Compulsory voting
, 22 countries were recorded as having compulsory voting. Of these, only 10 countries (additionally one Swiss canton and one Indian state) enforce it. Of the 30 member states of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, 10 had forms of compulsory voting.
Referendums by country
Originally none of the Bundesländer (federated states) had provisions for a general binding referendum ("Volksentscheid" "people's decision"). Only Hesse and Bavaria have a mandatory binding referendum on changes to the state constitution. However, most states have a form of non-binding ballot question ("Volksbefragung" "people's inquiry") which has rarely been used - the most important one had been the Saar Statute referendum, 1955. General forms of direct democracy were first introduced in the communities with facultative ballot questions ("Bürgerbefragung" "citizens inquiry") and public initiatives ("Bürgerbegehren" "citizens request") that are both non-binding. In some areas, this has been expanded into a binding referendum type ("Bürgerentscheid" "citizens decision") but almost universally facultative. In some states, there is a general right on state popular initiatives ("Volksbegehren" "people's request") which was used in Hamburg to push the state government to pass a law on a facultative binding state referendum ("Volksentscheid") in 2007.