Data for 1997

Liberal Democracy Index, 1997

Name: Liberal 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

Liberal Democracy Index, 1997 covers 171 countries. Denmark is highest, at 0.880; North Korea is lowest, at 0.014. The middle country reads 0.307. Against 1996, 117 values changed (70 up, 47 down), the same countries are covered.

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Liberal Democracy Index · Data for 1997

HighestDenmark

0.880

LowestNorth Korea

0.014

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

171countries
1measure
1997the year it describes
150distinct 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, 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 171 countries · select a heading to sort

Liberal Democracy Index, 1997: 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	0.854
4	Norway`NOR`Northern Europe	0.847
5	Australia`AUS`Australia and New Zealand	0.841
6	Switzerland`CHE`Western Europe	0.839
7	Costa Rica`CRI`Central America	0.835
8	Finland`FIN`Northern Europe	0.832
9	New Zealand`NZL`Australia and New Zealand	0.825
10	Spain`ESP`Southern Europe	0.820
=11	Czechia`CZE`Eastern Europe	0.816
=11	Portugal`PRT`Southern Europe	0.816
13	Belgium`BEL`Western Europe	0.812
14	United States`USA`Northern America	0.811
15	Estonia`EST`Northern Europe	0.806
16	Netherlands`NLD`Western Europe	0.805
17	Ireland`IRL`Northern Europe	0.802
18	France`FRA`Western Europe	0.800
19	Greece`GRC`Southern Europe	0.798
20	Uruguay`URY`South America	0.795
21	Poland`POL`Eastern Europe	0.792
=22	Chile`CHL`South America	0.784
=22	Luxembourg`LUX`Western Europe	0.784
24	Iceland`ISL`Northern Europe	0.783
25	Austria`AUT`Western Europe	0.780
26	Slovenia`SVN`Southern Europe	0.762
27	Canada`CAN`Northern America	0.760
=28	Italy`ITA`Southern Europe	0.758
=28	Lithuania`LTU`Northern Europe	0.758
=30	Hungary`HUN`Eastern Europe	0.757
=30	Japan`JPN`Eastern Asia	0.757
32	United Kingdom`GBR`Northern Europe	0.746
33	Brazil`BRA`South America	0.711
34	Israel`ISR`Western Asia	0.696
35	Latvia`LVA`Northern Europe	0.694
36	Cabo Verde`CPV`Western Africa	0.692
37	Suriname`SUR`South America	0.652
38	Barbados`BRB`Caribbean	0.647
39	Trinidad and Tobago`TTO`Caribbean	0.646
40	South Korea`KOR`Eastern Asia	0.638
41	Cyprus`CYP`Western Asia	0.636
42	Argentina`ARG`South America	0.634
43	Mauritius`MUS`Eastern Africa	0.617
44	Bulgaria`BGR`Eastern Europe	0.609
45	Venezuela`VEN`South America	0.603
46	Botswana`BWA`Southern Africa	0.601
47	Malta`MLT`Southern Europe	0.599
48	Mongolia`MNG`Eastern Asia	0.598
49	India`IND`Southern Asia	0.591
50	South Africa`ZAF`Southern Africa	0.560
51	Namibia`NAM`Southern Africa	0.553
52	Slovakia`SVK`Eastern Europe	0.540
53	Panama`PAN`Central America	0.534
=54	Bolivia`BOL`South America	0.518
=54	Vanuatu`VUT`Melanesia	0.518
56	Ghana`GHA`Western Africa	0.505
57	Benin`BEN`Western Africa	0.500
58	Jamaica`JAM`Caribbean	0.499
59	São Tomé and Príncipe`STP`Middle Africa	0.492
60	Taiwan`TWN`Eastern Asia	0.483
61	Senegal`SEN`Western Africa	0.472
62	Ecuador`ECU`South America	0.450
63	Malawi`MWI`Eastern Africa	0.439
64	Romania`ROU`Eastern Europe	0.438
65	Colombia`COL`South America	0.429
66	Philippines`PHL`South-eastern Asia	0.416
67	Papua New Guinea`PNG`Melanesia	0.414
68	Moldova`MDA`Eastern Europe	0.412
=69	Nicaragua`NIC`Central America	0.409
=69	Solomon Islands`SLB`Melanesia	0.409
71	Fiji`FJI`Melanesia	0.404
72	Tanzania`TZA`Eastern Africa	0.403
73	Mali`MLI`Western Africa	0.392
74	Türkiye`TUR`Western Asia	0.391
75	Paraguay`PRY`South America	0.383
76	Zambia`ZMB`Eastern Africa	0.374
77	North Macedonia`MKD`Southern Europe	0.362
78	Dominican Republic`DOM`Caribbean	0.357
79	Thailand`THA`South-eastern Asia	0.348
=80	Mexico`MEX`Central America	0.346
=80	Sri Lanka`LKA`Southern Asia	0.346
82	Bosnia and Herzegovina`BIH`Southern Europe	0.340
83	Hong Kong`HKG`Eastern Asia	0.322
=84	Albania`ALB`Southern Europe	0.311
=84	Nepal`NPL`Southern Asia	0.311
86	Honduras`HND`Central America	0.307
=87	Guyana`GUY`South America	0.304
=87	Singapore`SGP`South-eastern Asia	0.304
89	Mozambique`MOZ`Eastern Africa	0.301
90	Ukraine`UKR`Eastern Europe	0.299
91	Haiti`HTI`Caribbean	0.287
92	Russia`RUS`Eastern Europe	0.284
=93	El Salvador`SLV`Central America	0.282
=93	Guatemala`GTM`Central America	0.282
95	Madagascar`MDG`Eastern Africa	0.279
96	Bangladesh`BGD`Southern Asia	0.275
97	Kuwait`KWT`Western Asia	0.269
98	Croatia`HRV`Southern Europe	0.259
=99	Lesotho`LSO`Southern Africa	0.258
=99	Seychelles`SYC`Eastern Africa	0.258
101	Burkina Faso`BFA`Western Africa	0.257
=102	Côte d’Ivoire`CIV`Western Africa	0.239
=102	Uganda`UGA`Eastern Africa	0.239
104	Zimbabwe`ZWE`Eastern Africa	0.229
105	Niger`NER`Western Africa	0.228
106	Armenia`ARM`Western Asia	0.224
107	Central African Republic`CAF`Middle Africa	0.220
108	Kenya`KEN`Eastern Africa	0.209
109	Comoros`COM`Eastern Africa	0.208
110	Georgia`GEO`Western Asia	0.207
111	Gabon`GAB`Middle Africa	0.203
112	Guinea-Bissau`GNB`Western Africa	0.201
113	Pakistan`PAK`Southern Asia	0.196
114	Jordan`JOR`Western Asia	0.195
115	Morocco`MAR`Northern Africa	0.193
=116	Lebanon`LBN`Western Asia	0.188
=116	Serbia`SRB`Southern Europe	0.188
118	Kyrgyzstan`KGZ`Central Asia	0.172
119	Togo`TGO`Western Africa	0.167
120	Malaysia`MYS`South-eastern Asia	0.161
121	Egypt`EGY`Northern Africa	0.155
122	Algeria`DZA`Northern Africa	0.153
=123	Burundi`BDI`Eastern Africa	0.149
=123	Iran`IRN`Southern Asia	0.149
125	Cameroon`CMR`Middle Africa	0.144
126	Belarus`BLR`Eastern Europe	0.139
=127	Cambodia`KHM`South-eastern Asia	0.137
=127	Yemen`YEM`Western Asia	0.137
129	Kazakhstan`KAZ`Central Asia	0.136
130	Mauritania`MRT`Western Africa	0.132
=131	Bhutan`BTN`Southern Asia	0.131
=131	Somaliland`XSL`Eastern Africa	0.131
133	Liberia`LBR`Western Africa	0.129
134	Gambia`GMB`Western Africa	0.126
135	Peru`PER`South America	0.125
136	Rwanda`RWA`Eastern Africa	0.122
137	Ethiopia`ETH`Eastern Africa	0.111
138	Djibouti`DJI`Eastern Africa	0.110
139	Guinea`GIN`Western Africa	0.107
140	Eswatini`SWZ`Southern Africa	0.098
141	Nigeria`NGA`Western Africa	0.097
142	Chad`TCD`Middle Africa	0.096
143	Sierra Leone`SLE`Western Africa	0.094
144	Tunisia`TUN`Northern Africa	0.091
=145	Laos`LAO`South-eastern Asia	0.087
=145	Qatar`QAT`Western Asia	0.087
147	Oman`OMN`Western Asia	0.086
148	Azerbaijan`AZE`Western Asia	0.084
149	Vietnam`VNM`South-eastern Asia	0.082
150	Angola`AGO`Middle Africa	0.076
=151	Iraq`IRQ`Western Asia	0.070
=151	United Arab Emirates`ARE`Western Asia	0.070
153	China`CHN`Eastern Asia	0.068
154	Republic of the Congo`COG`Middle Africa	0.066
=155	Maldives`MDV`Southern Asia	0.058
=155	Tajikistan`TJK`Central Asia	0.058
157	Indonesia`IDN`South-eastern Asia	0.052
158	Equatorial Guinea`GNQ`Middle Africa	0.051
159	Libya`LBY`Northern Africa	0.048
160	Uzbekistan`UZB`Central Asia	0.040
=161	Eritrea`ERI`Eastern Africa	0.039
=161	Saudi Arabia`SAU`Western Asia	0.039
163	Cuba`CUB`Caribbean	0.038
164	Syria`SYR`Western Asia	0.037
165	Somalia`SOM`Eastern Africa	0.027
=166	DR Congo`COD`Middle Africa	0.026
=166	Sudan`SDN`Northern Africa	0.026
168	Turkmenistan`TKM`Central Asia	0.024
169	Afghanistan`AFG`Southern Asia	0.022
170	Myanmar`MMR`South-eastern Asia	0.017
171	North Korea`PRK`Eastern Asia	0.014

02In 1997

At either end

The 5 countries at each end of the headline.

Highest

1Denmark0.880
2Sweden0.879
3Germany0.854
4Norway0.847
5Australia0.841

Lowest

171North Korea0.014
170Myanmar0.017
169Afghanistan0.022
168Turkmenistan0.024
166Sudanshared0.026

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
117values changed, of 171 in both
70 · 47rose · fell
54unchanged

Rose most

Bosnia and Herzegovina0.141 → 0.340+0.199
Taiwan0.389 → 0.483+0.094
Ghana0.425 → 0.505+0.080
Dominican Republic0.281 → 0.357+0.076
Thailand0.278 → 0.348+0.070

Fell most

Republic of the Congo0.297 → 0.066−0.231
Belarus0.213 → 0.139−0.074
Madagascar0.351 → 0.279−0.072
Nicaragua0.450 → 0.409−0.041
Mali0.422 → 0.392−0.030

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.
150 distinct values among 171
Values are stored exactly as published, to 3 decimals. 2 countries share 0.816. 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-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). Liberal Democracy Index, 1997 [data set], describing 1997. As held by Nations Inquiry, https://nationsinquiry.com/datasets/liberal-democracy/1997

0636 held

Other years

‹ The year before
Liberal Democracy Index, 1996
171 countries
The year after ›
Liberal Democracy Index, 1998
172 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