Data for 1997

Egalitarian Democracy Index, 1997

Name: Egalitarian Democracy Index, 1997
Creator: V-Dem Institute, University of Gothenburg
License: https://v-dem.net/data/the-v-dem-dataset/

1997, as V-Dem Institute’s 2026 release gives it · stored as published, never rewritten

Egalitarian Democracy Index, 1997 covers 173 countries. Sweden is highest, at 0.874; Afghanistan is lowest, at 0.038. The middle country reads 0.307. Against 1996, 102 values changed (60 up, 42 down), the same countries are covered.

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Egalitarian Democracy Index · Data for 1997

HighestSweden

0.874

LowestAfghanistan

0.038

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

173countries
1measure
1997the year it describes
159distinct 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, 1997, 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 173 countries · select a heading to sort

Egalitarian Democracy Index, 1997: every country, as published by V-Dem Institute, University of Gothenburg.
derived
1	Sweden`SWE`Northern Europe	0.874
2	Denmark`DNK`Northern Europe	0.869
3	Norway`NOR`Northern Europe	0.841
4	Germany`DEU`Western Europe	0.825
5	Belgium`BEL`Western Europe	0.822
6	Switzerland`CHE`Western Europe	0.819
7	Spain`ESP`Southern Europe	0.815
8	Luxembourg`LUX`Western Europe	0.814
9	Finland`FIN`Northern Europe	0.809
10	Czechia`CZE`Eastern Europe	0.806
11	Greece`GRC`Southern Europe	0.799
12	Iceland`ISL`Northern Europe	0.791
13	Australia`AUS`Australia and New Zealand	0.790
14	Portugal`PRT`Southern Europe	0.784
=15	Costa Rica`CRI`Central America	0.780
=15	Ireland`IRL`Northern Europe	0.780
17	Netherlands`NLD`Western Europe	0.779
18	Italy`ITA`Southern Europe	0.770
=19	France`FRA`Western Europe	0.763
=19	Poland`POL`Eastern Europe	0.763
21	Austria`AUT`Western Europe	0.760
22	Slovenia`SVN`Southern Europe	0.757
23	Estonia`EST`Northern Europe	0.756
24	Japan`JPN`Eastern Asia	0.755
25	New Zealand`NZL`Australia and New Zealand	0.754
26	Uruguay`URY`South America	0.743
27	Lithuania`LTU`Northern Europe	0.726
28	Hungary`HUN`Eastern Europe	0.720
29	Canada`CAN`Northern America	0.715
30	United States`USA`Northern America	0.708
31	Malta`MLT`Southern Europe	0.673
32	United Kingdom`GBR`Northern Europe	0.671
33	Argentina`ARG`South America	0.656
34	Latvia`LVA`Northern Europe	0.654
35	Israel`ISR`Western Asia	0.640
36	Trinidad and Tobago`TTO`Caribbean	0.638
37	Cyprus`CYP`Western Asia	0.623
38	Barbados`BRB`Caribbean	0.620
39	South Korea`KOR`Eastern Asia	0.613
40	Cabo Verde`CPV`Western Africa	0.604
41	Mongolia`MNG`Eastern Asia	0.600
42	Bulgaria`BGR`Eastern Europe	0.575
43	Brazil`BRA`South America	0.569
44	Suriname`SUR`South America	0.568
45	Mauritius`MUS`Eastern Africa	0.564
46	Chile`CHL`South America	0.549
47	Taiwan`TWN`Eastern Asia	0.528
48	Slovakia`SVK`Eastern Europe	0.525
49	Venezuela`VEN`South America	0.516
50	India`IND`Southern Asia	0.497
51	Romania`ROU`Eastern Europe	0.492
52	Vanuatu`VUT`Melanesia	0.487
53	Bolivia`BOL`South America	0.480
54	Jamaica`JAM`Caribbean	0.479
55	Panama`PAN`Central America	0.462
56	Benin`BEN`Western Africa	0.456
57	Botswana`BWA`Southern Africa	0.454
58	South Africa`ZAF`Southern Africa	0.445
59	Senegal`SEN`Western Africa	0.439
60	Namibia`NAM`Southern Africa	0.435
61	São Tomé and Príncipe`STP`Middle Africa	0.421
62	Moldova`MDA`Eastern Europe	0.417
63	Ghana`GHA`Western Africa	0.410
64	Bosnia and Herzegovina`BIH`Southern Europe	0.396
65	Ukraine`UKR`Eastern Europe	0.388
66	Mali`MLI`Western Africa	0.371
67	Ecuador`ECU`South America	0.369
68	Tanzania`TZA`Eastern Africa	0.361
69	Sri Lanka`LKA`Southern Asia	0.359
70	Fiji`FJI`Melanesia	0.348
71	Armenia`ARM`Western Asia	0.346
72	Malawi`MWI`Eastern Africa	0.343
73	North Macedonia`MKD`Southern Europe	0.341
=74	Croatia`HRV`Southern Europe	0.338
=74	Nicaragua`NIC`Central America	0.338
76	Burkina Faso`BFA`Western Africa	0.336
=77	Belarus`BLR`Eastern Europe	0.333
=77	Colombia`COL`South America	0.333
79	Türkiye`TUR`Western Asia	0.331
80	Singapore`SGP`South-eastern Asia	0.328
81	Hong Kong`HKG`Eastern Asia	0.327
82	Seychelles`SYC`Eastern Africa	0.323
83	Dominican Republic`DOM`Caribbean	0.318
84	Zambia`ZMB`Eastern Africa	0.315
85	Solomon Islands`SLB`Melanesia	0.313
86	Russia`RUS`Eastern Europe	0.311
87	Guyana`GUY`South America	0.307
88	Georgia`GEO`Western Asia	0.302
89	Papua New Guinea`PNG`Melanesia	0.299
90	Philippines`PHL`South-eastern Asia	0.293
91	Lesotho`LSO`Southern Africa	0.292
92	Mozambique`MOZ`Eastern Africa	0.291
93	Niger`NER`Western Africa	0.288
94	Albania`ALB`Southern Europe	0.286
95	Comoros`COM`Eastern Africa	0.285
96	Nepal`NPL`Southern Asia	0.284
97	Mexico`MEX`Central America	0.275
98	Algeria`DZA`Northern Africa	0.263
99	Thailand`THA`South-eastern Asia	0.260
100	Togo`TGO`Western Africa	0.256
=101	Kyrgyzstan`KGZ`Central Asia	0.251
=101	Serbia`SRB`Southern Europe	0.251
103	Madagascar`MDG`Eastern Africa	0.244
104	Côte d’Ivoire`CIV`Western Africa	0.240
105	Cuba`CUB`Caribbean	0.232
106	Kuwait`KWT`Western Asia	0.225
107	Honduras`HND`Central America	0.224
108	El Salvador`SLV`Central America	0.223
109	Gabon`GAB`Middle Africa	0.218
110	Lebanon`LBN`Western Asia	0.217
111	Uganda`UGA`Eastern Africa	0.214
112	Bangladesh`BGD`Southern Asia	0.213
113	Central African Republic`CAF`Middle Africa	0.210
114	Kenya`KEN`Eastern Africa	0.208
115	Guatemala`GTM`Central America	0.207
116	Tunisia`TUN`Northern Africa	0.204
117	Malaysia`MYS`South-eastern Asia	0.203
118	Kazakhstan`KAZ`Central Asia	0.202
119	Jordan`JOR`Western Asia	0.198
120	Vietnam`VNM`South-eastern Asia	0.197
121	Iran`IRN`Southern Asia	0.191
122	Zimbabwe`ZWE`Eastern Africa	0.189
123	Guinea-Bissau`GNB`Western Africa	0.185
124	Peru`PER`South America	0.181
125	Paraguay`PRY`South America	0.175
126	Gambia`GMB`Western Africa	0.172
127	Burundi`BDI`Eastern Africa	0.170
128	Cameroon`CMR`Middle Africa	0.168
129	Rwanda`RWA`Eastern Africa	0.164
130	Bhutan`BTN`Southern Asia	0.163
131	Eritrea`ERI`Eastern Africa	0.162
132	Azerbaijan`AZE`Western Asia	0.160
=133	Ethiopia`ETH`Eastern Africa	0.156
=133	Liberia`LBR`Western Africa	0.156
135	Haiti`HTI`Caribbean	0.154
136	Djibouti`DJI`Eastern Africa	0.153
=137	Guinea`GIN`Western Africa	0.151
=137	Maldives`MDV`Southern Asia	0.151
139	Sierra Leone`SLE`Western Africa	0.149
140	Mauritania`MRT`Western Africa	0.144
141	Pakistan`PAK`Southern Asia	0.139
142	Tajikistan`TJK`Central Asia	0.138
143	Oman`OMN`Western Asia	0.135
144	Cambodia`KHM`South-eastern Asia	0.132
=145	Indonesia`IDN`South-eastern Asia	0.130
=145	Nigeria`NGA`Western Africa	0.130
=147	Morocco`MAR`Northern Africa	0.127
=147	Syria`SYR`Western Asia	0.127
=149	Libya`LBY`Northern Africa	0.125
=149	Uzbekistan`UZB`Central Asia	0.125
151	Qatar`QAT`Western Asia	0.116
152	China`CHN`Eastern Asia	0.112
153	Equatorial Guinea`GNQ`Middle Africa	0.111
=154	Laos`LAO`South-eastern Asia	0.109
=154	Saudi Arabia`SAU`Western Asia	0.109
156	Egypt`EGY`Northern Africa	0.106
157	Chad`TCD`Middle Africa	0.103
=158	Bahrain`BHR`Western Asia	0.102
=158	Yemen`YEM`Western Asia	0.102
=160	Somaliland`XSL`Eastern Africa	0.099
=160	Turkmenistan`TKM`Central Asia	0.099
=162	Iraq`IRQ`Western Asia	0.094
=162	United Arab Emirates`ARE`Western Asia	0.094
164	Republic of the Congo`COG`Middle Africa	0.089
165	North Korea`PRK`Eastern Asia	0.084
166	Timor-Leste`TLS`South-eastern Asia	0.076
167	DR Congo`COD`Middle Africa	0.074
168	Myanmar`MMR`South-eastern Asia	0.071
169	Eswatini`SWZ`Southern Africa	0.070
170	Angola`AGO`Middle Africa	0.063
171	Sudan`SDN`Northern Africa	0.058
172	Somalia`SOM`Eastern Africa	0.043
173	Afghanistan`AFG`Southern Asia	0.038

02In 1997

At either end

The 5 countries at each end of the headline.

Highest

1Sweden0.874
2Denmark0.869
3Norway0.841
4Germany0.825
5Belgium0.822

Lowest

173Afghanistan0.038
172Somalia0.043
171Sudan0.058
170Angola0.063
169Eswatini0.070

A higher value is the better result. The middle country reads 0.307. “Shared” marks a value another country also holds.

031996 → 1997

Since 1996

What changed between 1996 and this one: who joined or left, and how far the headline moved.

+0 / −0countries joined / left
102values changed, of 173 in both
60 · 42rose · fell
71unchanged

Rose most

Bosnia and Herzegovina0.227 → 0.396+0.169
Taiwan0.435 → 0.528+0.093
Ghana0.355 → 0.410+0.055
Comoros0.234 → 0.285+0.051
Niger0.244 → 0.288+0.044

Fell most

Republic of the Congo0.208 → 0.089−0.119
Belarus0.381 → 0.333−0.048
Mali0.399 → 0.371−0.028
Nicaragua0.366 → 0.338−0.028
Armenia0.364 → 0.346−0.018

Both years come from the same release, so a difference here is a change in the data, not a revision of it. Every country’s full history is charted on the statistic page.

04Caveats

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 1997.
159 distinct values among 173
Values are stored exactly as published, to 3 decimals. 2 countries share 0.780. 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 173 countries has every column.

05The 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
173 rows · 4.7 KB · UTF-8, opens in Excel
Opens with 11 lines of source notes; the table starts on row 13.
Download egalitarian-democracy-1997-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 (1997). Egalitarian Democracy Index, 1997 [data set], describing 1997. As held by Nations Inquiry, https://nationsinquiry.com/datasets/egalitarian-democracy/1997

0636 held

Other years

‹ The year before
Egalitarian Democracy Index, 1996
173 countries
The year after ›
Egalitarian Democracy Index, 1998
174 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

07Questions