Data for 2023

Participatory Democracy Index, 2023

Name: Participatory Democracy Index, 2023
Creator: V-Dem Institute, University of Gothenburg
License: https://v-dem.net/data/the-v-dem-dataset/

2023, as V-Dem Institute’s 2026 release gives it · stored as published, never rewritten

Participatory Democracy Index, 2023 covers 176 countries. Switzerland is highest, at 0.785; Afghanistan is lowest, at 0.010. The middle country reads 0.304. Against 2022, 158 values changed (56 up, 102 down), the same countries are covered.

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Participatory Democracy Index · Data for 2023

HighestSwitzerland

0.785

LowestAfghanistan

0.010

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

176countries
1measure
2023the year it describes
153distinct 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, 2023, 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

Participatory Democracy Index, 2023: every country, as published by V-Dem Institute, University of Gothenburg.
derived
1	Switzerland`CHE`Western Europe	0.785
2	Denmark`DNK`Northern Europe	0.704
3	New Zealand`NZL`Australia and New Zealand	0.662
4	Uruguay`URY`South America	0.661
5	Taiwan`TWN`Eastern Asia	0.642
6	Belgium`BEL`Western Europe	0.638
7	Norway`NOR`Northern Europe	0.637
8	Australia`AUS`Australia and New Zealand	0.636
9	Sweden`SWE`Northern Europe	0.631
10	Ireland`IRL`Northern Europe	0.628
11	Italy`ITA`Southern Europe	0.627
12	Estonia`EST`Northern Europe	0.625
13	Germany`DEU`Western Europe	0.616
14	Latvia`LVA`Northern Europe	0.615
15	United States`USA`Northern America	0.614
16	Costa Rica`CRI`Central America	0.612
17	United Kingdom`GBR`Northern Europe	0.608
18	France`FRA`Western Europe	0.605
19	Iceland`ISL`Northern Europe	0.602
20	Austria`AUT`Western Europe	0.599
21	Finland`FIN`Northern Europe	0.595
22	Chile`CHL`South America	0.594
23	Spain`ESP`Southern Europe	0.593
24	Slovakia`SVK`Eastern Europe	0.592
25	Canada`CAN`Northern America	0.588
26	Netherlands`NLD`Western Europe	0.581
27	Portugal`PRT`Southern Europe	0.575
28	Lithuania`LTU`Northern Europe	0.574
=29	Argentina`ARG`South America	0.569
=29	Czechia`CZE`Eastern Europe	0.569
31	Luxembourg`LUX`Western Europe	0.567
32	Slovenia`SVN`Southern Europe	0.559
33	Brazil`BRA`South America	0.549
34	Malta`MLT`Southern Europe	0.547
35	Japan`JPN`Eastern Asia	0.532
36	Jamaica`JAM`Caribbean	0.520
37	Greece`GRC`Southern Europe	0.508
38	Moldova`MDA`Eastern Europe	0.506
39	Vanuatu`VUT`Melanesia	0.503
40	Trinidad and Tobago`TTO`Caribbean	0.499
41	Cyprus`CYP`Western Asia	0.498
=42	Colombia`COL`South America	0.494
=42	Suriname`SUR`South America	0.494
44	Ecuador`ECU`South America	0.491
45	Croatia`HRV`Southern Europe	0.490
46	South Korea`KOR`Eastern Asia	0.478
47	Peru`PER`South America	0.477
48	Romania`ROU`Eastern Europe	0.473
49	Bulgaria`BGR`Eastern Europe	0.465
50	Israel`ISR`Western Asia	0.462
51	Cabo Verde`CPV`Western Africa	0.457
52	Nepal`NPL`Southern Asia	0.455
=53	Dominican Republic`DOM`Caribbean	0.450
=53	Timor-Leste`TLS`South-eastern Asia	0.450
55	South Africa`ZAF`Southern Africa	0.449
56	Panama`PAN`Central America	0.418
57	Lesotho`LSO`Southern Africa	0.412
58	Solomon Islands`SLB`Melanesia	0.411
59	Gambia`GMB`Western Africa	0.406
60	Kosovo`XKX`Southern Europe	0.404
61	São Tomé and Príncipe`STP`Middle Africa	0.403
=62	Bolivia`BOL`South America	0.401
=62	Senegal`SEN`Western Africa	0.401
64	Mexico`MEX`Central America	0.388
65	Montenegro`MNE`Southern Europe	0.382
66	Kenya`KEN`Eastern Africa	0.375
67	North Macedonia`MKD`Southern Europe	0.374
68	Poland`POL`Eastern Europe	0.373
69	Malawi`MWI`Eastern Africa	0.369
70	Zambia`ZMB`Eastern Africa	0.366
71	Sri Lanka`LKA`Southern Asia	0.361
72	Georgia`GEO`Western Asia	0.358
73	Indonesia`IDN`South-eastern Asia	0.352
=74	Barbados`BRB`Caribbean	0.350
=74	Namibia`NAM`Southern Africa	0.350
76	Paraguay`PRY`South America	0.347
=77	Bhutan`BTN`Southern Asia	0.338
=77	Liberia`LBR`Western Africa	0.338
79	Maldives`MDV`Southern Asia	0.335
80	Armenia`ARM`Western Asia	0.334
81	Honduras`HND`Central America	0.333
82	Sierra Leone`SLE`Western Africa	0.332
83	Nigeria`NGA`Western Africa	0.325
84	Ghana`GHA`Western Africa	0.319
=85	Botswana`BWA`Southern Africa	0.317
=85	Seychelles`SYC`Eastern Africa	0.317
87	Albania`ALB`Southern Europe	0.313
88	Malaysia`MYS`South-eastern Asia	0.306
89	Mauritius`MUS`Eastern Africa	0.302
=90	Bosnia and Herzegovina`BIH`Southern Europe	0.299
=90	Côte d’Ivoire`CIV`Western Africa	0.299
92	Guatemala`GTM`Central America	0.284
93	Hungary`HUN`Eastern Europe	0.283
94	Philippines`PHL`South-eastern Asia	0.282
95	Guyana`GUY`South America	0.281
96	Papua New Guinea`PNG`Melanesia	0.280
97	Niger`NER`Western Africa	0.278
98	Benin`BEN`Western Africa	0.277
99	Tunisia`TUN`Northern Africa	0.267
100	Madagascar`MDG`Eastern Africa	0.266
=101	Fiji`FJI`Melanesia	0.265
=101	Mongolia`MNG`Eastern Asia	0.265
103	Tanzania`TZA`Eastern Africa	0.259
104	Ukraine`UKR`Eastern Europe	0.258
105	Somaliland`XSL`Eastern Africa	0.244
106	Serbia`SRB`Southern Europe	0.242
107	India`IND`Southern Asia	0.236
=108	Iraq`IRQ`Western Asia	0.233
=108	Mauritania`MRT`Western Africa	0.233
=110	Mozambique`MOZ`Eastern Africa	0.229
=110	Togo`TGO`Western Africa	0.229
=112	Gabon`GAB`Middle Africa	0.226
=112	Pakistan`PAK`Southern Asia	0.226
114	El Salvador`SLV`Central America	0.221
115	Lebanon`LBN`Western Asia	0.218
116	DR Congo`COD`Middle Africa	0.208
117	Zimbabwe`ZWE`Eastern Africa	0.207
118	Guinea-Bissau`GNB`Western Africa	0.199
119	Republic of the Congo`COG`Middle Africa	0.198
120	Mali`MLI`Western Africa	0.193
121	Comoros`COM`Eastern Africa	0.190
122	Kyrgyzstan`KGZ`Central Asia	0.182
123	Türkiye`TUR`Western Asia	0.166
124	Vietnam`VNM`South-eastern Asia	0.164
125	Venezuela`VEN`South America	0.155
126	Morocco`MAR`Northern Africa	0.154
=127	Ethiopia`ETH`Eastern Africa	0.152
=127	Libya`LBY`Northern Africa	0.152
129	Uganda`UGA`Eastern Africa	0.151
=130	Burkina Faso`BFA`Western Africa	0.145
=130	Thailand`THA`South-eastern Asia	0.145
132	Djibouti`DJI`Eastern Africa	0.144
133	Rwanda`RWA`Eastern Africa	0.138
134	Central African Republic`CAF`Middle Africa	0.135
=135	Kazakhstan`KAZ`Central Asia	0.124
=135	Russia`RUS`Eastern Europe	0.124
137	Oman`OMN`Western Asia	0.123
138	Jordan`JOR`Western Asia	0.121
139	Haiti`HTI`Caribbean	0.117
140	Laos`LAO`South-eastern Asia	0.114
=141	Cameroon`CMR`Middle Africa	0.111
=141	Singapore`SGP`South-eastern Asia	0.111
143	Eswatini`SWZ`Southern Africa	0.110
144	Bangladesh`BGD`Southern Asia	0.108
145	Guinea`GIN`Western Africa	0.107
146	Chad`TCD`Middle Africa	0.106
=147	Kuwait`KWT`Western Asia	0.102
=147	Nicaragua`NIC`Central America	0.102
149	Angola`AGO`Middle Africa	0.100
150	Algeria`DZA`Northern Africa	0.098
151	Somalia`SOM`Eastern Africa	0.090
152	South Sudan`SSD`Eastern Africa	0.082
=153	Egypt`EGY`Northern Africa	0.080
=153	Uzbekistan`UZB`Central Asia	0.080
155	Sudan`SDN`Northern Africa	0.073
156	Yemen`YEM`Western Asia	0.070
157	Burundi`BDI`Eastern Africa	0.065
158	Cambodia`KHM`South-eastern Asia	0.064
159	Belarus`BLR`Eastern Europe	0.056
=160	Bahrain`BHR`Western Asia	0.054
=160	Cuba`CUB`Caribbean	0.054
=160	Tajikistan`TJK`Central Asia	0.054
=163	Azerbaijan`AZE`Western Asia	0.051
=163	Equatorial Guinea`GNQ`Middle Africa	0.051
165	Hong Kong`HKG`Eastern Asia	0.048
=166	Myanmar`MMR`South-eastern Asia	0.046
=166	Syria`SYR`Western Asia	0.046
168	North Korea`PRK`Eastern Asia	0.044
169	Iran`IRN`Southern Asia	0.035
170	China`CHN`Eastern Asia	0.033
=171	Turkmenistan`TKM`Central Asia	0.030
=171	United Arab Emirates`ARE`Western Asia	0.030
173	Saudi Arabia`SAU`Western Asia	0.024
174	Qatar`QAT`Western Asia	0.017
175	Eritrea`ERI`Eastern Africa	0.011
176	Afghanistan`AFG`Southern Asia	0.010

02In 2023

At either end

The 5 countries at each end of the headline.

Highest

1Switzerland0.785
2Denmark0.704
3New Zealand0.662
4Uruguay0.661
5Taiwan0.642

Lowest

176Afghanistan0.010
175Eritrea0.011
174Qatar0.017
173Saudi Arabia0.024
171Turkmenistanshared0.030

A higher value is the better result. The middle country reads 0.304. “Shared” marks a value another country also holds.

032022 → 2023

Since 2022

What changed between 2022 and this one: who joined or left, and how far the headline moved.

+0 / −0countries joined / left
158values changed, of 176 in both
56 · 102rose · fell
18unchanged

Rose most

Brazil0.449 → 0.549+0.100
Montenegro0.319 → 0.382+0.063
Tunisia0.212 → 0.267+0.055
Fiji0.212 → 0.265+0.053
South Sudan0.049 → 0.082+0.033

Fell most

Armenia0.407 → 0.334−0.073
South Korea0.537 → 0.478−0.059
Botswana0.372 → 0.317−0.055
Niger0.328 → 0.278−0.050
Guinea0.148 → 0.107−0.041

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 2023.
153 distinct values among 176
Values are stored exactly as published, to 3 decimals. 3 countries share 0.054. 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 · 4.8 KB · UTF-8, opens in Excel
Opens with 11 lines of source notes; the table starts on row 13.
Download participatory-democracy-2023-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 (2023). Participatory Democracy Index, 2023 [data set], describing 2023. As held by Nations Inquiry, https://nationsinquiry.com/datasets/participatory-democracy/2023

0636 held

Other years

‹ The year before
Participatory Democracy Index, 2022
176 countries
The year after ›
Participatory Democracy Index, 2024
176 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