{"id":8182,"date":"2023-01-25T11:59:23","date_gmt":"2023-01-25T16:59:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/beta.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/short-reads\/%year%\/%monthnum%\/%day%\/many-countries-in-europe-get-a-new-government-at-least-every-two-years\/"},"modified":"2025-04-23T23:55:19","modified_gmt":"2025-04-24T03:55:19","slug":"many-countries-in-europe-get-a-new-government-at-least-every-two-years","status":"publish","type":"short-read","link":"https:\/\/beta.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/short-reads\/2023\/01\/25\/many-countries-in-europe-get-a-new-government-at-least-every-two-years\/","title":{"rendered":"Many countries in Europe get a new government at least every two years"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"
British national newspapers at a central London newsstand on Oct. 21, 2022, a day after Prime Minister Liz Truss resigned. (David Cliff\/AP)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The United Kingdom had three different prime ministers in 2022, including Liz Truss, who served for only 49 days<\/a>. Truss\u2019 brief tenure raises the question: How long do governments in Europe tend to last?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To find out, Pew Research Center consulted ParlGov<\/a> \u2013 a clearinghouse for cross-national political information \u2013 and calculated the median length of government in the 22 parliamentary member states of the European Union, as well as the UK, from the end of World War II through the end of 2022.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"A<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Overall, most of the European countries analyzed have seen changes in government at least once every two years. But governments in Belgium, Finland and Italy often haven\u2019t lasted even a single year. In these countries, the median length of government since World War II has been less than 365 days \u2013 far less than the full constitutional terms afforded to a new government.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the other end of the spectrum, Luxembourg has had the longest median length of government among the countries analyzed: more than four and a half years. Governments in Luxembourg have also come the closest to reaching their full constitutional terms (five years, in Luxembourg\u2019s case).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Most EU countries are parliamentary democracies and, depending on the country, hold regular national elections every four or five years. In parliamentary democracies, the party (or parties) that wins the most seats in parliament forms the government (or cabinet) and selects the head of state. The length of government in this analysis is defined as the number of continuous days that the government remains in power before the next national election.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If a government has shifted into a \u201ccaretaker<\/a>\u201d role, meaning the administration operates with a limited legislative mandate, it is considered a new government in this analysis. For example, in Germany, former Chancellor Angela Merkel\u2019s 16-year reign<\/a> is broken down into five distinct governments: three governments consisting of traditional four-year terms; one caretaker government that lasted half a year as Merkel struggled to form a government; and a final three-and-a-half-year term once she eventually succeeded in building a coalition. (Read \u201cHow we did this\u201d for more about the methodology of this analysis.)<\/p>\n\n\n

How we did this<\/div>