Data for 1995

Liberal Democracy Index, 1995

Name: Liberal Democracy Index, 1995
Creator: V-Dem Institute, University of Gothenburg
License: https://v-dem.net/data/the-v-dem-dataset/

1995, as V-Dem Institute’s 2026 release gives it · stored as published, never rewritten

Liberal Democracy Index, 1995 covers 171 countries. Denmark is highest, at 0.880; North Korea is lowest, at 0.014. The middle country reads 0.305. Against 1994, 110 values changed (78 up, 32 down), the same countries are covered.

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Liberal Democracy Index · Data for 1995

HighestDenmark

0.880

LowestNorth Korea

0.014

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

171countries
1measure
1995the year it describes
158distinct 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 Liberal Democracy Index, 1995, 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 171 countries · select a heading to sort

Liberal Democracy Index, 1995: every country, as published by V-Dem Institute, University of Gothenburg.
derived
1	Denmark`DNK`Northern Europe	0.880
2	Sweden`SWE`Northern Europe	0.879
3	Germany`DEU`Western Europe	0.853
4	Australia`AUS`Australia and New Zealand	0.848
5	Norway`NOR`Northern Europe	0.847
6	Costa Rica`CRI`Central America	0.841
7	Switzerland`CHE`Western Europe	0.835
8	Finland`FIN`Northern Europe	0.832
9	Czechia`CZE`Eastern Europe	0.819
10	Spain`ESP`Southern Europe	0.818
11	New Zealand`NZL`Australia and New Zealand	0.813
=12	Belgium`BEL`Western Europe	0.812
=12	Netherlands`NLD`Western Europe	0.812
14	Poland`POL`Eastern Europe	0.810
15	United States`USA`Northern America	0.808
16	Portugal`PRT`Southern Europe	0.806
17	Estonia`EST`Northern Europe	0.802
18	France`FRA`Western Europe	0.798
19	Uruguay`URY`South America	0.794
20	Greece`GRC`Southern Europe	0.793
21	Ireland`IRL`Northern Europe	0.789
22	Luxembourg`LUX`Western Europe	0.784
23	Chile`CHL`South America	0.783
24	Austria`AUT`Western Europe	0.779
25	Iceland`ISL`Northern Europe	0.778
26	Canada`CAN`Northern America	0.762
27	Japan`JPN`Eastern Asia	0.760
=28	Lithuania`LTU`Northern Europe	0.757
=28	Slovenia`SVN`Southern Europe	0.757
30	Hungary`HUN`Eastern Europe	0.756
31	United Kingdom`GBR`Northern Europe	0.751
32	Italy`ITA`Southern Europe	0.744
33	Brazil`BRA`South America	0.712
34	Israel`ISR`Western Asia	0.694
35	Latvia`LVA`Northern Europe	0.670
36	Cabo Verde`CPV`Western Africa	0.649
37	Barbados`BRB`Caribbean	0.647
38	Trinidad and Tobago`TTO`Caribbean	0.646
39	Argentina`ARG`South America	0.641
40	Suriname`SUR`South America	0.639
41	Cyprus`CYP`Western Asia	0.634
42	Mauritius`MUS`Eastern Africa	0.619
43	South Korea`KOR`Eastern Asia	0.612
44	Venezuela`VEN`South America	0.604
45	Bulgaria`BGR`Eastern Europe	0.588
46	Botswana`BWA`Southern Africa	0.587
47	Malta`MLT`Southern Europe	0.586
48	India`IND`Southern Asia	0.582
49	Mongolia`MNG`Eastern Asia	0.581
50	Namibia`NAM`Southern Africa	0.553
51	Slovakia`SVK`Eastern Europe	0.537
52	Panama`PAN`Central America	0.534
53	South Africa`ZAF`Southern Africa	0.528
54	Vanuatu`VUT`Melanesia	0.518
55	Benin`BEN`Western Africa	0.512
56	São Tomé and Príncipe`STP`Middle Africa	0.508
57	Bolivia`BOL`South America	0.492
58	Jamaica`JAM`Caribbean	0.489
59	Nicaragua`NIC`Central America	0.485
60	Senegal`SEN`Western Africa	0.468
61	Ecuador`ECU`South America	0.450
62	Malawi`MWI`Eastern Africa	0.432
63	Colombia`COL`South America	0.428
64	Mali`MLI`Western Africa	0.422
65	Philippines`PHL`South-eastern Asia	0.414
=66	Papua New Guinea`PNG`Melanesia	0.413
=66	Solomon Islands`SLB`Melanesia	0.413
68	Moldova`MDA`Eastern Europe	0.411
69	Niger`NER`Western Africa	0.404
70	Ghana`GHA`Western Africa	0.396
71	Tanzania`TZA`Eastern Africa	0.394
72	Romania`ROU`Eastern Europe	0.392
73	Fiji`FJI`Melanesia	0.381
=74	Paraguay`PRY`South America	0.377
=74	Zambia`ZMB`Eastern Africa	0.377
76	Türkiye`TUR`Western Asia	0.373
77	Belarus`BLR`Eastern Europe	0.358
78	Madagascar`MDG`Eastern Africa	0.357
79	North Macedonia`MKD`Southern Europe	0.348
80	Sri Lanka`LKA`Southern Asia	0.346
81	Albania`ALB`Southern Europe	0.344
82	Ukraine`UKR`Eastern Europe	0.325
83	Hong Kong`HKG`Eastern Asia	0.320
84	Nepal`NPL`Southern Asia	0.318
85	Thailand`THA`South-eastern Asia	0.307
86	Mozambique`MOZ`Eastern Africa	0.305
87	Honduras`HND`Central America	0.300
88	Guyana`GUY`South America	0.298
=89	Russia`RUS`Eastern Europe	0.297
=89	Singapore`SGP`South-eastern Asia	0.297
91	Republic of the Congo`COG`Middle Africa	0.291
92	Mexico`MEX`Central America	0.281
93	Taiwan`TWN`Eastern Asia	0.279
94	El Salvador`SLV`Central America	0.274
95	Armenia`ARM`Western Asia	0.273
96	Bangladesh`BGD`Southern Asia	0.269
97	Kuwait`KWT`Western Asia	0.267
98	Seychelles`SYC`Eastern Africa	0.257
=99	Burkina Faso`BFA`Western Africa	0.256
=99	Lesotho`LSO`Southern Africa	0.256
101	Guatemala`GTM`Central America	0.240
102	Haiti`HTI`Caribbean	0.238
=103	Uganda`UGA`Eastern Africa	0.225
=103	Zimbabwe`ZWE`Eastern Africa	0.225
105	Central African Republic`CAF`Middle Africa	0.220
106	Croatia`HRV`Southern Europe	0.219
107	Kenya`KEN`Eastern Africa	0.211
108	Dominican Republic`DOM`Caribbean	0.205
109	Guinea-Bissau`GNB`Western Africa	0.203
110	Pakistan`PAK`Southern Asia	0.201
111	Gabon`GAB`Middle Africa	0.199
112	Jordan`JOR`Western Asia	0.196
113	Comoros`COM`Eastern Africa	0.194
114	Lebanon`LBN`Western Asia	0.188
115	Morocco`MAR`Northern Africa	0.187
=116	Georgia`GEO`Western Asia	0.182
=116	Kyrgyzstan`KGZ`Central Asia	0.182
118	Serbia`SRB`Southern Europe	0.180
119	Côte d’Ivoire`CIV`Western Africa	0.179
120	Burundi`BDI`Eastern Africa	0.170
121	Togo`TGO`Western Africa	0.165
122	Malaysia`MYS`South-eastern Asia	0.162
123	Egypt`EGY`Northern Africa	0.157
124	Kazakhstan`KAZ`Central Asia	0.147
125	Cameroon`CMR`Middle Africa	0.146
126	Liberia`LBR`Western Africa	0.143
127	Cambodia`KHM`South-eastern Asia	0.140
128	Yemen`YEM`Western Asia	0.132
129	Bhutan`BTN`Southern Asia	0.131
130	Somaliland`XSL`Eastern Africa	0.127
131	Mauritania`MRT`Western Africa	0.124
132	Iran`IRN`Southern Asia	0.120
133	Rwanda`RWA`Eastern Africa	0.118
134	Algeria`DZA`Northern Africa	0.113
135	Djibouti`DJI`Eastern Africa	0.110
136	Peru`PER`South America	0.106
137	Guinea`GIN`Western Africa	0.102
138	Eswatini`SWZ`Southern Africa	0.099
139	Ethiopia`ETH`Eastern Africa	0.097
140	Nigeria`NGA`Western Africa	0.095
141	Tunisia`TUN`Northern Africa	0.091
142	Laos`LAO`South-eastern Asia	0.087
143	Oman`OMN`Western Asia	0.084
=144	Azerbaijan`AZE`Western Asia	0.083
=144	Qatar`QAT`Western Asia	0.083
146	Vietnam`VNM`South-eastern Asia	0.080
147	Chad`TCD`Middle Africa	0.077
148	Angola`AGO`Middle Africa	0.076
149	Gambia`GMB`Western Africa	0.074
=150	Bosnia and Herzegovina`BIH`Southern Europe	0.069
=150	China`CHN`Eastern Asia	0.069
152	United Arab Emirates`ARE`Western Asia	0.068
153	Iraq`IRQ`Western Asia	0.062
154	Maldives`MDV`Southern Asia	0.058
155	Tajikistan`TJK`Central Asia	0.055
=156	Equatorial Guinea`GNQ`Middle Africa	0.052
=156	Indonesia`IDN`South-eastern Asia	0.052
158	Libya`LBY`Northern Africa	0.048
159	Uzbekistan`UZB`Central Asia	0.041
160	Saudi Arabia`SAU`Western Asia	0.039
=161	Cuba`CUB`Caribbean	0.037
=161	Syria`SYR`Western Asia	0.037
=163	DR Congo`COD`Middle Africa	0.036
=163	Eritrea`ERI`Eastern Africa	0.036
165	Sierra Leone`SLE`Western Africa	0.035
166	Turkmenistan`TKM`Central Asia	0.028
167	Somalia`SOM`Eastern Africa	0.027
168	Afghanistan`AFG`Southern Asia	0.022
169	Sudan`SDN`Northern Africa	0.018
170	Myanmar`MMR`South-eastern Asia	0.017
171	North Korea`PRK`Eastern Asia	0.014

02In 1995

At either end

The 5 countries at each end of the headline.

Highest

1Denmark0.880
2Sweden0.879
3Germany0.853
4Australia0.848
5Norway0.847

Lowest

171North Korea0.014
170Myanmar0.017
169Sudan0.018
168Afghanistan0.022
167Somalia0.027

A higher value is the better result. The middle country reads 0.305. “Shared” marks a value another country also holds.

031994 → 1995

Since 1994

What changed between 1994 and this one: who joined or left, and how far the headline moved.

+0 / −0countries joined / left
110values changed, of 171 in both
78 · 32rose · fell
61unchanged

Rose most

South Africa0.293 → 0.528+0.235
Malawi0.299 → 0.432+0.133
Haiti0.107 → 0.238+0.131
Mozambique0.199 → 0.305+0.106
North Macedonia0.279 → 0.348+0.069

Fell most

Lesotho0.333 → 0.256−0.077
Gambia0.139 → 0.074−0.065
Belarus0.404 → 0.358−0.046
Armenia0.318 → 0.273−0.045
Côte d’Ivoire0.218 → 0.179−0.039

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 1995.
158 distinct values among 171
Values are stored exactly as published, to 3 decimals. 2 countries share 0.812. 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 171 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
171 rows · 4.6 KB · UTF-8, opens in Excel
Opens with 11 lines of source notes; the table starts on row 13.
Download liberal-democracy-1995-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 (1995). Liberal Democracy Index, 1995 [data set], describing 1995. As held by Nations Inquiry, https://nationsinquiry.com/datasets/liberal-democracy/1995

0636 held

Other years

‹ The year before
Liberal Democracy Index, 1994
171 countries
The year after ›
Liberal Democracy Index, 1996
171 countries
All of them
Liberal Democracy Index: every year
36 held, with the data dictionary, coverage and licence.
How it has moved, charted by country

07Questions