At the regional level, even in the Americas and in Europe women hold only 21.7% and 21.2% of the parliamentary seats, respectively, as of 30 November 2008, in single or lower houses of parliament. Not including the Nordic states, the average women’s representation in Europe is at 19.3% almost as low as in Asia (18.3%) and Sub-Saharan Africa (18.0%). The Pacific states (13.1%) and the Arab states (9.7 per cent) show the lowest average representation of women in single or lower houses of parliament. However, the differences between the countries are enormous.