Constitutional amendments worldwide

LAHORE: While the 1947 Japanese Constitution has never been amended in 77 years, the 1814 Norwegian Charter, the second oldest in the world, has witnessed 316 different alterations at the hands of lawmakers at the helm in 210 years, research shows.

The current Japanese Constitution came into effect on May 3, 1947. Although debate over the workability of Japan’s Constitution has been a political constant, the documents have never been amended in any way since its inception.

The United States, Norway and the Netherlands are the only three countries that have constitutions, which are more than 200 years old. The American Charter came into force in 1789, while the Norwegian and Dutch Constitutions were ratified in 1814 and 1815 respectively.

The American Constitution has been altered 27 times till date. The Dutch Constitution has been amended 24 times in 209 years. However, in 1983, its text was thoroughly modernised, leaving virtually no provision untouched.

Israel is one of only five major countries without a written constitution, along with Saudi Arabia, New Zealand, Canada, and the United Kingdom. As of September 2024, there have been 106 amendments to the Constitution of India since it was first enacted in 1950.

There have been 61 amendments to the 1957 Constitution of Malaysia. The Constitution of the UAE was entered into force in 1971 and amended in 1972, 1976, 1981, 1986, 1991, 1996, 2004 and 2009.

The French Constitution has been amended 25 times since 1958. There have been two amendments to the 1978 Spanish Constitution. The Swiss Constitution of 1874 had been changed and amended 140 times till 1999. After 30 years of work, Switzerland’s citizens had finally agreed to a total revision of the Federal Constitution in 1999.

The 1993 Russian Charter has seen four amendments. Since the abolition of the absolute monarchy in 1932, Thailand has had 20 Constitutions. The current Chinese Constitution was declared in 1982, after two intervening versions enacted in 1975 and 1978. There were significant differences between each of these versions, and the 1982 Constitution has subsequently been amended five times.

The Australian Constitution took effect in 1901. There have been 44 referendums with eight proposed changes approved by a vote of the people. The most recent referendum was held in 1999 with proposals to establish Australia as a republic. The most recent changes to the Constitution were in May 1977, when three of the four questions put to voters that day were successful.

The Basic German Law has been subject to 60 amendments since 1949. The Greek Charter came into force in 1975 and has been amended in 1986, 2001, 2008 and 2019. The 1945 Constitution of Indonesia has been amended four times since its creation, the 1947 Italian Charter has been altered 16 times, the 1982 Turkish and 1978 Sri Lankan documents have been changed 21 times, and the 1972 Bangladeshi Constitution has seen 17 changes.