Data for 2020

Physical Violence Index, 2020

Name: Physical Violence Index, 2020
Creator: V-Dem Institute, University of Gothenburg
License: https://v-dem.net/data/the-v-dem-dataset/

2020, as V-Dem Institute’s 2026 release gives it · stored as published, never rewritten

Physical Violence Index, 2020 covers 176 countries on 3 measures. 2 countries share the highest reading, 0.989; Syria is lowest, at 0.021. The middle country reads 0.827. Against 2019, 123 values changed (65 up, 58 down), the same countries are covered.

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Physical Violence Index · Data for 2020

Highest2 countries share it

0.989

LowestSyria

0.021

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

176countries
3measures per country
2020the year it describes
151distinct values3 decimals, as published
Sep 11, 2026read from the publisher
CC BY-SA 4.0licence

01Position · derived

The table

Every country and every column of Physical Violence Index, 2020, 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

Physical Violence Index, 2020: every country, as published by V-Dem Institute, University of Gothenburg.
derived
=1	Iceland`ISL`Northern Europe	0.989	3.940	3.929
=1	Sweden`SWE`Northern Europe	0.989	3.955	3.919
3	Norway`NOR`Northern Europe	0.988	3.953	3.896
4	Finland`FIN`Northern Europe	0.987	3.935	3.912
5	New Zealand`NZL`Australia and New Zealand	0.986	3.947	3.888
6	Czechia`CZE`Eastern Europe	0.985	3.940	3.869
=7	Belgium`BEL`Western Europe	0.981	3.932	3.826
=7	Switzerland`CHE`Western Europe	0.981	3.929	3.825
9	Uruguay`URY`South America	0.980	3.951	3.751
10	Austria`AUT`Western Europe	0.978	3.899	3.827
=11	Hungary`HUN`Eastern Europe	0.977	3.930	3.731
=11	Netherlands`NLD`Western Europe	0.977	3.810	3.892
13	Spain`ESP`Southern Europe	0.976	3.930	3.752
=14	Estonia`EST`Northern Europe	0.975	3.917	3.742
=14	Lithuania`LTU`Northern Europe	0.975	3.893	3.784
=16	Germany`DEU`Western Europe	0.974	3.954	3.605
=16	Ireland`IRL`Northern Europe	0.974	3.893	3.783
18	Taiwan`TWN`Eastern Asia	0.971	3.929	3.663
19	Denmark`DNK`Northern Europe	0.970	3.954	3.536
=20	Canada`CAN`Northern America	0.966	3.933	3.547
=20	Latvia`LVA`Northern Europe	0.966	3.758	3.815
=22	Costa Rica`CRI`Central America	0.964	3.799	3.769
=22	Japan`JPN`Eastern Asia	0.964	3.934	3.510
=22	South Korea`KOR`Eastern Asia	0.964	3.822	3.727
25	Cyprus`CYP`Western Asia	0.963	3.958	3.398
=26	Luxembourg`LUX`Western Europe	0.961	3.739	3.762
=26	Slovenia`SVN`Southern Europe	0.961	3.894	3.576
28	Ecuador`ECU`South America	0.960	3.761	3.758
=29	Greece`GRC`Southern Europe	0.956	3.886	3.503
=29	Guyana`GUY`South America	0.956	3.831	3.612
=31	Australia`AUS`Australia and New Zealand	0.954	3.922	3.365
=31	Romania`ROU`Eastern Europe	0.954	3.942	3.304
33	São Tomé and Príncipe`STP`Middle Africa	0.953	3.687	3.739
34	Croatia`HRV`Southern Europe	0.948	3.893	3.360
35	Albania`ALB`Southern Europe	0.941	3.946	3.066
36	Barbados`BRB`Caribbean	0.938	3.816	3.399
37	France`FRA`Western Europe	0.937	3.860	3.270
=38	Georgia`GEO`Western Asia	0.933	3.822	3.325
=38	Timor-Leste`TLS`South-eastern Asia	0.933	3.733	3.495
40	Singapore`SGP`South-eastern Asia	0.932	3.906	3.102
41	Malawi`MWI`Eastern Africa	0.929	3.615	3.550
42	Italy`ITA`Southern Europe	0.928	3.794	3.310
=43	Armenia`ARM`Western Asia	0.926	3.821	3.232
=43	Vanuatu`VUT`Melanesia	0.926	3.877	3.126
=45	Trinidad and Tobago`TTO`Caribbean	0.923	3.685	3.419
=45	United Kingdom`GBR`Northern Europe	0.923	3.741	3.330
47	Mongolia`MNG`Eastern Asia	0.922	3.923	2.886
48	Cabo Verde`CPV`Western Africa	0.921	3.569	3.526
49	Gabon`GAB`Middle Africa	0.920	3.776	3.292
50	Slovakia`SVK`Eastern Europe	0.919	3.680	3.366
51	Ghana`GHA`Western Africa	0.918	3.557	3.496
=52	Botswana`BWA`Southern Africa	0.913	3.633	3.394
=52	Panama`PAN`Central America	0.913	3.806	3.131
=54	Kosovo`XKX`Southern Europe	0.912	3.826	3.071
=54	Malta`MLT`Southern Europe	0.912	3.573	3.398
56	Namibia`NAM`Southern Africa	0.903	3.811	2.988
57	Seychelles`SYC`Eastern Africa	0.902	3.390	3.518
=58	Portugal`PRT`Southern Europe	0.898	3.756	3.067
=58	United States`USA`Northern America	0.898	3.769	3.032
60	Israel`ISR`Western Asia	0.895	3.563	3.282
61	Bulgaria`BGR`Eastern Europe	0.894	3.668	3.154
=62	Argentina`ARG`South America	0.891	3.650	3.137
=62	Peru`PER`South America	0.891	3.628	3.172
64	Solomon Islands`SLB`Melanesia	0.888	3.512	3.255
65	Serbia`SRB`Southern Europe	0.887	3.437	3.332
66	Jamaica`JAM`Caribbean	0.884	3.254	3.481
67	Bhutan`BTN`Southern Asia	0.883	3.362	3.370
68	Poland`POL`Eastern Europe	0.882	3.444	3.295
69	Montenegro`MNE`Southern Europe	0.880	3.495	3.198
70	Suriname`SUR`South America	0.877	3.606	3.059
71	Senegal`SEN`Western Africa	0.871	3.530	3.107
72	Guinea-Bissau`GNB`Western Africa	0.867	3.448	3.162
73	Dominican Republic`DOM`Caribbean	0.865	3.703	2.811
74	Maldives`MDV`Southern Asia	0.861	3.588	2.942
75	Hong Kong`HKG`Eastern Asia	0.857	3.711	2.728
76	Gambia`GMB`Western Africa	0.855	3.462	3.030
77	Qatar`QAT`Western Asia	0.854	3.493	3.007
=78	North Macedonia`MKD`Southern Europe	0.852	3.720	2.647
=78	Paraguay`PRY`South America	0.852	3.333	3.180
80	Benin`BEN`Western Africa	0.851	3.675	2.725
81	Burkina Faso`BFA`Western Africa	0.841	3.755	2.468
82	Moldova`MDA`Eastern Europe	0.836	3.577	2.722
83	Bolivia`BOL`South America	0.834	3.140	3.190
=84	Bosnia and Herzegovina`BIH`Southern Europe	0.833	3.437	2.900
=84	Somaliland`XSL`Eastern Africa	0.833	3.331	2.992
86	Niger`NER`Western Africa	0.832	3.358	2.968
87	Chile`CHL`South America	0.830	3.334	2.979
88	South Africa`ZAF`Southern Africa	0.827	2.678	3.456
89	Malaysia`MYS`South-eastern Asia	0.826	3.678	2.497
90	Liberia`LBR`Western Africa	0.824	3.228	3.045
91	Morocco`MAR`Northern Africa	0.823	3.474	2.761
=92	Mauritius`MUS`Eastern Africa	0.822	2.799	3.367
=92	Papua New Guinea`PNG`Melanesia	0.822	3.354	2.900
94	Fiji`FJI`Melanesia	0.784	3.572	2.298
95	Sierra Leone`SLE`Western Africa	0.780	3.022	2.922
96	Honduras`HND`Central America	0.770	3.096	2.767
97	Jordan`JOR`Western Asia	0.763	3.240	2.565
98	Tunisia`TUN`Northern Africa	0.758	3.210	2.585
=99	Haiti`HTI`Caribbean	0.744	2.646	2.991
=99	Mali`MLI`Western Africa	0.744	3.134	2.566
101	Lebanon`LBN`Western Asia	0.743	3.329	2.315
=102	United Arab Emirates`ARE`Western Asia	0.742	3.296	2.402
=102	Zambia`ZMB`Eastern Africa	0.742	2.827	2.837
104	Nepal`NPL`Southern Asia	0.741	3.014	2.657
105	Tanzania`TZA`Eastern Africa	0.731	2.920	2.692
106	Lesotho`LSO`Southern Africa	0.728	2.863	2.723
107	Ukraine`UKR`Eastern Europe	0.725	3.170	2.386
108	Togo`TGO`Western Africa	0.720	3.025	2.507
109	Kuwait`KWT`Western Asia	0.713	3.463	1.893
110	Oman`OMN`Western Asia	0.711	3.161	2.300
111	Indonesia`IDN`South-eastern Asia	0.706	2.704	2.700
112	Guatemala`GTM`Central America	0.700	2.652	2.717
113	Madagascar`MDG`Eastern Africa	0.693	2.730	2.608
114	Mauritania`MRT`Western Africa	0.684	3.570	1.514
115	Côte d’Ivoire`CIV`Western Africa	0.653	2.395	2.640
116	Angola`AGO`Middle Africa	0.629	3.108	1.758
117	El Salvador`SLV`Central America	0.627	3.131	1.721
118	Algeria`DZA`Northern Africa	0.624	2.864	2.016
119	Kyrgyzstan`KGZ`Central Asia	0.607	3.169	1.531
120	Vietnam`VNM`South-eastern Asia	0.577	2.821	1.738
121	India`IND`Southern Asia	0.563	2.157	2.279
122	Sri Lanka`LKA`Southern Asia	0.558	2.578	1.895
123	Kazakhstan`KAZ`Central Asia	0.551	3.043	1.311
124	Colombia`COL`South America	0.545	1.384	2.791
125	Cuba`CUB`Caribbean	0.543	3.339	0.921
126	Kenya`KEN`Eastern Africa	0.525	1.734	2.417
127	Uzbekistan`UZB`Central Asia	0.509	2.465	1.637
128	Mexico`MEX`Central America	0.497	2.631	1.383
129	Myanmar`MMR`South-eastern Asia	0.491	1.984	1.961
130	Ethiopia`ETH`Eastern Africa	0.483	2.248	1.690
131	Mozambique`MOZ`Eastern Africa	0.480	1.888	1.976
132	Azerbaijan`AZE`Western Asia	0.475	3.199	0.669
=133	DR Congo`COD`Middle Africa	0.461	2.381	1.421
=133	Pakistan`PAK`Southern Asia	0.461	2.110	1.650
135	Brazil`BRA`South America	0.456	1.991	1.745
136	Comoros`COM`Eastern Africa	0.454	2.070	1.652
137	Cameroon`CMR`Middle Africa	0.438	2.674	0.970
138	Djibouti`DJI`Eastern Africa	0.413	1.800	1.606
139	Afghanistan`AFG`Southern Asia	0.411	1.811	1.601
=140	Cambodia`KHM`South-eastern Asia	0.410	1.722	1.679
=140	Eswatini`SWZ`Southern Africa	0.410	2.780	0.730
142	Türkiye`TUR`Western Asia	0.402	2.543	0.894
143	Central African Republic`CAF`Middle Africa	0.400	1.789	1.523
144	China`CHN`Eastern Asia	0.388	2.390	0.948
145	Bahrain`BHR`Western Asia	0.379	1.862	1.346
146	Guinea`GIN`Western Africa	0.323	1.304	1.470
147	Philippines`PHL`South-eastern Asia	0.304	1.030	1.594
148	Nigeria`NGA`Western Africa	0.289	1.386	1.124
149	Uganda`UGA`Eastern Africa	0.287	1.611	0.943
150	Thailand`THA`South-eastern Asia	0.270	1.347	1.035
151	Russia`RUS`Eastern Europe	0.266	0.980	1.317
152	Somalia`SOM`Eastern Africa	0.237	0.843	1.239
153	Iran`IRN`Southern Asia	0.218	1.139	0.838
154	Republic of the Congo`COG`Middle Africa	0.210	0.728	1.198
155	Sudan`SDN`Northern Africa	0.191	1.013	0.748
156	Iraq`IRQ`Western Asia	0.188	1.148	0.604
157	Equatorial Guinea`GNQ`Middle Africa	0.187	1.340	0.484
158	Venezuela`VEN`South America	0.185	1.830	0.237
159	Saudi Arabia`SAU`Western Asia	0.179	0.937	0.743
160	Turkmenistan`TKM`Central Asia	0.177	1.492	0.324
161	Bangladesh`BGD`Southern Asia	0.173	0.629	0.934
162	Tajikistan`TJK`Central Asia	0.170	0.869	0.703
163	Laos`LAO`South-eastern Asia	0.166	0.641	0.898
164	South Sudan`SSD`Eastern Africa	0.163	1.072	0.490
165	Zimbabwe`ZWE`Eastern Africa	0.158	1.272	0.333
166	Chad`TCD`Middle Africa	0.146	0.721	0.643
167	Egypt`EGY`Northern Africa	0.142	0.668	0.611
168	Nicaragua`NIC`Central America	0.124	0.963	0.290
169	Rwanda`RWA`Eastern Africa	0.112	0.478	0.556
170	Libya`LBY`Northern Africa	0.111	0.386	0.663
171	Eritrea`ERI`Eastern Africa	0.104	0.461	0.507
172	Belarus`BLR`Eastern Europe	0.086	0.975	0.109
173	Yemen`YEM`Western Asia	0.072	0.356	0.300
174	North Korea`PRK`Eastern Asia	0.050	0.339	0.145
175	Burundi`BDI`Eastern Africa	0.026	0.108	0.100
176	Syria`SYR`Western Asia	0.021	0.144	0.041

02In 2020

At either end

The 5 countries at each end of the headline, then the highest and lowest on each other measure.

Highest

1Icelandshared0.989
1Swedenshared0.989
3Norway0.988
4Finland0.987
5New Zealand0.986

Lowest

176Syria0.021
175Burundi0.026
174North Korea0.050
173Yemen0.072
172Belarus0.086

A higher value is the better result. The middle country reads 0.827. “Shared” marks a value another country also holds.

Each measure’s ends

Freedom from political killings (0–4)
HighestCyprus3.958
LowestBurundi0.108
Middle country: 3.347
Freedom from torture (0–4)
HighestIceland3.929
LowestSyria0.041
Middle country: 2.824

032019 → 2020

Since 2019

What changed between 2019 and this one: who joined or left, and how far the headline moved.

+0 / −0countries joined / left
123values changed, of 176 in both
65 · 58rose · fell
53unchanged

Rose most

Togo0.501 → 0.720+0.219
Lesotho0.588 → 0.728+0.140
Pakistan0.345 → 0.461+0.116
Guyana0.846 → 0.956+0.110
Central African Republic0.298 → 0.400+0.102

Fell most

Belarus0.774 → 0.086−0.688
Sri Lanka0.768 → 0.558−0.210
Guinea0.468 → 0.323−0.145
Rwanda0.236 → 0.112−0.124
Côte d’Ivoire0.770 → 0.653−0.117

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 2020.
151 distinct values among 176
Values are stored exactly as published, to 3 decimals. 3 countries share 0.964. 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 · 6.8 KB · UTF-8, opens in Excel
Opens with 11 lines of source notes; the table starts on row 13.
Download physical-violence-2020-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 (2020). Physical Violence Index, 2020 [data set], describing 2020. As held by Nations Inquiry, https://nationsinquiry.com/datasets/physical-violence/2020

0636 held

Other years

‹ The year before
Physical Violence Index, 2019
176 countries
The year after ›
Physical Violence Index, 2021
176 countries
All of them
Physical Violence Index: every year
36 held, with the data dictionary, coverage and licence.
How it has moved, charted by country

07Questions