Data for 1999

Liberal Democracy Index, 1999

Name: Liberal Democracy Index, 1999
Creator: V-Dem Institute, University of Gothenburg
License: https://v-dem.net/data/the-v-dem-dataset/

1999, as V-Dem Institute’s 2026 release gives it · stored as published, never rewritten

Liberal Democracy Index, 1999 covers 174 countries. Denmark is highest, at 0.878; North Korea is lowest, at 0.014. The middle country reads 0.321. Against 1998, 117 values changed (65 up, 52 down), 2 countries joined.

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Liberal Democracy Index · Data for 1999

HighestDenmark

0.878

LowestNorth Korea

0.014

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

174countries
1measure
1999the 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, 1999, 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 174 countries · select a heading to sort

Liberal Democracy Index, 1999: every country, as published by V-Dem Institute, University of Gothenburg.
derived
1	Denmark`DNK`Northern Europe	0.878
2	Sweden`SWE`Northern Europe	0.876
3	Germany`DEU`Western Europe	0.860
4	Norway`NOR`Northern Europe	0.848
5	Australia`AUS`Australia and New Zealand	0.842
6	Costa Rica`CRI`Central America	0.841
7	Switzerland`CHE`Western Europe	0.838
8	Finland`FIN`Northern Europe	0.833
9	New Zealand`NZL`Australia and New Zealand	0.825
10	Spain`ESP`Southern Europe	0.820
11	Netherlands`NLD`Western Europe	0.817
12	Belgium`BEL`Western Europe	0.816
13	Portugal`PRT`Southern Europe	0.815
14	United States`USA`Northern America	0.808
15	Estonia`EST`Northern Europe	0.807
16	Ireland`IRL`Northern Europe	0.804
17	Uruguay`URY`South America	0.802
18	Czechia`CZE`Eastern Europe	0.801
=19	France`FRA`Western Europe	0.798
=19	Greece`GRC`Southern Europe	0.798
=19	Poland`POL`Eastern Europe	0.798
=22	Chile`CHL`South America	0.785
=22	Luxembourg`LUX`Western Europe	0.785
24	Iceland`ISL`Northern Europe	0.781
25	Austria`AUT`Western Europe	0.780
26	United Kingdom`GBR`Northern Europe	0.770
27	Slovenia`SVN`Southern Europe	0.759
28	Italy`ITA`Southern Europe	0.758
29	Japan`JPN`Eastern Asia	0.757
=30	Canada`CAN`Northern America	0.756
=30	Lithuania`LTU`Northern Europe	0.756
32	Hungary`HUN`Eastern Europe	0.750
33	Slovakia`SVK`Eastern Europe	0.745
34	South Korea`KOR`Eastern Asia	0.736
35	Brazil`BRA`South America	0.713
36	Latvia`LVA`Northern Europe	0.701
37	Israel`ISR`Western Asia	0.696
38	Cabo Verde`CPV`Western Africa	0.692
39	Barbados`BRB`Caribbean	0.656
40	Suriname`SUR`South America	0.652
41	Trinidad and Tobago`TTO`Caribbean	0.646
42	Argentina`ARG`South America	0.640
43	Cyprus`CYP`Western Asia	0.632
=44	Bulgaria`BGR`Eastern Europe	0.616
=44	Mauritius`MUS`Eastern Africa	0.616
46	Botswana`BWA`Southern Africa	0.607
47	Mongolia`MNG`Eastern Asia	0.603
48	South Africa`ZAF`Southern Africa	0.598
49	Malta`MLT`Southern Europe	0.597
50	India`IND`Southern Asia	0.586
51	Namibia`NAM`Southern Africa	0.550
52	Panama`PAN`Central America	0.524
53	Bolivia`BOL`South America	0.523
54	Jamaica`JAM`Caribbean	0.522
55	Vanuatu`VUT`Melanesia	0.517
56	São Tomé and Príncipe`STP`Middle Africa	0.513
57	Ghana`GHA`Western Africa	0.504
58	Benin`BEN`Western Africa	0.497
59	Taiwan`TWN`Eastern Asia	0.489
60	Senegal`SEN`Western Africa	0.475
61	Ecuador`ECU`South America	0.454
62	Moldova`MDA`Eastern Europe	0.452
63	Venezuela`VEN`South America	0.440
64	Philippines`PHL`South-eastern Asia	0.437
65	Romania`ROU`Eastern Europe	0.435
66	North Macedonia`MKD`Southern Europe	0.429
=67	Colombia`COL`South America	0.417
=67	Indonesia`IDN`South-eastern Asia	0.417
69	Papua New Guinea`PNG`Melanesia	0.415
70	Türkiye`TUR`Western Asia	0.413
=71	Fiji`FJI`Melanesia	0.403
=71	Tanzania`TZA`Eastern Africa	0.403
73	Malawi`MWI`Eastern Africa	0.401
=74	Paraguay`PRY`South America	0.385
=74	Thailand`THA`South-eastern Asia	0.385
76	Nicaragua`NIC`Central America	0.383
77	Mexico`MEX`Central America	0.381
78	Dominican Republic`DOM`Caribbean	0.378
79	Solomon Islands`SLB`Melanesia	0.375
80	Zambia`ZMB`Eastern Africa	0.374
81	Mali`MLI`Western Africa	0.366
82	Bosnia and Herzegovina`BIH`Southern Europe	0.361
83	Guyana`GUY`South America	0.337
84	Sri Lanka`LKA`Southern Asia	0.336
85	Montenegro`MNE`Southern Europe	0.331
86	Albania`ALB`Southern Europe	0.326
87	Hong Kong`HKG`Eastern Asia	0.325
88	Honduras`HND`Central America	0.316
89	Nepal`NPL`Southern Asia	0.307
90	Burkina Faso`BFA`Western Africa	0.304
91	Singapore`SGP`South-eastern Asia	0.301
92	Mozambique`MOZ`Eastern Africa	0.298
93	El Salvador`SLV`Central America	0.297
94	Guatemala`GTM`Central America	0.291
95	Russia`RUS`Eastern Europe	0.284
96	Haiti`HTI`Caribbean	0.282
97	Bangladesh`BGD`Southern Asia	0.275
=98	Croatia`HRV`Southern Europe	0.272
=98	Madagascar`MDG`Eastern Africa	0.272
100	Kuwait`KWT`Western Asia	0.269
101	Lesotho`LSO`Southern Africa	0.260
102	Seychelles`SYC`Eastern Africa	0.259
103	Ukraine`UKR`Eastern Europe	0.245
104	Côte d’Ivoire`CIV`Western Africa	0.244
105	Nigeria`NGA`Western Africa	0.243
106	Uganda`UGA`Eastern Africa	0.239
107	Zimbabwe`ZWE`Eastern Africa	0.228
108	Kenya`KEN`Eastern Africa	0.225
109	Central African Republic`CAF`Middle Africa	0.217
110	Georgia`GEO`Western Asia	0.214
111	Armenia`ARM`Western Asia	0.211
112	Gabon`GAB`Middle Africa	0.203
113	Guinea-Bissau`GNB`Western Africa	0.201
114	Morocco`MAR`Northern Africa	0.198
115	Jordan`JOR`Western Asia	0.196
116	Lebanon`LBN`Western Asia	0.188
117	Serbia`SRB`Southern Europe	0.185
118	Kyrgyzstan`KGZ`Central Asia	0.177
119	Niger`NER`Western Africa	0.173
120	Pakistan`PAK`Southern Asia	0.167
121	Malaysia`MYS`South-eastern Asia	0.162
122	Algeria`DZA`Northern Africa	0.161
123	Iran`IRN`Southern Asia	0.160
124	Liberia`LBR`Western Africa	0.159
125	Egypt`EGY`Northern Africa	0.155
126	Togo`TGO`Western Africa	0.154
=127	Bhutan`BTN`Southern Asia	0.148
=127	Burundi`BDI`Eastern Africa	0.148
129	Cameroon`CMR`Middle Africa	0.147
130	Kosovo`XKX`Southern Europe	0.140
131	Somaliland`XSL`Eastern Africa	0.138
132	Comoros`COM`Eastern Africa	0.135
133	Mauritania`MRT`Western Africa	0.133
134	Yemen`YEM`Western Asia	0.131
135	Kazakhstan`KAZ`Central Asia	0.128
136	Gambia`GMB`Western Africa	0.127
=137	Cambodia`KHM`South-eastern Asia	0.125
=137	Rwanda`RWA`Eastern Africa	0.125
139	Peru`PER`South America	0.120
=140	Belarus`BLR`Eastern Europe	0.114
=140	Djibouti`DJI`Eastern Africa	0.114
142	Ethiopia`ETH`Eastern Africa	0.111
143	Guinea`GIN`Western Africa	0.110
144	Chad`TCD`Middle Africa	0.097
145	Eswatini`SWZ`Southern Africa	0.096
146	Tunisia`TUN`Northern Africa	0.091
=147	Timor-Leste`TLS`South-eastern Asia	0.089
=147	Vietnam`VNM`South-eastern Asia	0.089
=149	Laos`LAO`South-eastern Asia	0.088
=149	Qatar`QAT`Western Asia	0.088
151	Oman`OMN`Western Asia	0.087
152	Sierra Leone`SLE`Western Africa	0.081
153	Azerbaijan`AZE`Western Asia	0.079
154	Angola`AGO`Middle Africa	0.076
155	Republic of the Congo`COG`Middle Africa	0.075
156	Tajikistan`TJK`Central Asia	0.071
=157	China`CHN`Eastern Asia	0.070
=157	Iraq`IRQ`Western Asia	0.070
=157	United Arab Emirates`ARE`Western Asia	0.070
160	Maldives`MDV`Southern Asia	0.057
161	Equatorial Guinea`GNQ`Middle Africa	0.051
162	Libya`LBY`Northern Africa	0.048
163	DR Congo`COD`Middle Africa	0.043
164	Cuba`CUB`Caribbean	0.040
165	Saudi Arabia`SAU`Western Asia	0.039
166	Syria`SYR`Western Asia	0.038
167	Uzbekistan`UZB`Central Asia	0.035
168	Sudan`SDN`Northern Africa	0.034
169	Eritrea`ERI`Eastern Africa	0.031
170	Somalia`SOM`Eastern Africa	0.027
171	Turkmenistan`TKM`Central Asia	0.024
172	Afghanistan`AFG`Southern Asia	0.022
173	Myanmar`MMR`South-eastern Asia	0.017
174	North Korea`PRK`Eastern Asia	0.014

02In 1999

At either end

The 5 countries at each end of the headline.

Highest

1Denmark0.878
2Sweden0.876
3Germany0.860
4Norway0.848
5Australia0.842

Lowest

174North Korea0.014
173Myanmar0.017
172Afghanistan0.022
171Turkmenistan0.024
170Somalia0.027

A higher value is the better result. The middle country reads 0.321. “Shared” marks a value another country also holds.

031998 → 1999

Since 1998

What changed between 1998 and this one: who joined or left, and how far the headline moved.

+2 / −0countries joined / left
117values changed, of 172 in both
65 · 52rose · fell
55unchanged

Rose most

Indonesia0.117 → 0.417+0.300
Montenegro0.191 → 0.331+0.140
Nigeria0.107 → 0.243+0.136
Slovakia0.626 → 0.745+0.119
Burkina Faso0.262 → 0.304+0.042

Fell most

Venezuela0.575 → 0.440−0.135
Comoros0.209 → 0.135−0.074
Niger0.228 → 0.173−0.055
Malawi0.439 → 0.401−0.038
Pakistan0.199 → 0.167−0.032

+ Timor-Leste

+ Kosovo

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 1999.
158 distinct values among 174
Values are stored exactly as published, to 3 decimals. 3 countries share 0.798. 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 174 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
174 rows · 4.7 KB · UTF-8, opens in Excel
Opens with 11 lines of source notes; the table starts on row 13.
Download liberal-democracy-1999-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 (1999). Liberal Democracy Index, 1999 [data set], describing 1999. As held by Nations Inquiry, https://nationsinquiry.com/datasets/liberal-democracy/1999

0636 held

Other years

‹ The year before
Liberal Democracy Index, 1998
172 countries
The year after ›
Liberal Democracy Index, 2000
174 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