Data for 2020

Liberal Democracy Index, 2020

Name: Liberal Democracy Index, 2020
Creator: V-Dem Institute, University of Gothenburg
License: https://v-dem.net/data/the-v-dem-dataset/

2020, as V-Dem Institute’s 2026 release gives it · stored as published, never rewritten

Liberal Democracy Index, 2020 covers 176 countries. Denmark is highest, at 0.882; Eritrea is lowest, at 0.010. The middle country reads 0.391. Against 2019, 163 values changed (63 up, 100 down), the same countries are covered.

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Liberal Democracy Index · Data for 2020

HighestDenmark

0.882

LowestEritrea

0.010

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

176countries
1measure
2020the year it describes
156distinct 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, 2020, 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 176 countries · select a heading to sort

Liberal Democracy Index, 2020: every country, as published by V-Dem Institute, University of Gothenburg.
derived
1	Denmark`DNK`Northern Europe	0.882
2	Sweden`SWE`Northern Europe	0.868
3	Switzerland`CHE`Western Europe	0.856
=4	Costa Rica`CRI`Central America	0.844
=4	Finland`FIN`Northern Europe	0.844
6	Estonia`EST`Northern Europe	0.842
7	Norway`NOR`Northern Europe	0.840
=8	Belgium`BEL`Western Europe	0.826
=8	New Zealand`NZL`Australia and New Zealand	0.826
10	Ireland`IRL`Northern Europe	0.824
11	Germany`DEU`Western Europe	0.821
12	Netherlands`NLD`Western Europe	0.813
13	Uruguay`URY`South America	0.808
14	Portugal`PRT`Southern Europe	0.806
15	United Kingdom`GBR`Northern Europe	0.800
16	Australia`AUS`Australia and New Zealand	0.790
17	France`FRA`Western Europe	0.789
=18	Austria`AUT`Western Europe	0.786
=18	Luxembourg`LUX`Western Europe	0.786
=18	Spain`ESP`Southern Europe	0.786
21	Iceland`ISL`Northern Europe	0.784
22	South Korea`KOR`Eastern Asia	0.782
23	Italy`ITA`Southern Europe	0.774
24	Chile`CHL`South America	0.766
25	Slovakia`SVK`Eastern Europe	0.757
=26	Canada`CAN`Northern America	0.745
=26	Lithuania`LTU`Northern Europe	0.745
28	Japan`JPN`Eastern Asia	0.742
29	Latvia`LVA`Northern Europe	0.737
30	United States`USA`Northern America	0.734
31	Taiwan`TWN`Eastern Asia	0.719
32	Czechia`CZE`Eastern Europe	0.709
33	Peru`PER`South America	0.706
34	Jamaica`JAM`Caribbean	0.702
35	Cabo Verde`CPV`Western Africa	0.701
36	Barbados`BRB`Caribbean	0.692
37	Cyprus`CYP`Western Asia	0.691
38	Romania`ROU`Eastern Europe	0.676
39	Trinidad and Tobago`TTO`Caribbean	0.672
40	Greece`GRC`Southern Europe	0.669
41	Slovenia`SVN`Southern Europe	0.665
42	Vanuatu`VUT`Melanesia	0.659
43	Croatia`HRV`Southern Europe	0.647
44	Israel`ISR`Western Asia	0.639
45	Argentina`ARG`South America	0.634
46	Suriname`SUR`South America	0.628
47	Tunisia`TUN`Northern Africa	0.623
48	Malta`MLT`Southern Europe	0.605
=49	Ghana`GHA`Western Africa	0.604
=49	South Africa`ZAF`Southern Africa	0.604
51	Armenia`ARM`Western Asia	0.576
52	Seychelles`SYC`Eastern Africa	0.575
53	Senegal`SEN`Western Africa	0.563
54	São Tomé and Príncipe`STP`Middle Africa	0.557
55	Brazil`BRA`South America	0.534
56	Panama`PAN`Central America	0.533
57	Mongolia`MNG`Eastern Asia	0.523
58	Moldova`MDA`Eastern Europe	0.518
59	Namibia`NAM`Southern Africa	0.516
60	Bhutan`BTN`Southern Asia	0.515
61	Lesotho`LSO`Southern Africa	0.505
62	Bulgaria`BGR`Eastern Europe	0.501
63	Colombia`COL`South America	0.496
64	Solomon Islands`SLB`Melanesia	0.494
65	Kosovo`XKX`Southern Europe	0.493
66	Timor-Leste`TLS`South-eastern Asia	0.492
67	Burkina Faso`BFA`Western Africa	0.486
68	Botswana`BWA`Southern Africa	0.484
69	Ecuador`ECU`South America	0.481
70	Nepal`NPL`Southern Asia	0.477
71	Georgia`GEO`Western Asia	0.470
72	Malawi`MWI`Eastern Africa	0.462
73	Mauritius`MUS`Eastern Africa	0.451
74	Poland`POL`Eastern Europe	0.450
75	Dominican Republic`DOM`Caribbean	0.449
76	Albania`ALB`Southern Europe	0.442
77	Maldives`MDV`Southern Asia	0.429
78	Sierra Leone`SLE`Western Africa	0.426
79	Paraguay`PRY`South America	0.420
80	Liberia`LBR`Western Africa	0.419
81	Indonesia`IDN`South-eastern Asia	0.411
82	Mexico`MEX`Central America	0.406
83	Kenya`KEN`Eastern Africa	0.404
84	Gambia`GMB`Western Africa	0.403
85	Guatemala`GTM`Central America	0.402
86	Niger`NER`Western Africa	0.401
87	North Macedonia`MKD`Southern Europe	0.400
88	Montenegro`MNE`Southern Europe	0.395
89	Guyana`GUY`South America	0.386
90	Sri Lanka`LKA`Southern Asia	0.379
91	Papua New Guinea`PNG`Melanesia	0.359
92	Hungary`HUN`Eastern Europe	0.351
93	Nigeria`NGA`Western Africa	0.349
94	Bosnia and Herzegovina`BIH`Southern Europe	0.335
95	Singapore`SGP`South-eastern Asia	0.332
96	Tanzania`TZA`Eastern Africa	0.330
97	Guinea-Bissau`GNB`Western Africa	0.328
98	Ukraine`UKR`Eastern Europe	0.325
99	El Salvador`SLV`Central America	0.316
100	Malaysia`MYS`South-eastern Asia	0.307
=101	India`IND`Southern Asia	0.292
=101	Zambia`ZMB`Eastern Africa	0.292
103	Benin`BEN`Western Africa	0.284
104	Kuwait`KWT`Western Asia	0.282
105	Fiji`FJI`Melanesia	0.276
106	Lebanon`LBN`Western Asia	0.274
107	Philippines`PHL`South-eastern Asia	0.270
108	Côte d’Ivoire`CIV`Western Africa	0.261
109	Kyrgyzstan`KGZ`Central Asia	0.255
110	Mali`MLI`Western Africa	0.254
111	Pakistan`PAK`Southern Asia	0.253
112	Myanmar`MMR`South-eastern Asia	0.252
113	Madagascar`MDG`Eastern Africa	0.246
114	Serbia`SRB`Southern Europe	0.244
115	Somaliland`XSL`Eastern Africa	0.243
116	Jordan`JOR`Western Asia	0.240
=117	Morocco`MAR`Northern Africa	0.238
=117	Mozambique`MOZ`Eastern Africa	0.238
119	Haiti`HTI`Caribbean	0.237
=120	Honduras`HND`Central America	0.233
=120	Togo`TGO`Western Africa	0.233
122	Iraq`IRQ`Western Asia	0.212
123	Bolivia`BOL`South America	0.209
124	Mauritania`MRT`Western Africa	0.206
125	Hong Kong`HKG`Eastern Asia	0.204
126	Central African Republic`CAF`Middle Africa	0.201
127	Gabon`GAB`Middle Africa	0.196
=128	Uganda`UGA`Eastern Africa	0.192
=128	Zimbabwe`ZWE`Eastern Africa	0.192
130	Thailand`THA`South-eastern Asia	0.187
131	Afghanistan`AFG`Southern Asia	0.167
132	Angola`AGO`Middle Africa	0.160
=133	Algeria`DZA`Northern Africa	0.152
=133	DR Congo`COD`Middle Africa	0.152
=133	Ethiopia`ETH`Eastern Africa	0.152
136	Libya`LBY`Northern Africa	0.145
137	Oman`OMN`Western Asia	0.137
138	Comoros`COM`Eastern Africa	0.124
139	Cameroon`CMR`Middle Africa	0.123
140	Rwanda`RWA`Eastern Africa	0.120
=141	Djibouti`DJI`Eastern Africa	0.119
=141	Iran`IRN`Southern Asia	0.119
143	Republic of the Congo`COG`Middle Africa	0.118
=144	Egypt`EGY`Northern Africa	0.117
=144	Kazakhstan`KAZ`Central Asia	0.117
=146	Eswatini`SWZ`Southern Africa	0.115
=146	Türkiye`TUR`Western Asia	0.115
148	Guinea`GIN`Western Africa	0.113
149	Vietnam`VNM`South-eastern Asia	0.106
150	Somalia`SOM`Eastern Africa	0.105
151	Russia`RUS`Eastern Europe	0.097
=152	Bangladesh`BGD`Southern Asia	0.094
=152	Laos`LAO`South-eastern Asia	0.094
154	United Arab Emirates`ARE`Western Asia	0.090
155	Chad`TCD`Middle Africa	0.088
=156	Qatar`QAT`Western Asia	0.083
=156	Uzbekistan`UZB`Central Asia	0.083
158	South Sudan`SSD`Eastern Africa	0.069
159	Azerbaijan`AZE`Western Asia	0.064
160	Cambodia`KHM`South-eastern Asia	0.063
161	Bahrain`BHR`Western Asia	0.062
162	Cuba`CUB`Caribbean	0.060
163	Venezuela`VEN`South America	0.056
164	Sudan`SDN`Northern Africa	0.054
165	Equatorial Guinea`GNQ`Middle Africa	0.051
166	Burundi`BDI`Eastern Africa	0.049
=167	Belarus`BLR`Eastern Europe	0.045
=167	Nicaragua`NIC`Central America	0.045
=167	Saudi Arabia`SAU`Western Asia	0.045
170	China`CHN`Eastern Asia	0.042
171	Tajikistan`TJK`Central Asia	0.041
=172	Turkmenistan`TKM`Central Asia	0.033
=172	Yemen`YEM`Western Asia	0.033
174	Syria`SYR`Western Asia	0.031
175	North Korea`PRK`Eastern Asia	0.014
176	Eritrea`ERI`Eastern Africa	0.010

02In 2020

At either end

The 5 countries at each end of the headline.

Highest

1Denmark0.882
2Sweden0.868
3Switzerland0.856
4Costa Ricashared0.844
4Finlandshared0.844

Lowest

176Eritrea0.010
175North Korea0.014
174Syria0.031
172Yemenshared0.033
172Turkmenistanshared0.033

A higher value is the better result. The middle country reads 0.391. “Shared” marks a value another country also holds.

032019 → 2020

Since 2019

What changed between 2019 and this one: who joined or left, and how far the headline moved.

+0 / −0countries joined / left
163values changed, of 176 in both
63 · 100rose · fell
13unchanged

Rose most

Romania0.555 → 0.676+0.121
Dominican Republic0.340 → 0.449+0.109
Moldova0.445 → 0.518+0.073
Malawi0.413 → 0.462+0.049
Suriname0.583 → 0.628+0.045

Fell most

Mauritius0.595 → 0.451−0.144
Greece0.763 → 0.669−0.094
Slovenia0.743 → 0.665−0.078
El Salvador0.393 → 0.316−0.077
Botswana0.560 → 0.484−0.076

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 2020.
156 distinct values among 176
Values are stored exactly as published, to 3 decimals. 3 countries share 0.786. 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 176 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
176 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-2020-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 (2020). Liberal Democracy Index, 2020 [data set], describing 2020. As held by Nations Inquiry, https://nationsinquiry.com/datasets/liberal-democracy/2020

0636 held

Other years

‹ The year before
Liberal Democracy Index, 2019
176 countries
The year after ›
Liberal Democracy Index, 2021
176 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