each house, no matter how many people live inside, the kids in the city get less candy than the ones on the hill.

In politics, this happens when countries divide land into regions to pick leaders. If every region gets the same number of seats in parliament, but some regions have lots of people and others have very few, a vote from a small town is worth more than a vote from a city.

Think about the United States Senate. Every state gets two senators, even if one state has twenty million people and another has only half a million. This means the smaller states have extra power because their votes count for less people each.