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Re-posting a table from my earlier post, demonstrating how we (U.S.A.) have (except for India), the highest "population per representative" ratio amongst majot countries.

Population, Number of Representatives in House (Lower Chamber) of Congress and Ratio of Population to Representatives for Major Nations of the World

Nation	Population (1)	Representatives (2) ("Lower" Chamber)	Pop./Representative
India	1,045,845,226	545	1,918,982
United States	280,562,489	435	644,971
Indonesia	231,328,092	500	462,656
Bangladesh	133,376,684	300	444,589
Pakistan	147,663,429	342	431,764
China (PRC)	1,284,303,705	2,985	430,252
Philippines	84,525,639	220	384,207
Nigeria	129,934,911	360	360,930
Brazil	176,029,560	513	343,138
Russia	144,978,573	450	322,175
Japan	126,974,628	480	264,530
Peru	27,949,639	120	232,914
Iran	66,622,704	290	229,733
Mexico	103,400,165	500	206,800
Saudi Arabia	23,513,330	120	195,944
S. Korea	48,324,000	273	177,011
Vietnam	81,098,416	498	162,848
Egypt	70,712,345	454	155,754
Venezuela	24,287,670	165	147,198
Argentina	37,812,817	257	147,132
Kenya	31,138,735	224	139,012
Germany	83,251,851	603	138,063
Ecuador	13,183,978	100	131,840
Australia	19,357,594	150	129,051
Chile	15,328,467	120	127,737
Thailand	62,354,402	500	124,709
Ethiopia	67,673,031	550	123,042
Turkey	67,308,928	550	122,380
Guatemala	12,974,361	113	114,817
Spain	40,077,100	350	114,506
Netherlands	15,981,472	150	106,543
Canada	31,902,268	301	105,988
France	59,765,983	577	103,581
Italy	57,715,625	630	91,612
United Kingdom	59,778,002	659	90,710
Poland	38,625,478	460	83,968
Belgium	10,258,762	150	68,392
Bolivia	8,300,463	130	63,850
Czech Republic	10,264,212	200	51,321
Israel	5,938,093	120	49,484
Austria	8,150,835	183	44,540
Portugal	10,066,253	230	43,766
Switzerland	7,283,274	200	36,416
Greece	10,623,835	300	35,413
New Zealand	3,864,129	120	32,201
Denmark	5,352,815	179	29,904
Norway	4,503,440	165	27,294
Hungary	10,106,017	386	26,181
Finland	5,175,783	200	25,879
Sweden	8,875,053	349	25,430
Ireland	3,840,838	166	23,138

1) Population (nations > 20,000,000) is the 2002 estimated population from GeoHive-Global Data-Top 50, or for smaller nations (nations < 20,000,000), from GeoHive-Global Data-All. 2) The number of members (Representatives) in the "Lower House" of each national parliament is taken from the PARLINE Database of the International Organization of Parliaments of Sovereign States (IPU).

What everyone is missing is that the US is a Federal system, far more so than most of the countries listed. Most of the functions held by the central government in other countries are carried out by the states in the US.

I wonder if there is an Equal Protection argument here.

Setting aside the people per representative at the national level, what is the proportion on a state by state basis? Do the single-district states like North/South Dakota, Alaska, Delaware, Montana, Vermont, and Wyoming, have the same ratio as the larger states like New York, Florida, Texas, and California?

Can people argue that their ability to be represented in a large state is not the same as a person's ability from a smaller state?

-PJ