The Swiss Parliament has 200 seats in the National Council and 46 seats in the Council of States.
National Council
In the National Council, seats are allocated in proportion to the resident population of a canton. This means that the more populated a canton is, the more seats it has in the National Council. At the federal elections in 2023, seats per canton range from 36 seats to only 1 seat. Each canton always has at least one seat in the National Council.
Council of States
In the Council of States, 20 cantons are entitled to two seats. The former half-cantons of Obwalden, Nidwalden, Appenzell Ausserrhoden, Appenzell Innerrhoden, Basel Stadt and Basel Landschaft are only entitled to one. This difference is due to historical reasons (web page available in German, French and Italian).
In the parliamentary elections on 22 October 2023, the canton of Zurich gains one seat in the National Council compared to 2019. In contrast, the canton of Basel-Stadt loses one seat compared to four years earlier. For the other cantons, the number of seats remains unchanged.
Aargau, Bern, Freiburg, Geneva, Glarus, Graubünden, Jura, Luzern, Neuchâtel, Schaffhausen, Schwyz, Solothurn, St. Gallen, Thurgau, Ticino, Uri, Vaud, Valais, Zug, Zurich.
Appenzell Ausserrhoden, Appenzell Innerrhoden, Basel-Landschaft, Basel-Stadt, Nidwalden, Obwalden.
For more information on the distribution of seats in the 2023 federal elections, click here (web page available in German, French and Italian).
The Federal Statistical Office provides the key population figures for the various cantons.