Data for 2008

Liberal Democracy Index, 2008

Name: Liberal Democracy Index, 2008
Creator: V-Dem Institute, University of Gothenburg
License: https://v-dem.net/data/the-v-dem-dataset/

2008, as V-Dem Institute’s 2026 release gives it · stored as published, never rewritten

Liberal Democracy Index, 2008 covers 175 countries. Denmark is highest, at 0.895; Eritrea is lowest, at 0.006. The middle country reads 0.367. Against 2007, 127 values changed (67 up, 60 down), the same countries are covered.

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Liberal Democracy Index · Data for 2008

HighestDenmark

0.895

LowestEritrea

0.006

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

175countries
1measure
2008the 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, 2008, 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 175 countries · select a heading to sort

Liberal Democracy Index, 2008: every country, as published by V-Dem Institute, University of Gothenburg.
derived
1	Denmark`DNK`Northern Europe	0.895
2	Sweden`SWE`Northern Europe	0.881
=3	Germany`DEU`Western Europe	0.864
=3	Norway`NOR`Northern Europe	0.864
5	Costa Rica`CRI`Central America	0.854
6	Switzerland`CHE`Western Europe	0.850
7	Australia`AUS`Australia and New Zealand	0.849
8	United States`USA`Northern America	0.845
9	Finland`FIN`Northern Europe	0.842
10	Chile`CHL`South America	0.841
11	Portugal`PRT`Southern Europe	0.839
12	Belgium`BEL`Western Europe	0.832
=13	New Zealand`NZL`Australia and New Zealand	0.825
=13	Poland`POL`Eastern Europe	0.825
15	Netherlands`NLD`Western Europe	0.823
16	Uruguay`URY`South America	0.822
17	Czechia`CZE`Eastern Europe	0.821
18	Ireland`IRL`Northern Europe	0.820
19	Spain`ESP`Southern Europe	0.819
20	France`FRA`Western Europe	0.816
=21	Estonia`EST`Northern Europe	0.811
=21	Greece`GRC`Southern Europe	0.811
23	United Kingdom`GBR`Northern Europe	0.807
24	Austria`AUT`Western Europe	0.802
25	Iceland`ISL`Northern Europe	0.795
26	Luxembourg`LUX`Western Europe	0.787
27	Japan`JPN`Eastern Asia	0.772
28	Brazil`BRA`South America	0.769
29	Italy`ITA`Southern Europe	0.768
30	Hungary`HUN`Eastern Europe	0.766
31	Lithuania`LTU`Northern Europe	0.765
32	Canada`CAN`Northern America	0.753
33	Slovenia`SVN`Southern Europe	0.737
34	Slovakia`SVK`Eastern Europe	0.735
35	Cyprus`CYP`Western Asia	0.723
36	Cabo Verde`CPV`Western Africa	0.697
37	Latvia`LVA`Northern Europe	0.686
38	Taiwan`TWN`Eastern Asia	0.685
=39	Israel`ISR`Western Asia	0.684
=39	Trinidad and Tobago`TTO`Caribbean	0.684
41	Barbados`BRB`Caribbean	0.665
42	South Korea`KOR`Eastern Asia	0.661
43	South Africa`ZAF`Southern Africa	0.657
44	Jamaica`JAM`Caribbean	0.654
45	Peru`PER`South America	0.650
46	Suriname`SUR`South America	0.647
47	Mauritius`MUS`Eastern Africa	0.641
48	Croatia`HRV`Southern Europe	0.638
49	Ghana`GHA`Western Africa	0.632
=50	Botswana`BWA`Southern Africa	0.617
=50	Bulgaria`BGR`Eastern Europe	0.617
52	Malta`MLT`Southern Europe	0.610
53	Argentina`ARG`South America	0.590
54	India`IND`Southern Asia	0.569
55	Vanuatu`VUT`Melanesia	0.549
56	Namibia`NAM`Southern Africa	0.548
57	Panama`PAN`Central America	0.547
58	Indonesia`IDN`South-eastern Asia	0.545
59	Mongolia`MNG`Eastern Asia	0.539
60	São Tomé and Príncipe`STP`Middle Africa	0.527
61	Senegal`SEN`Western Africa	0.526
62	Serbia`SRB`Southern Europe	0.525
63	Benin`BEN`Western Africa	0.515
64	Liberia`LBR`Western Africa	0.506
65	Romania`ROU`Eastern Europe	0.495
66	Paraguay`PRY`South America	0.493
67	Colombia`COL`South America	0.462
68	Timor-Leste`TLS`South-eastern Asia	0.460
69	Mexico`MEX`Central America	0.456
70	Bolivia`BOL`South America	0.453
71	Albania`ALB`Southern Europe	0.447
72	Solomon Islands`SLB`Melanesia	0.434
73	Bhutan`BTN`Southern Asia	0.431
74	Zambia`ZMB`Eastern Africa	0.424
75	Niger`NER`Western Africa	0.421
76	Lesotho`LSO`Southern Africa	0.415
77	Nepal`NPL`Southern Asia	0.413
78	North Macedonia`MKD`Southern Europe	0.412
79	Türkiye`TUR`Western Asia	0.411
=80	Mali`MLI`Western Africa	0.406
=80	Montenegro`MNE`Southern Europe	0.406
82	Tanzania`TZA`Eastern Africa	0.396
83	Guatemala`GTM`Central America	0.395
84	Ukraine`UKR`Eastern Europe	0.394
=85	Dominican Republic`DOM`Caribbean	0.376
=85	Papua New Guinea`PNG`Melanesia	0.376
87	Seychelles`SYC`Eastern Africa	0.373
=88	Bosnia and Herzegovina`BIH`Southern Europe	0.367
=88	Malawi`MWI`Eastern Africa	0.367
90	Guyana`GUY`South America	0.366
91	Kosovo`XKX`Southern Europe	0.362
92	El Salvador`SLV`Central America	0.357
93	Philippines`PHL`South-eastern Asia	0.347
94	Moldova`MDA`Eastern Europe	0.345
95	Ecuador`ECU`South America	0.343
96	Georgia`GEO`Western Asia	0.339
97	Thailand`THA`South-eastern Asia	0.336
98	Burkina Faso`BFA`Western Africa	0.333
99	Sierra Leone`SLE`Western Africa	0.325
100	Hong Kong`HKG`Eastern Asia	0.324
101	Honduras`HND`Central America	0.323
102	Singapore`SGP`South-eastern Asia	0.311
103	Mozambique`MOZ`Eastern Africa	0.309
104	Kenya`KEN`Eastern Africa	0.305
105	Nigeria`NGA`Western Africa	0.303
106	Haiti`HTI`Caribbean	0.301
107	Kuwait`KWT`Western Asia	0.287
108	Côte d’Ivoire`CIV`Western Africa	0.282
109	Madagascar`MDG`Eastern Africa	0.277
110	Iraq`IRQ`Western Asia	0.261
111	Lebanon`LBN`Western Asia	0.259
112	Maldives`MDV`Southern Asia	0.246
113	Uganda`UGA`Eastern Africa	0.243
114	Somaliland`XSL`Eastern Africa	0.239
115	Sri Lanka`LKA`Southern Asia	0.236
116	Comoros`COM`Eastern Africa	0.235
117	Guinea-Bissau`GNB`Western Africa	0.228
118	Togo`TGO`Western Africa	0.227
119	Morocco`MAR`Northern Africa	0.224
120	Pakistan`PAK`Southern Asia	0.223
121	Malaysia`MYS`South-eastern Asia	0.216
122	Mauritania`MRT`Western Africa	0.208
123	Jordan`JOR`Western Asia	0.205
124	Gabon`GAB`Middle Africa	0.204
125	Nicaragua`NIC`Central America	0.203
126	Afghanistan`AFG`Southern Asia	0.196
127	Central African Republic`CAF`Middle Africa	0.191
128	Burundi`BDI`Eastern Africa	0.178
129	Armenia`ARM`Western Asia	0.172
130	Kyrgyzstan`KGZ`Central Asia	0.169
131	Algeria`DZA`Northern Africa	0.165
132	Venezuela`VEN`South America	0.159
=133	Cameroon`CMR`Middle Africa	0.153
=133	Yemen`YEM`Western Asia	0.153
135	Egypt`EGY`Northern Africa	0.152
=136	DR Congo`COD`Middle Africa	0.149
=136	Zimbabwe`ZWE`Eastern Africa	0.149
138	Russia`RUS`Eastern Europe	0.139
139	Oman`OMN`Western Asia	0.126
=140	Iran`IRN`Southern Asia	0.125
=140	Rwanda`RWA`Eastern Africa	0.125
142	Kazakhstan`KAZ`Central Asia	0.122
143	Cambodia`KHM`South-eastern Asia	0.121
144	Djibouti`DJI`Eastern Africa	0.114
145	Ethiopia`ETH`Eastern Africa	0.113
146	Gambia`GMB`Western Africa	0.111
=147	Bangladesh`BGD`Southern Asia	0.105
=147	Fiji`FJI`Melanesia	0.105
=147	Vietnam`VNM`South-eastern Asia	0.105
=150	Eswatini`SWZ`Southern Africa	0.097
=150	Qatar`QAT`Western Asia	0.097
=152	Belarus`BLR`Eastern Europe	0.096
=152	Guinea`GIN`Western Africa	0.096
=154	Republic of the Congo`COG`Middle Africa	0.095
=154	Tunisia`TUN`Northern Africa	0.095
=156	Chad`TCD`Middle Africa	0.094
=156	Somalia`SOM`Eastern Africa	0.094
158	Angola`AGO`Middle Africa	0.092
159	Bahrain`BHR`Western Asia	0.091
160	Laos`LAO`South-eastern Asia	0.088
161	United Arab Emirates`ARE`Western Asia	0.080
162	Azerbaijan`AZE`Western Asia	0.070
163	Tajikistan`TJK`Central Asia	0.068
164	Sudan`SDN`Northern Africa	0.064
165	China`CHN`Eastern Asia	0.057
166	Equatorial Guinea`GNQ`Middle Africa	0.053
167	Syria`SYR`Western Asia	0.050
168	Libya`LBY`Northern Africa	0.045
169	Saudi Arabia`SAU`Western Asia	0.044
170	Cuba`CUB`Caribbean	0.039
171	Uzbekistan`UZB`Central Asia	0.034
172	Turkmenistan`TKM`Central Asia	0.025
173	Myanmar`MMR`South-eastern Asia	0.018
174	North Korea`PRK`Eastern Asia	0.014
175	Eritrea`ERI`Eastern Africa	0.006

02In 2008

At either end

The 5 countries at each end of the headline.

Highest

1Denmark0.895
2Sweden0.881
3Germanyshared0.864
3Norwayshared0.864
5Costa Rica0.854

Lowest

175Eritrea0.006
174North Korea0.014
173Myanmar0.018
172Turkmenistan0.025
171Uzbekistan0.034

A higher value is the better result. The middle country reads 0.367. “Shared” marks a value another country also holds.

032007 → 2008

Since 2007

What changed between 2007 and this one: who joined or left, and how far the headline moved.

+0 / −0countries joined / left
127values changed, of 175 in both
67 · 60rose · fell
48unchanged

Rose most

Bhutan0.169 → 0.431+0.262
Thailand0.180 → 0.336+0.156
Nepal0.277 → 0.413+0.136
Maldives0.128 → 0.246+0.118
Paraguay0.446 → 0.493+0.047

Fell most

South Korea0.759 → 0.661−0.098
Ecuador0.407 → 0.343−0.064
Kenya0.356 → 0.305−0.051
Türkiye0.461 → 0.411−0.050
Guinea-Bissau0.259 → 0.228−0.031

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 2008.
158 distinct values among 175
Values are stored exactly as published, to 3 decimals. 3 countries share 0.105. 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 175 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
175 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-2008-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 (2008). Liberal Democracy Index, 2008 [data set], describing 2008. As held by Nations Inquiry, https://nationsinquiry.com/datasets/liberal-democracy/2008

0636 held

Other years

‹ The year before
Liberal Democracy Index, 2007
175 countries
The year after ›
Liberal Democracy Index, 2009
175 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