United Kingdom

House of Lords

Political system
Parliamentary system
Structure of parliament
Bicameral
IPU membership
Yes

About parliament

Basic information such as the official name of parliament and details of its structure and leadership. Also includes the current breakdown of MPs by sex and age, and provisions for quotas and reserved seats.

Parliament name
UK Parliament
Chamber name
House of Lords
Structure & status of parliament
Upper chamber
Parliamentary term (years)
Not applicable

Notes: Continuous

IPU membership

Affiliation periods
from 1889
IPU Geopolitical Group/s
Twelve Plus Group

Speaker

Official title
Lord Speaker
Speaker
Lord McFall of Alcluith (Male)
Date of birth: 04 Oct 1944
Term
01 May 2021
Additional information

Sworn in on 1 May 2021.

Speaker terms

Click for historical data

Secretary general

Official title
Clerk of the Parliaments
Secretary General
Simon Burton (Male)
Term
02 Apr 2021
Notes

2 April 2021 -

Members

Statutory number of members
800

Notes:

There is no restriction on the number of members. In practice, the upper limit has been around 800 members.

Appointed members: 676 life peers appointed by the Crown on the advice of the Prime Minister. Other: 90 hereditary peers and 25 archbishops and bishops

Principal mode of designation of members
Appointed
Appointed members
662
Other members
114
Current number of members
785
Men
557
Women
228
Percentage of women
29.0%
Statutory number of members per country 
1,450
Population (in thousands)
68,682
Inhabitants per parliamentarian
47,367

Age

Data on the age of parliamentarians is collected at the start of the legislature, following the most recent elections. This data is not updated during the legislature, except when parliament notifies the IPU of a change in the youngest or oldest member.

Average age of all members
70.0
(2019-12)
Number of members, by age (2019-12)
Breakdown of members by age and gender
18 - 20 21 - 30 31 - 40 41 - 45 46 - 50 51 - 60 61 - 70 71 - 80 81 - 90 91 and over Totals per gender
Male 0 0 3 6 8 54 153 221 115 9 569
Female 0 0 2 4 8 39 65 71 25 2 216
Totals per age interval 0 0 5 10 16 93 218 292 140 11 785
Total <= 45: 15 Total >= 46: 770
Percentage of members, by age
Age at the last election or renewal Overall Male Female
Percentage of MPs 30 years of age or younger
0.0% 0.0% 0.0%
Percentage of MPs 40 years of age or younger
0.6% 0% 0.3%
Percentage of MPs 45 years of age or younger
1.9% 1% 0.8%

Reserved seats and quotas

There are reserved seats in parliament for certain groups
Yes
Other groups
-

Notes: 26 bishops in the Church of England, 92 heredity peers.

Electoral quota for women
No

Sources: Cf. The Bishopric of Manchester Act 1847 and The House of Lords Act 1999.

Youth quota
No

Links to additional information

Parliamentary website
List of members
Rules of procedure/Standing Orders
Constitution
No information available

Historical data for IPU membership

Historical data for IPU membership
Year IPU membership
2020-09
List of values for 2020-09
No
2019-04
List of values for 2019-04
No
2018-06
List of values for 2018-06
No