Electoral democracy index

From 0 to 1: how far rulers are chosen in free, competitive elections, with freedom of expression and association and broad suffrage.

Open the interactive mapslider 1789 → 2025, charts, continent comparison Cross with another indicatorscatter plot, correlations

World map: Electoral democracy index, 2025 — Map 2025. Source: V-Dem, jeu de données v16 (2026).

In 2025, 167 countries have a value. Highest: Denmark (0.91), Norway (0.89), Belgium (0.89). Lowest: Saudi Arabia (0.02), Qatar (0.03), Eritrea (0.07). World (population-weighted average): 0.38. France: 0.87 (9th of 167).

Country ranking in 2025

Rank	Country	Value
1	Denmark	0.91
2	Norway	0.89
3	Belgium	0.89
4	Sweden its history →	0.89
5	Estonia	0.89
6	Ireland	0.89
7	Switzerland its history →	0.88
8	Luxembourg	0.87
9	France its history →	0.87
10	Costa Rica	0.86
11	Uruguay	0.86
12	Finland	0.85
13	Czechia	0.85
14	New Zealand	0.85
15	Australia its history →	0.84
16	Canada	0.84
17	Austria	0.84
18	Chile	0.84
19	Latvia	0.83
20	Netherlands its history →	0.83
21	Germany its history →	0.83
22	Spain its history →	0.82
23	Portugal its history →	0.82
24	Japan	0.82
25	South Korea	0.82
26	Iceland	0.81
27	Jamaica	0.81
28	Taiwan	0.8
29	Lithuania	0.79
30	Trinidad & Tobago	0.79
31	Brazil	0.78
32	Sri Lanka	0.78
33	Malta	0.78
34	Suriname	0.78
35	Cyprus	0.77
36	United Kingdom	0.77
37	Poland	0.77
38	Italy	0.75
39	South Africa	0.74
40	Greece	0.74
41	Timor-Leste	0.74
42	Dominican Republic	0.74
43	United States	0.74
44	Slovakia	0.73
45	Vanuatu	0.73
46	Panama	0.73
47	Ghana	0.71
48	Solomon Islands	0.7
49	Israel	0.69
50	Slovenia	0.69
51	Argentina its history →	0.69
52	Croatia	0.69
53	Colombia	0.68
54	Peru	0.67
55	Botswana	0.67
56	Lesotho	0.66
57	Nepal	0.66
58	Gambia	0.64
59	Guatemala	0.64
60	Montenegro	0.64
61	Namibia	0.63
62	Senegal	0.63
63	Kosovo	0.63
64	Armenia	0.61
65	Ecuador	0.61
66	Bolivia	0.61
67	Romania	0.61
68	Bulgaria	0.6
69	Liberia	0.6
70	Paraguay	0.58
71	Bhutan	0.57
72	Kenya	0.56
73	North Macedonia	0.56
74	Malawi	0.56
75	Moldova	0.55
76	Mongolia	0.54
77	Guyana	0.52
78	Honduras	0.51
79	Fiji	0.51
80	Nigeria	0.51
81	Malaysia	0.5
82	Bosnia & Herzegovina	0.5
83	Zambia	0.5
84	Benin	0.49
85	Albania	0.48
86	Sierra Leone	0.47
87	Mexico	0.47
88	Papua New Guinea	0.47
89	Indonesia	0.46
90	Singapore	0.43
91	Thailand	0.42
92	Hungary its history →	0.42
93	Lebanon	0.42
94	Georgia	0.4
95	Tunisia	0.4
96	Côte d’Ivoire	0.39
97	Philippines	0.39
98	Ukraine its history →	0.39
99	India its history →	0.38
100	Iraq	0.37
101	Tanzania	0.37
102	Madagascar	0.36
103	Togo	0.35
104	Angola	0.34
105	Mauritania	0.33
106	El Salvador	0.32
107	Kyrgyzstan	0.31
108	Congo - Kinshasa	0.31
109	Gabon	0.3
110	Pakistan	0.3
111	Serbia	0.3
112	Central African Republic	0.29
113	Türkiye	0.29
114	Jordan	0.28
115	Mozambique	0.28
116	Zimbabwe	0.27
117	Algeria	0.27
118	Cameroon	0.26
119	Kazakhstan	0.26
120	Morocco	0.26
121	Ethiopia	0.26
122	Uganda	0.25
123	Guinea-Bissau	0.25
124	Djibouti	0.25
125	Congo - Brazzaville	0.24
126	Chad	0.24
127	Haiti	0.24
128	Niger	0.23
129	Uzbekistan	0.22
130	Palestine	0.21
131	Bangladesh	0.2
132	Libya	0.19
133	Rwanda	0.19
134	Egypt	0.19
135	Guinea	0.19
136	Burundi	0.19
137	Cambodia	0.18
138	Venezuela	0.18
139	Cuba	0.18
140	Oman	0.18
141	Equatorial Guinea	0.17
142	Azerbaijan	0.17
143	Russia	0.17
144	Somalia	0.17
145	Mali	0.16
146	Belarus	0.16
147	Iran	0.16
148	Tajikistan	0.16
149	Nicaragua	0.15
150	Turkmenistan	0.15
151	Vietnam	0.15
152	Kuwait	0.14
153	Laos	0.14
154	Burkina Faso	0.13
155	South Sudan	0.13
156	Sudan	0.13
157	Eswatini	0.13
158	Syria	0.13
159	Yemen	0.13
160	United Arab Emirates	0.1
161	North Korea	0.08
162	Myanmar (Burma)	0.08
163	China	0.07
164	Afghanistan	0.07
165	Eritrea	0.07
166	Qatar	0.03
167	Saudi Arabia	0.02

11 countries or territories have no value that year.

Continent averages

World (population-weighted average)	0.38
Europe (average)	0.59
Africa (average)	0.36
Americas (average)	0.67
Asia (average)	0.28
Oceania (average)	0.75

Understanding this map

What the index measures

This is the “polyarchy” index of the V-Dem project (University of Gothenburg). It combines five elements: free and fair elections, rulers who actually come out of those elections, broad voting rights, freedom of expression and of the press, and freedom of association (parties, unions…).

How to read it

Above about 0.5, V-Dem speaks of an electoral democracy; above about 0.75, of a solid one. The tooltip also gives the regime type (from 1900) and how long it has lasted. A colony is rated on the regime actually applied there, not the one in the home country.

Limits

These are expert assessments, each with a margin of uncertainty, especially for the 19th century. Male-only suffrage lowers the score, which is why France in 1900 sits around 0.55.

Sources : V-Dem, jeu de données v16 (2026)

In the same theme : Democracy

Democracy index Women's right to vote

All maps

Electoral democracy index Women's right to vote Life expectancy at birth Children dying before age 5 Children per woman GDP per capita Economic freedom index Median income per person per month Income inequality (Gini index)Income share of the richest 10%Extreme poverty (under $2.15 a day)Tax revenue Public debt Public debt per person Public spending Military spending Public spending on education Public spending on health Public social spending Research and development spending Share of public debt held abroad Interest paid on public debt Share of taxes eaten up by interest on debt Public debt in years of taxes Total government revenue Top marginal income tax rate Budget balance: deficit or surplus Interest-growth gap (r − g)10-year government borrowing rate Household electricity prices Gender gap in hourly wages CO₂ emissions per person — on the territory Share of electricity from low-carbon (renewables + nuclear) sources Population and density Share of people aged 65 and over Immigrants as a share of the population Share of people with no religion Largest religion Countries accessible without a visa

Page updated on 2026-11-03.