Data for 1997

Participatory Democracy Index, 1997

Name: Participatory Democracy Index, 1997
Creator: V-Dem Institute, University of Gothenburg
License: https://v-dem.net/data/the-v-dem-dataset/

1997, as V-Dem Institute’s 2026 release gives it · stored as published, never rewritten

Participatory Democracy Index, 1997 covers 172 countries. Switzerland is highest, at 0.793; Bahrain is lowest, at 0.011. The middle country reads 0.279. Against 1996, 117 values changed (62 up, 55 down), the same countries are covered.

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Participatory Democracy Index · Data for 1997

HighestSwitzerland

0.793

LowestBahrain

0.011

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

172countries
1measure
1997the year it describes
151distinct 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 Participatory Democracy Index, 1997, 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 172 countries · select a heading to sort

Participatory Democracy Index, 1997: every country, as published by V-Dem Institute, University of Gothenburg.
derived
1	Switzerland`CHE`Western Europe	0.793
2	Uruguay`URY`South America	0.741
3	Denmark`DNK`Northern Europe	0.730
4	New Zealand`NZL`Australia and New Zealand	0.709
5	Sweden`SWE`Northern Europe	0.689
6	Norway`NOR`Northern Europe	0.662
=7	Italy`ITA`Southern Europe	0.652
=7	Slovenia`SVN`Southern Europe	0.652
9	France`FRA`Western Europe	0.648
10	Germany`DEU`Western Europe	0.646
11	Spain`ESP`Southern Europe	0.643
12	Finland`FIN`Northern Europe	0.642
13	Hungary`HUN`Eastern Europe	0.638
14	Austria`AUT`Western Europe	0.635
15	Belgium`BEL`Western Europe	0.634
16	Poland`POL`Eastern Europe	0.631
17	Costa Rica`CRI`Central America	0.630
=18	Ireland`IRL`Northern Europe	0.628
=18	United States`USA`Northern America	0.628
20	Australia`AUS`Australia and New Zealand	0.624
21	Estonia`EST`Northern Europe	0.617
22	Iceland`ISL`Northern Europe	0.615
23	Lithuania`LTU`Northern Europe	0.613
24	Canada`CAN`Northern America	0.601
25	Greece`GRC`Southern Europe	0.600
=26	Luxembourg`LUX`Western Europe	0.587
=26	Portugal`PRT`Southern Europe	0.587
28	Brazil`BRA`South America	0.585
29	Netherlands`NLD`Western Europe	0.579
30	Czechia`CZE`Eastern Europe	0.577
31	Argentina`ARG`South America	0.572
32	United Kingdom`GBR`Northern Europe	0.561
33	Chile`CHL`South America	0.556
34	Japan`JPN`Eastern Asia	0.554
35	Latvia`LVA`Northern Europe	0.523
=36	Israel`ISR`Western Asia	0.520
=36	Slovakia`SVK`Eastern Europe	0.520
38	Malta`MLT`Southern Europe	0.516
39	Suriname`SUR`South America	0.509
40	Cyprus`CYP`Western Asia	0.501
41	Venezuela`VEN`South America	0.492
42	India`IND`Southern Asia	0.487
43	South Korea`KOR`Eastern Asia	0.483
44	Trinidad and Tobago`TTO`Caribbean	0.482
45	South Africa`ZAF`Southern Africa	0.464
46	Ecuador`ECU`South America	0.461
47	Cabo Verde`CPV`Western Africa	0.460
48	Mauritius`MUS`Eastern Africa	0.458
49	Botswana`BWA`Southern Africa	0.455
50	Bulgaria`BGR`Eastern Europe	0.450
51	Panama`PAN`Central America	0.447
52	Bolivia`BOL`South America	0.435
=53	Namibia`NAM`Southern Africa	0.414
=53	Taiwan`TWN`Eastern Asia	0.414
55	Mongolia`MNG`Eastern Asia	0.411
56	Jamaica`JAM`Caribbean	0.401
57	São Tomé and Príncipe`STP`Middle Africa	0.400
58	Dominican Republic`DOM`Caribbean	0.395
59	Romania`ROU`Eastern Europe	0.393
60	Nicaragua`NIC`Central America	0.388
61	Mali`MLI`Western Africa	0.387
62	Philippines`PHL`South-eastern Asia	0.382
63	Colombia`COL`South America	0.380
64	Vanuatu`VUT`Melanesia	0.375
65	Senegal`SEN`Western Africa	0.364
66	Moldova`MDA`Eastern Europe	0.332
67	Mexico`MEX`Central America	0.329
=68	Barbados`BRB`Caribbean	0.324
=68	Türkiye`TUR`Western Asia	0.324
70	Bosnia and Herzegovina`BIH`Southern Europe	0.323
71	Paraguay`PRY`South America	0.321
=72	Ghana`GHA`Western Africa	0.319
=72	Madagascar`MDG`Eastern Africa	0.319
74	Papua New Guinea`PNG`Melanesia	0.317
75	Tanzania`TZA`Eastern Africa	0.314
=76	Guatemala`GTM`Central America	0.312
=76	Zambia`ZMB`Eastern Africa	0.312
78	Sri Lanka`LKA`Southern Asia	0.311
79	El Salvador`SLV`Central America	0.304
80	Honduras`HND`Central America	0.303
=81	Benin`BEN`Western Africa	0.293
=81	Solomon Islands`SLB`Melanesia	0.293
83	Fiji`FJI`Melanesia	0.290
84	Russia`RUS`Eastern Europe	0.289
85	Ukraine`UKR`Eastern Europe	0.283
86	North Macedonia`MKD`Southern Europe	0.281
87	Malawi`MWI`Eastern Africa	0.276
88	Comoros`COM`Eastern Africa	0.254
89	Haiti`HTI`Caribbean	0.253
90	Côte d’Ivoire`CIV`Western Africa	0.250
91	Burkina Faso`BFA`Western Africa	0.248
92	Croatia`HRV`Southern Europe	0.246
93	Bangladesh`BGD`Southern Asia	0.237
=94	Gabon`GAB`Middle Africa	0.235
=94	Guyana`GUY`South America	0.235
=96	Nepal`NPL`Southern Asia	0.222
=96	Thailand`THA`South-eastern Asia	0.222
98	Albania`ALB`Southern Europe	0.221
99	Zimbabwe`ZWE`Eastern Africa	0.211
100	Peru`PER`South America	0.210
101	Pakistan`PAK`Southern Asia	0.208
102	Uganda`UGA`Eastern Africa	0.204
103	Kenya`KEN`Eastern Africa	0.201
104	Armenia`ARM`Western Asia	0.200
105	Mozambique`MOZ`Eastern Africa	0.193
106	Niger`NER`Western Africa	0.182
107	Serbia`SRB`Southern Europe	0.181
108	Sierra Leone`SLE`Western Africa	0.180
109	Vietnam`VNM`South-eastern Asia	0.168
110	Malaysia`MYS`South-eastern Asia	0.166
111	Nigeria`NGA`Western Africa	0.165
112	Lesotho`LSO`Southern Africa	0.163
113	Central African Republic`CAF`Middle Africa	0.162
114	Guinea`GIN`Western Africa	0.152
115	Belarus`BLR`Eastern Europe	0.149
=116	Cameroon`CMR`Middle Africa	0.147
=116	Gambia`GMB`Western Africa	0.147
118	Hong Kong`HKG`Eastern Asia	0.146
119	Guinea-Bissau`GNB`Western Africa	0.145
120	Republic of the Congo`COG`Middle Africa	0.142
=121	Burundi`BDI`Eastern Africa	0.136
=121	Liberia`LBR`Western Africa	0.136
=121	Togo`TGO`Western Africa	0.136
124	Chad`TCD`Middle Africa	0.133
125	Seychelles`SYC`Eastern Africa	0.130
126	Cambodia`KHM`South-eastern Asia	0.129
127	Eswatini`SWZ`Southern Africa	0.126
128	Algeria`DZA`Northern Africa	0.125
129	Georgia`GEO`Western Asia	0.120
130	Tunisia`TUN`Northern Africa	0.118
131	Lebanon`LBN`Western Asia	0.116
132	Mauritania`MRT`Western Africa	0.115
133	Djibouti`DJI`Eastern Africa	0.114
134	Kyrgyzstan`KGZ`Central Asia	0.112
135	Somaliland`XSL`Eastern Africa	0.111
136	DR Congo`COD`Middle Africa	0.108
137	Rwanda`RWA`Eastern Africa	0.107
=138	Bhutan`BTN`Southern Asia	0.105
=138	Kazakhstan`KAZ`Central Asia	0.105
=138	Morocco`MAR`Northern Africa	0.105
141	Singapore`SGP`South-eastern Asia	0.097
142	Ethiopia`ETH`Eastern Africa	0.094
143	Kuwait`KWT`Western Asia	0.093
144	Laos`LAO`South-eastern Asia	0.091
145	Jordan`JOR`Western Asia	0.082
146	Egypt`EGY`Northern Africa	0.081
147	Tajikistan`TJK`Central Asia	0.079
148	Yemen`YEM`Western Asia	0.077
149	Azerbaijan`AZE`Western Asia	0.075
150	Iran`IRN`Southern Asia	0.072
=151	Somalia`SOM`Eastern Africa	0.069
=151	Turkmenistan`TKM`Central Asia	0.069
153	Maldives`MDV`Southern Asia	0.068
154	Angola`AGO`Middle Africa	0.062
155	Uzbekistan`UZB`Central Asia	0.056
156	Sudan`SDN`Northern Africa	0.054
157	Syria`SYR`Western Asia	0.051
=158	Equatorial Guinea`GNQ`Middle Africa	0.050
=158	Oman`OMN`Western Asia	0.050
160	Indonesia`IDN`South-eastern Asia	0.047
161	Iraq`IRQ`Western Asia	0.045
162	Libya`LBY`Northern Africa	0.044
=163	Myanmar`MMR`South-eastern Asia	0.043
=163	North Korea`PRK`Eastern Asia	0.043
165	Cuba`CUB`Caribbean	0.042
166	China`CHN`Eastern Asia	0.038
=167	Eritrea`ERI`Eastern Africa	0.019
=167	Saudi Arabia`SAU`Western Asia	0.019
=169	Qatar`QAT`Western Asia	0.014
=169	United Arab Emirates`ARE`Western Asia	0.014
171	Afghanistan`AFG`Southern Asia	0.013
172	Bahrain`BHR`Western Asia	0.011

02In 1997

At either end

The 5 countries at each end of the headline.

Highest

1Switzerland0.793
2Uruguay0.741
3Denmark0.730
4New Zealand0.709
5Sweden0.689

Lowest

172Bahrain0.011
171Afghanistan0.013
169Qatarshared0.014
169United Arab Emiratesshared0.014
167Saudi Arabiashared0.019

A higher value is the better result. The middle country reads 0.279. “Shared” marks a value another country also holds.

031996 → 1997

Since 1996

What changed between 1996 and this one: who joined or left, and how far the headline moved.

+0 / −0countries joined / left
117values changed, of 172 in both
62 · 55rose · fell
55unchanged

Rose most

Bosnia and Herzegovina0.178 → 0.323+0.145
Taiwan0.333 → 0.414+0.081
Dominican Republic0.345 → 0.395+0.050
Comoros0.205 → 0.254+0.049
Ghana0.272 → 0.319+0.047

Fell most

Republic of the Congo0.291 → 0.142−0.149
Belarus0.230 → 0.149−0.081
Ukraine0.313 → 0.283−0.030
Mali0.417 → 0.387−0.030
Nicaragua0.418 → 0.388−0.030

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 1997.
151 distinct values among 172
Values are stored exactly as published, to 3 decimals. 3 countries share 0.136. 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 172 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
172 rows · 4.7 KB · UTF-8, opens in Excel
Opens with 11 lines of source notes; the table starts on row 13.
Download participatory-democracy-1997-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 (1997). Participatory Democracy Index, 1997 [data set], describing 1997. As held by Nations Inquiry, https://nationsinquiry.com/datasets/participatory-democracy/1997

0636 held

Other years

‹ The year before
Participatory Democracy Index, 1996
172 countries
The year after ›
Participatory Democracy Index, 1998
173 countries
All of them
Participatory Democracy Index: every year
36 held, with the data dictionary, coverage and licence.
How it has moved, charted by country

07Questions