Data for 1990

Egalitarian Democracy Index, 1990

Name: Egalitarian Democracy Index, 1990
Creator: V-Dem Institute, University of Gothenburg
License: https://v-dem.net/data/the-v-dem-dataset/

1990, as V-Dem Institute’s 2026 release gives it · stored as published, never rewritten

V-Dem's Egalitarian Democracy Index asks whether rights and freedoms are protected equally for every social group, whether groups have equal access to political power, and whether the means of using them — such as education and health care — are shared equally, on top of genuine elections. It runs from 0 to 1, and a higher figure is more democratic.

Egalitarian Democracy Index, 1990 covers 167 countries. Sweden is highest, at 0.876; South Africa is lowest, at 0.047. The middle country reads 0.230.

Download CSV Cite this year

Share this page

Egalitarian Democracy Index · Data for 1990

HighestSweden

0.876

LowestSouth Africa

0.047

Shaded by value in five groups of equal size, darkest at the better end.

167countries
1measure
1990the year it describes
145distinct values3 decimals, as published
Sep 26, 2026read from the publisher
CC BY-SA 4.0licence

01Position · derived

The table

Every country and every column of Egalitarian Democracy Index, 1990, as published. V-Dem Institute ranks nobody on this measure; the position is derived here by ordering the published values. “=” marks a shared position.

Search this table

Showing 25 of 167 countries · select a heading to sort

Egalitarian Democracy Index, 1990: every country, as published by V-Dem Institute, University of Gothenburg.
derived
1	Sweden`SWE`Northern Europe	0.876
2	Denmark`DNK`Northern Europe	0.869
3	Norway`NOR`Northern Europe	0.840
4	Germany`DEU`Western Europe	0.823
5	Luxembourg`LUX`Western Europe	0.816
6	Spain`ESP`Southern Europe	0.814
7	Switzerland`CHE`Western Europe	0.812
8	Belgium`BEL`Western Europe	0.804
9	Australia`AUS`Australia and New Zealand	0.798
10	Finland`FIN`Northern Europe	0.794
11	Greece`GRC`Southern Europe	0.793
=12	Costa Rica`CRI`Central America	0.786
=12	Iceland`ISL`Northern Europe	0.786
14	Netherlands`NLD`Western Europe	0.778
15	Portugal`PRT`Southern Europe	0.777
16	Austria`AUT`Western Europe	0.766
17	Japan`JPN`Eastern Asia	0.753
18	France`FRA`Western Europe	0.749
19	Italy`ITA`Southern Europe	0.743
20	New Zealand`NZL`Australia and New Zealand	0.739
21	Ireland`IRL`Northern Europe	0.737
=22	Czechia`CZE`Eastern Europe	0.711
=22	Uruguay`URY`South America	0.711
24	Canada`CAN`Northern America	0.710
25	Estonia`EST`Northern Europe	0.697
26	United States`USA`Northern America	0.692
27	Hungary`HUN`Eastern Europe	0.691
28	Lithuania`LTU`Northern Europe	0.689
29	United Kingdom`GBR`Northern Europe	0.670
30	Argentina`ARG`South America	0.642
31	Poland`POL`Eastern Europe	0.638
32	Malta`MLT`Southern Europe	0.625
33	Israel`ISR`Western Asia	0.609
34	Barbados`BRB`Caribbean	0.606
35	Cyprus`CYP`Western Asia	0.600
36	Trinidad and Tobago`TTO`Caribbean	0.598
37	Mauritius`MUS`Eastern Africa	0.560
38	Slovenia`SVN`Southern Europe	0.552
39	Vanuatu`VUT`Melanesia	0.550
40	Brazil`BRA`South America	0.528
41	South Korea`KOR`Eastern Asia	0.526
42	Suriname`SUR`South America	0.511
43	Venezuela`VEN`South America	0.510
44	Armenia`ARM`Western Asia	0.497
45	Bulgaria`BGR`Eastern Europe	0.479
46	India`IND`Southern Asia	0.460
47	Latvia`LVA`Northern Europe	0.456
48	Botswana`BWA`Southern Africa	0.436
49	Jamaica`JAM`Caribbean	0.434
50	Chile`CHL`South America	0.430
51	Romania`ROU`Eastern Europe	0.424
52	Bolivia`BOL`South America	0.401
53	Belarus`BLR`Eastern Europe	0.386
54	Ecuador`ECU`South America	0.385
55	Ukraine`UKR`Eastern Europe	0.372
56	Senegal`SEN`Western Africa	0.357
57	Nicaragua`NIC`Central America	0.345
58	Namibia`NAM`Southern Africa	0.343
=59	Moldova`MDA`Eastern Europe	0.321
=59	Singapore`SGP`South-eastern Asia	0.321
61	Solomon Islands`SLB`Melanesia	0.319
62	Mongolia`MNG`Eastern Asia	0.315
=63	Panama`PAN`Central America	0.314
=63	Türkiye`TUR`Western Asia	0.314
65	Sri Lanka`LKA`Southern Asia	0.304
66	Papua New Guinea`PNG`Melanesia	0.303
67	Philippines`PHL`South-eastern Asia	0.302
68	Peru`PER`South America	0.286
69	Cabo Verde`CPV`Western Africa	0.282
70	Algeria`DZA`Northern Africa	0.280
71	Georgia`GEO`Western Asia	0.276
=72	Gambia`GMB`Western Africa	0.272
=72	Taiwan`TWN`Eastern Asia	0.272
74	Comoros`COM`Eastern Africa	0.265
75	Tanzania`TZA`Eastern Africa	0.264
76	Hong Kong`HKG`Eastern Asia	0.262
77	Niger`NER`Western Africa	0.257
78	Kyrgyzstan`KGZ`Central Asia	0.250
79	Tajikistan`TJK`Central Asia	0.249
=80	Guyana`GUY`South America	0.247
=80	Russia`RUS`Eastern Europe	0.247
82	Dominican Republic`DOM`Caribbean	0.242
83	Benin`BEN`Western Africa	0.232
=84	Lebanon`LBN`Western Asia	0.230
=84	Seychelles`SYC`Eastern Africa	0.230
86	Albania`ALB`Southern Europe	0.227
87	Zimbabwe`ZWE`Eastern Africa	0.226
88	Cuba`CUB`Caribbean	0.224
89	Serbia`SRB`Southern Europe	0.219
90	Tunisia`TUN`Northern Africa	0.207
=91	Kazakhstan`KAZ`Central Asia	0.204
=91	Malaysia`MYS`South-eastern Asia	0.204
93	Vietnam`VNM`South-eastern Asia	0.199
94	Jordan`JOR`Western Asia	0.196
=95	Côte d’Ivoire`CIV`Western Africa	0.194
=95	São Tomé and Príncipe`STP`Middle Africa	0.194
97	Zambia`ZMB`Eastern Africa	0.192
98	Lesotho`LSO`Southern Africa	0.191
99	Mexico`MEX`Central America	0.189
=100	Burkina Faso`BFA`Western Africa	0.186
=100	Fiji`FJI`Melanesia	0.186
102	Central African Republic`CAF`Middle Africa	0.182
103	Honduras`HND`Central America	0.179
104	Thailand`THA`South-eastern Asia	0.177
=105	Mali`MLI`Western Africa	0.173
=105	Uganda`UGA`Eastern Africa	0.173
107	Colombia`COL`South America	0.171
108	Iran`IRN`Southern Asia	0.167
=109	Azerbaijan`AZE`Western Asia	0.163
=109	Kuwait`KWT`Western Asia	0.163
111	Cameroon`CMR`Middle Africa	0.155
112	Maldives`MDV`Southern Asia	0.153
113	Uzbekistan`UZB`Central Asia	0.152
=114	Bhutan`BTN`Southern Asia	0.151
=114	Nepal`NPL`Southern Asia	0.151
=114	Togo`TGO`Western Africa	0.151
117	Ghana`GHA`Western Africa	0.150
118	Guatemala`GTM`Central America	0.147
119	Bangladesh`BGD`Southern Asia	0.146
120	Mozambique`MOZ`Eastern Africa	0.144
121	Liberia`LBR`Western Africa	0.142
122	Kenya`KEN`Eastern Africa	0.140
123	Gabon`GAB`Middle Africa	0.139
124	Rwanda`RWA`Eastern Africa	0.135
125	Pakistan`PAK`Southern Asia	0.134
126	Nigeria`NGA`Western Africa	0.132
127	Ethiopia`ETH`Eastern Africa	0.131
128	Indonesia`IDN`South-eastern Asia	0.130
=129	Madagascar`MDG`Eastern Africa	0.129
=129	Syria`SYR`Western Asia	0.129
131	Libya`LBY`Northern Africa	0.125
132	Burundi`BDI`Eastern Africa	0.123
133	Malawi`MWI`Eastern Africa	0.120
134	Egypt`EGY`Northern Africa	0.117
=135	China`CHN`Eastern Asia	0.114
=135	Laos`LAO`South-eastern Asia	0.114
=135	Oman`OMN`Western Asia	0.114
=138	Guinea`GIN`Western Africa	0.110
=138	North Korea`PRK`Eastern Asia	0.110
=138	Qatar`QAT`Western Asia	0.110
141	Djibouti`DJI`Eastern Africa	0.109
142	Saudi Arabia`SAU`Western Asia	0.108
143	Morocco`MAR`Northern Africa	0.104
=144	Bahrain`BHR`Western Asia	0.102
=144	Equatorial Guinea`GNQ`Middle Africa	0.102
146	Paraguay`PRY`South America	0.101
=147	Afghanistan`AFG`Southern Asia	0.099
=147	Iraq`IRQ`Western Asia	0.099
149	Guinea-Bissau`GNB`Western Africa	0.098
150	Yemen`YEM`Western Asia	0.096
151	Eritrea`ERI`Eastern Africa	0.090
152	DR Congo`COD`Middle Africa	0.086
153	Mauritania`MRT`Western Africa	0.085
154	Sierra Leone`SLE`Western Africa	0.084
155	United Arab Emirates`ARE`Western Asia	0.083
156	El Salvador`SLV`Central America	0.079
157	Timor-Leste`TLS`South-eastern Asia	0.076
=158	Eswatini`SWZ`Southern Africa	0.075
=158	Myanmar`MMR`South-eastern Asia	0.075
160	Republic of the Congo`COG`Middle Africa	0.070
161	Haiti`HTI`Caribbean	0.069
162	Somalia`SOM`Eastern Africa	0.063
163	Chad`TCD`Middle Africa	0.061
164	Cambodia`KHM`South-eastern Asia	0.059
165	Angola`AGO`Middle Africa	0.053
166	Sudan`SDN`Northern Africa	0.048
167	South Africa`ZAF`Southern Africa	0.047

02In 1990

At either end

The 5 countries at each end of the headline.

Highest

1Sweden0.876
2Denmark0.869
3Norway0.840
4Germany0.823
5Luxembourg0.816

Lowest

167South Africa0.047
166Sudan0.048
165Angola0.053
164Cambodia0.059
163Chad0.061

A higher value is the better result. The middle country reads 0.230. “Shared” marks a value another country also holds.

03Caveats

Read before you use

What this edition’s numbers are and are not, worked out from the file itself.

How values are stored

One year of the 2026 release
Every year in this series comes from V-Dem Institute’s 2026 release, recalculated on one method. It can differ from what was first published for 1990.
145 distinct values among 167
Values are stored exactly as published, to 3 decimals. 3 countries share 0.151. Countries sharing a value share a position too.
The position is ours
V-Dem Institute publishes values only; the order is this site’s.
Nothing missing
Every one of the 167 countries has every column.

04The files

Download and cite

The table as a file, digit for digit, what this site changed, and a citation for this edition.

Licence in full

.csv
For a spreadsheet or code
167 rows · 4.5 KB · UTF-8, opens in Excel
Opens with 11 lines of source notes; the table starts on row 13.
Download egalitarian-democracy-1990-nations-inquiry.csv
↗
The publisher’s original
V-Dem Institute’s own file, on its own site.
V-Dem-CY-Core-v16_csv.zip

What this site changed: Reshaped into one row per country: regional and income-group totals are left out, only the columns listed are kept, each row gets its ISO 3166 code, and some country names are brought to one spelling. No value is recalculated, rescaled or rounded.

Licence: CC BY-SA 4.0 · what it allows, in plain words

Cite this edition

V-Dem Institute, University of Gothenburg (1990). Egalitarian Democracy Index, 1990 [data set], describing 1990. As held by Nations Inquiry, https://nationsinquiry.com/datasets/egalitarian-democracy/1990

0536 held

Other years

‹ The year before
This is the first year held here.
The year after ›
Egalitarian Democracy Index, 1991
171 countries
All of them
Egalitarian Democracy Index: every year
36 held, with the data dictionary, coverage and licence.
How it has moved, charted by country

This edition

The same ranking, cut differently

Behind the number

Browse

By continent

Much-read profiles

Every subject

The numbers

Reading the data