Data for 1998

Participatory Democracy Index, 1998

Name: Participatory Democracy Index, 1998
Creator: V-Dem Institute, University of Gothenburg
License: https://v-dem.net/data/the-v-dem-dataset/

1998, as V-Dem Institute’s 2026 release gives it · stored as published, never rewritten

V-Dem's Participatory Democracy Index asks how far citizens take part in politics beyond electing representatives — through civil society organisations, referendums and citizens' initiatives, and elected local and regional government — while also requiring genuine national elections. It runs from 0 to 1, and a higher figure is more democratic.

Participatory Democracy Index, 1998 covers 173 countries. Switzerland is highest, at 0.793; Bahrain is lowest, at 0.011. The middle country reads 0.276. Against 1997, 112 values changed (52 up, 60 down), 1 country joined.

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Participatory Democracy Index · Data for 1998

HighestSwitzerland

0.793

LowestBahrain

0.011

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

173countries
1measure
1998the year it describes
147distinct 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, 1998, 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 173 countries · select a heading to sort

Participatory Democracy Index, 1998: every country, as published by V-Dem Institute, University of Gothenburg.
derived
1	Switzerland`CHE`Western Europe	0.793
2	Uruguay`URY`South America	0.745
3	Denmark`DNK`Northern Europe	0.733
4	New Zealand`NZL`Australia and New Zealand	0.707
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	Germany`DEU`Western Europe	0.649
10	France`FRA`Western Europe	0.645
11	Poland`POL`Eastern Europe	0.643
12	Finland`FIN`Northern Europe	0.642
13	Spain`ESP`Southern Europe	0.639
=14	Austria`AUT`Western Europe	0.634
=14	Belgium`BEL`Western Europe	0.634
16	Hungary`HUN`Eastern Europe	0.632
17	Ireland`IRL`Northern Europe	0.630
18	Costa Rica`CRI`Central America	0.629
19	United States`USA`Northern America	0.627
20	Australia`AUS`Australia and New Zealand	0.620
21	Portugal`PRT`Southern Europe	0.617
22	Iceland`ISL`Northern Europe	0.615
23	Estonia`EST`Northern Europe	0.614
24	Lithuania`LTU`Northern Europe	0.607
25	Greece`GRC`Southern Europe	0.600
26	Canada`CAN`Northern America	0.595
27	Brazil`BRA`South America	0.591
28	Luxembourg`LUX`Western Europe	0.587
29	Slovakia`SVK`Eastern Europe	0.579
30	Netherlands`NLD`Western Europe	0.575
31	Czechia`CZE`Eastern Europe	0.572
32	Argentina`ARG`South America	0.571
33	South Korea`KOR`Eastern Asia	0.567
34	United Kingdom`GBR`Northern Europe	0.561
35	Latvia`LVA`Northern Europe	0.558
36	Chile`CHL`South America	0.556
37	Japan`JPN`Eastern Asia	0.554
38	Israel`ISR`Western Asia	0.520
39	Malta`MLT`Southern Europe	0.515
40	Suriname`SUR`South America	0.507
41	Cyprus`CYP`Western Asia	0.493
42	India`IND`Southern Asia	0.490
43	Trinidad and Tobago`TTO`Caribbean	0.482
44	Ecuador`ECU`South America	0.481
45	Venezuela`VEN`South America	0.474
46	Botswana`BWA`Southern Africa	0.466
47	Cabo Verde`CPV`Western Africa	0.460
=48	Mauritius`MUS`Eastern Africa	0.458
=48	South Africa`ZAF`Southern Africa	0.458
50	Bulgaria`BGR`Eastern Europe	0.442
51	Panama`PAN`Central America	0.441
52	Bolivia`BOL`South America	0.436
53	Taiwan`TWN`Eastern Asia	0.433
54	Jamaica`JAM`Caribbean	0.420
55	Namibia`NAM`Southern Africa	0.414
56	Dominican Republic`DOM`Caribbean	0.413
57	Mongolia`MNG`Eastern Asia	0.401
58	São Tomé and Príncipe`STP`Middle Africa	0.400
59	Philippines`PHL`South-eastern Asia	0.397
60	Romania`ROU`Eastern Europe	0.391
61	Nicaragua`NIC`Central America	0.388
62	Vanuatu`VUT`Melanesia	0.375
63	Colombia`COL`South America	0.372
=64	Mali`MLI`Western Africa	0.365
=64	Senegal`SEN`Western Africa	0.365
66	Mexico`MEX`Central America	0.355
67	Bosnia and Herzegovina`BIH`Southern Europe	0.338
68	Barbados`BRB`Caribbean	0.324
69	Paraguay`PRY`South America	0.323
=70	Guyana`GUY`South America	0.322
=70	Moldova`MDA`Eastern Europe	0.322
72	Türkiye`TUR`Western Asia	0.319
=73	Ghana`GHA`Western Africa	0.317
=73	Madagascar`MDG`Eastern Africa	0.317
=73	Papua New Guinea`PNG`Melanesia	0.317
76	Tanzania`TZA`Eastern Africa	0.314
=77	Guatemala`GTM`Central America	0.312
=77	Zambia`ZMB`Eastern Africa	0.312
79	El Salvador`SLV`Central America	0.304
=80	Honduras`HND`Central America	0.302
=80	Sri Lanka`LKA`Southern Asia	0.302
82	North Macedonia`MKD`Southern Europe	0.298
83	Benin`BEN`Western Africa	0.291
84	Fiji`FJI`Melanesia	0.290
85	Russia`RUS`Eastern Europe	0.288
86	Solomon Islands`SLB`Melanesia	0.287
=87	Malawi`MWI`Eastern Africa	0.276
=87	Mozambique`MOZ`Eastern Africa	0.276
89	Haiti`HTI`Caribbean	0.254
90	Albania`ALB`Southern Europe	0.252
91	Burkina Faso`BFA`Western Africa	0.251
=92	Comoros`COM`Eastern Africa	0.248
=92	Côte d’Ivoire`CIV`Western Africa	0.248
=92	Croatia`HRV`Southern Europe	0.248
=92	Ukraine`UKR`Eastern Europe	0.248
96	Bangladesh`BGD`Southern Asia	0.236
97	Gabon`GAB`Middle Africa	0.235
98	Thailand`THA`South-eastern Asia	0.231
99	Montenegro`MNE`Southern Europe	0.223
100	Nepal`NPL`Southern Asia	0.222
101	Kenya`KEN`Eastern Africa	0.213
102	Pakistan`PAK`Southern Asia	0.209
103	Zimbabwe`ZWE`Eastern Africa	0.207
104	Armenia`ARM`Western Asia	0.205
=105	Peru`PER`South America	0.204
=105	Uganda`UGA`Eastern Africa	0.204
107	Lesotho`LSO`Southern Africa	0.188
108	Serbia`SRB`Southern Europe	0.185
109	Niger`NER`Western Africa	0.182
110	Nigeria`NGA`Western Africa	0.175
111	Vietnam`VNM`South-eastern Asia	0.168
112	Liberia`LBR`Western Africa	0.167
113	Malaysia`MYS`South-eastern Asia	0.166
114	Central African Republic`CAF`Middle Africa	0.162
=115	Gambia`GMB`Western Africa	0.154
=115	Sierra Leone`SLE`Western Africa	0.154
117	Guinea`GIN`Western Africa	0.150
118	Cameroon`CMR`Middle Africa	0.148
119	Guinea-Bissau`GNB`Western Africa	0.145
120	Hong Kong`HKG`Eastern Asia	0.142
121	Belarus`BLR`Eastern Europe	0.140
=122	Burundi`BDI`Eastern Africa	0.134
=122	Chad`TCD`Middle Africa	0.134
124	Seychelles`SYC`Eastern Africa	0.132
125	Togo`TGO`Western Africa	0.129
126	Cambodia`KHM`South-eastern Asia	0.127
127	Eswatini`SWZ`Southern Africa	0.126
128	Algeria`DZA`Northern Africa	0.122
129	Georgia`GEO`Western Asia	0.121
130	Tunisia`TUN`Northern Africa	0.118
=131	Kyrgyzstan`KGZ`Central Asia	0.116
=131	Lebanon`LBN`Western Asia	0.116
133	Mauritania`MRT`Western Africa	0.115
134	Djibouti`DJI`Eastern Africa	0.114
=135	Republic of the Congo`COG`Middle Africa	0.110
=135	Somaliland`XSL`Eastern Africa	0.110
=137	Kazakhstan`KAZ`Central Asia	0.108
=137	Morocco`MAR`Northern Africa	0.108
139	Rwanda`RWA`Eastern Africa	0.107
140	Bhutan`BTN`Southern Asia	0.104
141	Singapore`SGP`South-eastern Asia	0.097
142	DR Congo`COD`Middle Africa	0.096
143	Indonesia`IDN`South-eastern Asia	0.095
144	Ethiopia`ETH`Eastern Africa	0.094
145	Kuwait`KWT`Western Asia	0.092
146	Laos`LAO`South-eastern Asia	0.091
147	Jordan`JOR`Western Asia	0.083
148	Tajikistan`TJK`Central Asia	0.081
149	Azerbaijan`AZE`Western Asia	0.077
150	Egypt`EGY`Northern Africa	0.075
151	Yemen`YEM`Western Asia	0.073
=152	Maldives`MDV`Southern Asia	0.069
=152	Somalia`SOM`Eastern Africa	0.069
=152	Turkmenistan`TKM`Central Asia	0.069
155	Sudan`SDN`Northern Africa	0.066
156	Iran`IRN`Southern Asia	0.065
157	Angola`AGO`Middle Africa	0.062
158	Uzbekistan`UZB`Central Asia	0.056
=159	Oman`OMN`Western Asia	0.050
=159	Syria`SYR`Western Asia	0.050
161	Equatorial Guinea`GNQ`Middle Africa	0.048
=162	Iraq`IRQ`Western Asia	0.044
=162	Libya`LBY`Northern Africa	0.044
=164	Cuba`CUB`Caribbean	0.043
=164	Myanmar`MMR`South-eastern Asia	0.043
=164	North Korea`PRK`Eastern Asia	0.043
167	China`CHN`Eastern Asia	0.038
168	Saudi Arabia`SAU`Western Asia	0.019
169	Eritrea`ERI`Eastern Africa	0.018
=170	Qatar`QAT`Western Asia	0.014
=170	United Arab Emirates`ARE`Western Asia	0.014
172	Afghanistan`AFG`Southern Asia	0.013
173	Bahrain`BHR`Western Asia	0.011

02In 1998

At either end

The 5 countries at each end of the headline.

Highest

1Switzerland0.793
2Uruguay0.745
3Denmark0.733
4New Zealand0.707
5Sweden0.689

Lowest

173Bahrain0.011
172Afghanistan0.013
170Qatarshared0.014
170United Arab Emiratesshared0.014
169Eritrea0.018

A higher value is the better result. The middle country reads 0.276. “Shared” marks a value another country also holds.

031997 → 1998

Since 1997

+1 / −0countries joined / left
112values changed, of 172 in both
52 · 60rose · fell
60unchanged

Rose most

Guyana0.235 → 0.322+0.087
South Korea0.483 → 0.567+0.084
Mozambique0.193 → 0.276+0.083
Slovakia0.520 → 0.579+0.059
Indonesia0.047 → 0.095+0.048

Fell most

Ukraine0.283 → 0.248−0.035
Republic of the Congo0.142 → 0.110−0.032
Sierra Leone0.180 → 0.154−0.026
Mali0.387 → 0.365−0.022
Venezuela0.492 → 0.474−0.018

+ Montenegro

04Caveats

Read before you use

Using the series

One year of the 2026 release
Every year in this series comes from V-Dem Institute’s 2026 release, recalculated on one method, so a change from one year to the next is not a revision. It can differ from what was first published for 1998.
147 distinct values among 173
Values are stored exactly as published, to 3 decimals. 4 countries share 0.248. Countries sharing a value share a position too.
Nothing missing
Every one of the 173 countries has every column.

05The files

Download and cite

Licence in full

.csv
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173 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-1998-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 to one row per country, with its ISO code; no value recalculated, rescaled or rounded. In full

Licence: CC BY-SA 4.0 · what it allows, in plain words

Cite this edition

V-Dem Institute, University of Gothenburg (1998). Participatory Democracy Index, 1998 [data set], describing 1998. As held by Nations Inquiry, https://nationsinquiry.com/datasets/participatory-democracy/1998

0636 held

Other years

‹ The year before
Participatory Democracy Index, 1997
172 countries
The year after ›
Participatory Democracy Index, 1999
174 countries
All of them
Participatory Democracy Index: every year
36 held, with the data dictionary, coverage and licence.
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