Data for 2025

Liberal Democracy Index, 2025

Name: Liberal Democracy Index, 2025
Creator: V-Dem Institute, University of Gothenburg
License: https://v-dem.net/data/the-v-dem-dataset/

2025, as V-Dem Institute’s 2026 release gives it · stored as published, never rewritten

Liberal Democracy Index, 2025 covers 176 countries. Denmark is highest, at 0.884; Eritrea is lowest, at 0.009. The middle country reads 0.354. Against 2024, 155 values changed (64 up, 91 down), the same countries are covered.

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Liberal Democracy Index · Data for 2025

HighestDenmark

0.884

LowestEritrea

0.009

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

176countries
1measure
2025the year it describes
155distinct 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, 2025, 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, 2025: every country, as published by V-Dem Institute, University of Gothenburg.
derived
1	Denmark`DNK`Northern Europe	0.884
2	Sweden`SWE`Northern Europe	0.853
3	Norway`NOR`Northern Europe	0.847
4	Switzerland`CHE`Western Europe	0.843
5	Estonia`EST`Northern Europe	0.837
6	Ireland`IRL`Northern Europe	0.822
7	Costa Rica`CRI`Central America	0.809
8	Finland`FIN`Northern Europe	0.808
9	France`FRA`Western Europe	0.800
=10	Belgium`BEL`Western Europe	0.794
=10	Czechia`CZE`Eastern Europe	0.794
12	Australia`AUS`Australia and New Zealand	0.793
13	Uruguay`URY`South America	0.790
14	New Zealand`NZL`Australia and New Zealand	0.787
15	Germany`DEU`Western Europe	0.782
16	Chile`CHL`South America	0.781
17	Luxembourg`LUX`Western Europe	0.777
18	Netherlands`NLD`Western Europe	0.774
19	Austria`AUT`Western Europe	0.757
20	Latvia`LVA`Northern Europe	0.751
21	Spain`ESP`Southern Europe	0.741
22	South Korea`KOR`Eastern Asia	0.739
23	Canada`CAN`Northern America	0.736
24	Japan`JPN`Eastern Asia	0.734
25	Iceland`ISL`Northern Europe	0.720
26	Portugal`PRT`Southern Europe	0.717
27	Lithuania`LTU`Northern Europe	0.712
=28	Brazil`BRA`South America	0.704
=28	Taiwan`TWN`Eastern Asia	0.704
30	United Kingdom`GBR`Northern Europe	0.689
31	Seychelles`SYC`Eastern Africa	0.680
=32	Barbados`BRB`Caribbean	0.679
=32	Jamaica`JAM`Caribbean	0.679
34	Trinidad and Tobago`TTO`Caribbean	0.668
35	Cyprus`CYP`Western Asia	0.664
36	Poland`POL`Eastern Europe	0.645
37	Italy`ITA`Southern Europe	0.642
38	Mauritius`MUS`Eastern Africa	0.639
39	South Africa`ZAF`Southern Africa	0.633
40	Cabo Verde`CPV`Western Africa	0.631
41	Suriname`SUR`South America	0.626
42	Vanuatu`VUT`Melanesia	0.623
43	Malta`MLT`Southern Europe	0.621
44	Sri Lanka`LKA`Southern Asia	0.613
45	Ghana`GHA`Western Africa	0.606
46	Croatia`HRV`Southern Europe	0.593
47	Slovenia`SVN`Southern Europe	0.589
48	Israel`ISR`Western Asia	0.588
49	Panama`PAN`Central America	0.575
50	Slovakia`SVK`Eastern Europe	0.573
51	United States`USA`Northern America	0.571
52	Greece`GRC`Southern Europe	0.568
53	Colombia`COL`South America	0.555
54	Timor-Leste`TLS`South-eastern Asia	0.549
55	Solomon Islands`SLB`Melanesia	0.539
56	Argentina`ARG`South America	0.524
57	Guatemala`GTM`Central America	0.523
58	Gambia`GMB`Western Africa	0.522
59	Botswana`BWA`Southern Africa	0.520
=60	Namibia`NAM`Southern Africa	0.519
=60	São Tomé and Príncipe`STP`Middle Africa	0.519
62	Lesotho`LSO`Southern Africa	0.512
63	Peru`PER`South America	0.506
=64	Dominican Republic`DOM`Caribbean	0.505
=64	Nepal`NPL`Southern Asia	0.505
66	Montenegro`MNE`Southern Europe	0.500
67	Bulgaria`BGR`Eastern Europe	0.499
68	Senegal`SEN`Western Africa	0.484
69	Romania`ROU`Eastern Europe	0.464
70	Malawi`MWI`Eastern Africa	0.462
=71	Bhutan`BTN`Southern Asia	0.457
=71	Kosovo`XKX`Southern Europe	0.457
73	Moldova`MDA`Eastern Europe	0.449
74	Kenya`KEN`Eastern Africa	0.446
75	Mongolia`MNG`Eastern Asia	0.424
76	Liberia`LBR`Western Africa	0.417
77	Maldives`MDV`Southern Asia	0.416
78	Fiji`FJI`Melanesia	0.398
79	Ecuador`ECU`South America	0.386
80	Papua New Guinea`PNG`Melanesia	0.384
81	Albania`ALB`Southern Europe	0.382
82	Honduras`HND`Central America	0.380
83	Paraguay`PRY`South America	0.376
84	Zambia`ZMB`Eastern Africa	0.375
85	North Macedonia`MKD`Southern Europe	0.374
86	Armenia`ARM`Western Asia	0.371
87	Singapore`SGP`South-eastern Asia	0.360
88	Malaysia`MYS`South-eastern Asia	0.355
89	Bolivia`BOL`South America	0.352
90	Sierra Leone`SLE`Western Africa	0.348
91	Bosnia and Herzegovina`BIH`Southern Europe	0.339
92	Guyana`GUY`South America	0.328
93	Benin`BEN`Western Africa	0.323
94	Hungary`HUN`Eastern Europe	0.315
95	Thailand`THA`South-eastern Asia	0.314
96	Nigeria`NGA`Western Africa	0.311
=97	Somaliland`XSL`Eastern Africa	0.297
=97	Tanzania`TZA`Eastern Africa	0.297
99	Indonesia`IDN`South-eastern Asia	0.296
100	Philippines`PHL`South-eastern Asia	0.291
101	Georgia`GEO`Western Asia	0.275
102	Jordan`JOR`Western Asia	0.274
103	Lebanon`LBN`Western Asia	0.267
104	Tunisia`TUN`Northern Africa	0.265
105	India`IND`Southern Asia	0.260
106	Morocco`MAR`Northern Africa	0.251
107	Ukraine`UKR`Eastern Europe	0.240
108	Côte d’Ivoire`CIV`Western Africa	0.228
109	Mexico`MEX`Central America	0.221
110	Iraq`IRQ`Western Asia	0.220
111	Serbia`SRB`Southern Europe	0.208
112	Madagascar`MDG`Eastern Africa	0.187
=113	Gabon`GAB`Middle Africa	0.178
=113	Kyrgyzstan`KGZ`Central Asia	0.178
115	Niger`NER`Western Africa	0.177
116	Pakistan`PAK`Southern Asia	0.176
117	Mozambique`MOZ`Eastern Africa	0.175
118	Uganda`UGA`Eastern Africa	0.165
119	Angola`AGO`Middle Africa	0.163
120	Togo`TGO`Western Africa	0.157
121	Mali`MLI`Western Africa	0.150
122	Zimbabwe`ZWE`Eastern Africa	0.147
123	Hong Kong`HKG`Eastern Asia	0.142
124	Oman`OMN`Western Asia	0.140
125	Comoros`COM`Eastern Africa	0.132
126	Kazakhstan`KAZ`Central Asia	0.131
127	Somalia`SOM`Eastern Africa	0.128
=128	Kuwait`KWT`Western Asia	0.127
=128	Mauritania`MRT`Western Africa	0.127
130	Algeria`DZA`Northern Africa	0.126
131	Djibouti`DJI`Eastern Africa	0.118
132	Bangladesh`BGD`Southern Asia	0.116
=133	DR Congo`COD`Middle Africa	0.115
=133	Egypt`EGY`Northern Africa	0.115
=133	Republic of the Congo`COG`Middle Africa	0.115
136	Cameroon`CMR`Middle Africa	0.114
=137	Laos`LAO`South-eastern Asia	0.110
=137	Türkiye`TUR`Western Asia	0.110
=139	Burkina Faso`BFA`Western Africa	0.103
=139	Iran`IRN`Southern Asia	0.103
=141	Central African Republic`CAF`Middle Africa	0.102
=141	Vietnam`VNM`South-eastern Asia	0.102
143	Ethiopia`ETH`Eastern Africa	0.100
=144	Haiti`HTI`Caribbean	0.098
=144	Libya`LBY`Northern Africa	0.098
146	Eswatini`SWZ`Southern Africa	0.097
=147	Guinea`GIN`Western Africa	0.095
=147	Guinea-Bissau`GNB`Western Africa	0.095
149	Qatar`QAT`Western Asia	0.091
=150	El Salvador`SLV`Central America	0.090
=150	Rwanda`RWA`Eastern Africa	0.090
152	Uzbekistan`UZB`Central Asia	0.079
153	United Arab Emirates`ARE`Western Asia	0.077
154	South Sudan`SSD`Eastern Africa	0.064
=155	Bahrain`BHR`Western Asia	0.062
=155	Chad`TCD`Middle Africa	0.062
157	Burundi`BDI`Eastern Africa	0.060
158	Cuba`CUB`Caribbean	0.057
159	Russia`RUS`Eastern Europe	0.056
160	Syria`SYR`Western Asia	0.054
161	Azerbaijan`AZE`Western Asia	0.053
162	Cambodia`KHM`South-eastern Asia	0.051
=163	Equatorial Guinea`GNQ`Middle Africa	0.047
=163	Saudi Arabia`SAU`Western Asia	0.047
=165	Tajikistan`TJK`Central Asia	0.043
=165	Yemen`YEM`Western Asia	0.043
167	Venezuela`VEN`South America	0.042
168	China`CHN`Eastern Asia	0.039
169	Belarus`BLR`Eastern Europe	0.038
=170	Sudan`SDN`Northern Africa	0.034
=170	Turkmenistan`TKM`Central Asia	0.034
172	Nicaragua`NIC`Central America	0.019
173	Afghanistan`AFG`Southern Asia	0.018
174	Myanmar`MMR`South-eastern Asia	0.015
175	North Korea`PRK`Eastern Asia	0.014
176	Eritrea`ERI`Eastern Africa	0.009

02In 2025

At either end

The 5 countries at each end of the headline.

Highest

1Denmark0.884
2Sweden0.853
3Norway0.847
4Switzerland0.843
5Estonia0.837

Lowest

176Eritrea0.009
175North Korea0.014
174Myanmar0.015
173Afghanistan0.018
172Nicaragua0.019

A higher value is the better result. The middle country reads 0.354. “Shared” marks a value another country also holds.

032024 → 2025

Since 2024

What changed between 2024 and this one: who joined or left, and how far the headline moved.

+0 / −0countries joined / left
155values changed, of 176 in both
64 · 91rose · fell
21unchanged

Rose most

Mauritius0.371 → 0.639+0.268
Sri Lanka0.497 → 0.613+0.116
South Korea0.627 → 0.739+0.112
Botswana0.470 → 0.520+0.050
Ghana0.560 → 0.606+0.046

Fell most

United States0.751 → 0.571−0.180
Vanuatu0.686 → 0.623−0.063
United Kingdom0.750 → 0.689−0.061
Tanzania0.357 → 0.297−0.060
Ecuador0.443 → 0.386−0.057

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 2025.
155 distinct values among 176
Values are stored exactly as published, to 3 decimals. 3 countries share 0.115. 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-2025-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 (2025). Liberal Democracy Index, 2025 [data set], describing 2025. As held by Nations Inquiry, https://nationsinquiry.com/datasets/liberal-democracy/2025

0636 held

Other years

‹ The year before
Liberal Democracy Index, 2024
176 countries
The year after ›
This is the newest year. A newer one will get its own page at its own address; this one is never rewritten.
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