Data for 2022

Liberal Democracy Index, 2022

Name: Liberal Democracy Index, 2022
Creator: V-Dem Institute, University of Gothenburg
License: https://v-dem.net/data/the-v-dem-dataset/

2022, as V-Dem Institute’s 2026 release gives it · stored as published, never rewritten

Liberal Democracy Index, 2022 covers 176 countries. Denmark is highest, at 0.887; Afghanistan is lowest, at 0.011. The middle country reads 0.358. Against 2021, 164 values changed (74 up, 90 down), the same countries are covered.

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Liberal Democracy Index · Data for 2022

HighestDenmark

0.887

LowestAfghanistan

0.011

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

176countries
1measure
2022the year it describes
161distinct 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, 2022, 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, 2022: every country, as published by V-Dem Institute, University of Gothenburg.
derived
1	Denmark`DNK`Northern Europe	0.887
2	Sweden`SWE`Northern Europe	0.861
3	Estonia`EST`Northern Europe	0.853
4	Switzerland`CHE`Western Europe	0.848
5	Norway`NOR`Northern Europe	0.842
6	Belgium`BEL`Western Europe	0.833
=7	Finland`FIN`Northern Europe	0.827
=7	Ireland`IRL`Northern Europe	0.827
9	New Zealand`NZL`Australia and New Zealand	0.822
10	Costa Rica`CRI`Central America	0.813
11	France`FRA`Western Europe	0.807
12	Germany`DEU`Western Europe	0.806
13	Netherlands`NLD`Western Europe	0.798
14	Australia`AUS`Australia and New Zealand	0.794
15	Luxembourg`LUX`Western Europe	0.788
16	Czechia`CZE`Eastern Europe	0.784
17	Spain`ESP`Southern Europe	0.782
18	Chile`CHL`South America	0.776
19	United States`USA`Northern America	0.769
20	United Kingdom`GBR`Northern Europe	0.768
21	Italy`ITA`Southern Europe	0.763
22	Austria`AUT`Western Europe	0.762
23	Slovakia`SVK`Eastern Europe	0.760
24	Portugal`PRT`Southern Europe	0.758
25	Uruguay`URY`South America	0.747
26	Canada`CAN`Northern America	0.745
27	Iceland`ISL`Northern Europe	0.742
28	Latvia`LVA`Northern Europe	0.740
29	Japan`JPN`Eastern Asia	0.738
30	Lithuania`LTU`Northern Europe	0.734
31	Taiwan`TWN`Eastern Asia	0.729
32	Slovenia`SVN`Southern Europe	0.728
33	South Korea`KOR`Eastern Asia	0.718
34	Jamaica`JAM`Caribbean	0.692
35	Barbados`BRB`Caribbean	0.682
36	Vanuatu`VUT`Melanesia	0.681
37	Trinidad and Tobago`TTO`Caribbean	0.661
38	Suriname`SUR`South America	0.655
39	Argentina`ARG`South America	0.654
40	Cabo Verde`CPV`Western Africa	0.651
41	Seychelles`SYC`Eastern Africa	0.648
42	Cyprus`CYP`Western Asia	0.645
43	Moldova`MDA`Eastern Europe	0.643
44	Israel`ISR`Western Asia	0.640
45	Croatia`HRV`Southern Europe	0.636
46	Peru`PER`South America	0.621
47	Malta`MLT`Southern Europe	0.617
48	South Africa`ZAF`Southern Africa	0.610
49	Greece`GRC`Southern Europe	0.607
50	Bulgaria`BGR`Eastern Europe	0.602
51	Colombia`COL`South America	0.561
=52	Ghana`GHA`Western Africa	0.559
=52	Panama`PAN`Central America	0.559
=54	Romania`ROU`Eastern Europe	0.542
=54	São Tomé and Príncipe`STP`Middle Africa	0.542
56	Brazil`BRA`South America	0.540
57	Senegal`SEN`Western Africa	0.536
58	Timor-Leste`TLS`South-eastern Asia	0.516
59	Malawi`MWI`Eastern Africa	0.512
60	Lesotho`LSO`Southern Africa	0.509
61	Kosovo`XKX`Southern Europe	0.508
62	Solomon Islands`SLB`Melanesia	0.505
63	Ecuador`ECU`South America	0.504
64	Namibia`NAM`Southern Africa	0.503
65	Nepal`NPL`Southern Asia	0.501
66	Gambia`GMB`Western Africa	0.500
67	Dominican Republic`DOM`Caribbean	0.478
68	Bhutan`BTN`Southern Asia	0.466
69	Georgia`GEO`Western Asia	0.464
70	Mongolia`MNG`Eastern Asia	0.462
71	Botswana`BWA`Southern Africa	0.459
72	Kenya`KEN`Eastern Africa	0.450
73	Armenia`ARM`Western Asia	0.448
74	Sri Lanka`LKA`Southern Asia	0.440
75	Sierra Leone`SLE`Western Africa	0.439
=76	Maldives`MDV`Southern Asia	0.436
=76	Zambia`ZMB`Eastern Africa	0.436
78	Paraguay`PRY`South America	0.430
79	Montenegro`MNE`Southern Europe	0.429
80	Albania`ALB`Southern Europe	0.428
81	Poland`POL`Eastern Europe	0.417
82	Liberia`LBR`Western Africa	0.409
83	Indonesia`IDN`South-eastern Asia	0.390
84	Honduras`HND`Central America	0.389
85	Niger`NER`Western Africa	0.387
=86	Mauritius`MUS`Eastern Africa	0.373
=86	North Macedonia`MKD`Southern Europe	0.373
88	Papua New Guinea`PNG`Melanesia	0.369
89	Tanzania`TZA`Eastern Africa	0.347
90	Bosnia and Herzegovina`BIH`Southern Europe	0.344
91	Bolivia`BOL`South America	0.338
92	Hungary`HUN`Eastern Europe	0.335
93	Mexico`MEX`Central America	0.330
94	Guyana`GUY`South America	0.329
95	Singapore`SGP`South-eastern Asia	0.328
96	Nigeria`NGA`Western Africa	0.321
97	Malaysia`MYS`South-eastern Asia	0.316
98	Guatemala`GTM`Central America	0.314
99	India`IND`Southern Asia	0.291
100	Benin`BEN`Western Africa	0.285
101	Kuwait`KWT`Western Asia	0.281
102	Philippines`PHL`South-eastern Asia	0.277
103	Fiji`FJI`Melanesia	0.263
104	Serbia`SRB`Southern Europe	0.259
105	Morocco`MAR`Northern Africa	0.252
106	Somaliland`XSL`Eastern Africa	0.251
107	Lebanon`LBN`Western Asia	0.250
108	Jordan`JOR`Western Asia	0.244
109	Mozambique`MOZ`Eastern Africa	0.240
=110	Kyrgyzstan`KGZ`Central Asia	0.237
=110	Madagascar`MDG`Eastern Africa	0.237
112	Côte d’Ivoire`CIV`Western Africa	0.236
113	Ukraine`UKR`Eastern Europe	0.235
114	Pakistan`PAK`Southern Asia	0.227
115	Burkina Faso`BFA`Western Africa	0.224
116	Togo`TGO`Western Africa	0.216
117	Iraq`IRQ`Western Asia	0.204
118	Gabon`GAB`Middle Africa	0.199
119	Tunisia`TUN`Northern Africa	0.196
=120	Mauritania`MRT`Western Africa	0.195
=120	Thailand`THA`South-eastern Asia	0.195
122	Zimbabwe`ZWE`Eastern Africa	0.186
123	Uganda`UGA`Eastern Africa	0.185
124	Central African Republic`CAF`Middle Africa	0.169
125	Haiti`HTI`Caribbean	0.154
126	Angola`AGO`Middle Africa	0.153
127	DR Congo`COD`Middle Africa	0.150
128	Hong Kong`HKG`Eastern Asia	0.149
=129	Guinea-Bissau`GNB`Western Africa	0.147
=129	Mali`MLI`Western Africa	0.147
=131	Cameroon`CMR`Middle Africa	0.138
=131	Oman`OMN`Western Asia	0.138
=133	Ethiopia`ETH`Eastern Africa	0.134
=133	Kazakhstan`KAZ`Central Asia	0.134
135	Algeria`DZA`Northern Africa	0.126
136	Comoros`COM`Eastern Africa	0.124
137	Egypt`EGY`Northern Africa	0.123
138	Djibouti`DJI`Eastern Africa	0.119
139	El Salvador`SLV`Central America	0.118
=140	Republic of the Congo`COG`Middle Africa	0.114
=140	Somalia`SOM`Eastern Africa	0.114
142	Laos`LAO`South-eastern Asia	0.113
=143	Rwanda`RWA`Eastern Africa	0.110
=143	Türkiye`TUR`Western Asia	0.110
145	Libya`LBY`Northern Africa	0.108
146	Vietnam`VNM`South-eastern Asia	0.106
147	Eswatini`SWZ`Southern Africa	0.097
148	Bangladesh`BGD`Southern Asia	0.091
149	United Arab Emirates`ARE`Western Asia	0.086
150	Guinea`GIN`Western Africa	0.082
151	Qatar`QAT`Western Asia	0.081
=152	Iran`IRN`Southern Asia	0.078
=152	Uzbekistan`UZB`Central Asia	0.078
154	Burundi`BDI`Eastern Africa	0.077
155	Russia`RUS`Eastern Europe	0.070
156	Bahrain`BHR`Western Asia	0.064
157	South Sudan`SSD`Eastern Africa	0.063
158	Azerbaijan`AZE`Western Asia	0.062
159	Cambodia`KHM`South-eastern Asia	0.059
160	Cuba`CUB`Caribbean	0.056
161	Venezuela`VEN`South America	0.054
162	Equatorial Guinea`GNQ`Middle Africa	0.049
163	Sudan`SDN`Northern Africa	0.048
164	Saudi Arabia`SAU`Western Asia	0.046
165	China`CHN`Eastern Asia	0.042
=166	Chad`TCD`Middle Africa	0.041
=166	Yemen`YEM`Western Asia	0.041
=168	Belarus`BLR`Eastern Europe	0.036
=168	Tajikistan`TJK`Central Asia	0.036
170	Turkmenistan`TKM`Central Asia	0.032
171	Syria`SYR`Western Asia	0.031
172	Nicaragua`NIC`Central America	0.027
173	Myanmar`MMR`South-eastern Asia	0.016
174	North Korea`PRK`Eastern Asia	0.014
175	Eritrea`ERI`Eastern Africa	0.012
176	Afghanistan`AFG`Southern Asia	0.011

02In 2022

At either end

The 5 countries at each end of the headline.

Highest

1Denmark0.887
2Sweden0.861
3Estonia0.853
4Switzerland0.848
5Norway0.842

Lowest

176Afghanistan0.011
175Eritrea0.012
174North Korea0.014
173Myanmar0.016
172Nicaragua0.027

A higher value is the better result. The middle country reads 0.358. “Shared” marks a value another country also holds.

032021 → 2022

Since 2021

What changed between 2021 and this one: who joined or left, and how far the headline moved.

+0 / −0countries joined / left
164values changed, of 176 in both
74 · 90rose · fell
12unchanged

Rose most

Honduras0.248 → 0.389+0.141
Slovenia0.624 → 0.728+0.104
Zambia0.339 → 0.436+0.097
Czechia0.698 → 0.784+0.086
Gambia0.417 → 0.500+0.083

Fell most

Tunisia0.464 → 0.196−0.268
Burkina Faso0.456 → 0.224−0.232
Guinea-Bissau0.321 → 0.147−0.174
Ukraine0.323 → 0.235−0.088
Armenia0.532 → 0.448−0.084

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 2022.
161 distinct values among 176
Values are stored exactly as published, to 3 decimals. 2 countries share 0.827. 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-2022-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 (2022). Liberal Democracy Index, 2022 [data set], describing 2022. As held by Nations Inquiry, https://nationsinquiry.com/datasets/liberal-democracy/2022

0636 held

Other years

‹ The year before
Liberal Democracy Index, 2021
176 countries
The year after ›
Liberal Democracy Index, 2023
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