Data for 1990

V-Dem Electoral Democracy Index, 1990

Name: V-Dem Electoral Democracy Index, 1990
Creator: V-Dem Institute, University of Gothenburg
License: https://v-dem.net/data/the-v-dem-dataset/

1990, as V-Dem Institute’s 2026 release gives it · stored as published, never rewritten

V-Dem Electoral Democracy Index, 1990 covers 167 countries on 5 measures. Sweden is highest, at 0.913; Saudi Arabia is lowest, at 0.013. The middle country reads 0.313.

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V-Dem Electoral Democracy Index · Data for 1990

HighestSweden

0.913

LowestSaudi Arabia

0.013

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

167countries
5measures per country
1990the year it describes
141distinct 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 V-Dem Electoral Democracy Index, 1990, 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 167 countries · select a heading to sort

V-Dem Electoral Democracy Index, 1990: every country, as published by V-Dem Institute, University of Gothenburg.
derived
1	Sweden`SWE`Northern Europe	0.913	0.878	0.685	0.887	0.876
2	Denmark`DNK`Northern Europe	0.908	0.880	0.718	0.864	0.869
=3	Australia`AUS`Australia and New Zealand	0.892	0.851	0.678	0.811	0.798
=3	Germany`DEU`Western Europe	0.892	0.853	0.646	0.862	0.823
=3	Spain`ESP`Southern Europe	0.892	0.811	0.668	0.812	0.814
6	Costa Rica`CRI`Central America	0.891	0.838	0.622	0.830	0.786
7	Switzerland`CHE`Western Europe	0.887	0.829	0.788	0.850	0.812
8	Greece`GRC`Southern Europe	0.882	0.788	0.602	0.749	0.793
9	Norway`NOR`Northern Europe	0.880	0.845	0.634	0.852	0.840
10	France`FRA`Western Europe	0.875	0.802	0.648	0.787	0.749
=11	Belgium`BEL`Western Europe	0.869	0.797	0.615	0.777	0.804
=11	New Zealand`NZL`Australia and New Zealand	0.869	0.808	0.629	0.654	0.739
=11	Portugal`PRT`Southern Europe	0.869	0.815	0.588	0.752	0.777
14	Luxembourg`LUX`Western Europe	0.868	0.785	0.588	0.796	0.816
15	United States`USA`Northern America	0.863	0.800	0.621	0.782	0.692
=16	Iceland`ISL`Northern Europe	0.862	0.775	0.611	0.735	0.786
=16	Netherlands`NLD`Western Europe	0.862	0.814	0.587	0.799	0.778
18	Finland`FIN`Northern Europe	0.859	0.819	0.601	0.816	0.794
19	Austria`AUT`Western Europe	0.857	0.780	0.614	0.762	0.766
20	Ireland`IRL`Northern Europe	0.851	0.760	0.592	0.688	0.737
21	Uruguay`URY`South America	0.836	0.760	0.682	0.762	0.711
22	Japan`JPN`Eastern Asia	0.835	0.754	0.543	0.734	0.753
23	Canada`CAN`Northern America	0.833	0.754	0.574	0.748	0.710
24	Argentina`ARG`South America	0.826	0.617	0.565	0.734	0.642
25	Italy`ITA`Southern Europe	0.821	0.732	0.610	0.759	0.743
26	United Kingdom`GBR`Northern Europe	0.816	0.742	0.572	0.691	0.670
27	Brazil`BRA`South America	0.814	0.678	0.545	0.604	0.528
28	Hungary`HUN`Eastern Europe	0.799	0.715	0.576	0.638	0.691
=29	Estonia`EST`Northern Europe	0.797	0.681	0.502	0.690	0.697
=29	Lithuania`LTU`Northern Europe	0.797	0.729	0.488	0.682	0.689
31	Czechia`CZE`Eastern Europe	0.794	0.710	0.503	0.704	0.711
32	Israel`ISR`Western Asia	0.767	0.689	0.506	0.619	0.609
33	Cyprus`CYP`Western Asia	0.752	0.608	0.478	0.629	0.600
34	Barbados`BRB`Caribbean	0.748	0.636	0.318	0.498	0.606
35	Trinidad and Tobago`TTO`Caribbean	0.744	0.617	0.461	0.564	0.598
36	Venezuela`VEN`South America	0.741	0.595	0.480	0.629	0.510
37	Poland`POL`Eastern Europe	0.740	0.660	0.490	0.622	0.638
38	Suriname`SUR`South America	0.726	0.547	0.496	0.568	0.511
39	Malta`MLT`Southern Europe	0.723	0.545	0.316	0.603	0.625
40	Chile`CHL`South America	0.721	0.630	0.373	0.612	0.430
41	Mauritius`MUS`Eastern Africa	0.718	0.603	0.456	0.658	0.560
42	Ecuador`ECU`South America	0.716	0.467	0.472	0.444	0.385
43	Vanuatu`VUT`Melanesia	0.697	0.580	0.338	0.529	0.550
44	India`IND`Southern Asia	0.693	0.540	0.444	0.621	0.460
45	Botswana`BWA`Southern Africa	0.683	0.577	0.447	0.569	0.436
46	Bolivia`BOL`South America	0.651	0.431	0.336	0.495	0.401
47	South Korea`KOR`Eastern Asia	0.647	0.500	0.300	0.503	0.526
48	Nicaragua`NIC`Central America	0.631	0.414	0.390	0.535	0.345
49	Slovenia`SVN`Southern Europe	0.621	0.513	0.390	0.458	0.552
50	Peru`PER`South America	0.612	0.393	0.353	0.415	0.286
51	Jamaica`JAM`Caribbean	0.577	0.448	0.361	0.456	0.434
52	Bulgaria`BGR`Eastern Europe	0.572	0.454	0.362	0.518	0.479
=53	Armenia`ARM`Western Asia	0.565	0.327	0.223	0.388	0.497
=53	Philippines`PHL`South-eastern Asia	0.565	0.430	0.398	0.492	0.302
55	Latvia`LVA`Northern Europe	0.562	0.452	0.335	0.443	0.456
56	Papua New Guinea`PNG`Melanesia	0.554	0.425	0.326	0.339	0.303
57	Solomon Islands`SLB`Melanesia	0.532	0.414	0.300	0.316	0.319
58	Namibia`NAM`Southern Africa	0.529	0.403	0.328	0.454	0.343
59	Romania`ROU`Eastern Europe	0.522	0.298	0.274	0.315	0.424
60	Türkiye`TUR`Western Asia	0.517	0.348	0.324	0.381	0.314
61	Senegal`SEN`Western Africa	0.505	0.381	0.277	0.423	0.357
62	Honduras`HND`Central America	0.484	0.257	0.252	0.253	0.179
63	Panama`PAN`Central America	0.476	0.367	0.297	0.397	0.314
64	Colombia`COL`South America	0.473	0.316	0.287	0.367	0.171
65	Gambia`GMB`Western Africa	0.468	0.332	0.180	0.244	0.272
66	Dominican Republic`DOM`Caribbean	0.460	0.216	0.294	0.255	0.242
67	Belarus`BLR`Eastern Europe	0.457	0.343	0.235	0.258	0.386
68	Sri Lanka`LKA`Southern Asia	0.445	0.275	0.238	0.258	0.304
69	Moldova`MDA`Eastern Europe	0.421	0.301	0.190	0.283	0.321
70	Mexico`MEX`Central America	0.388	0.186	0.219	0.267	0.189
71	Paraguay`PRY`South America	0.384	0.208	0.172	0.205	0.101
72	Comoros`COM`Eastern Africa	0.381	0.178	0.214	0.262	0.265
=73	Mongolia`MNG`Eastern Asia	0.372	0.235	0.202	0.275	0.315
=73	Pakistan`PAK`Southern Asia	0.372	0.198	0.221	0.182	0.134
=73	Ukraine`UKR`Eastern Europe	0.372	0.227	0.169	0.173	0.372
=76	Guatemala`GTM`Central America	0.371	0.205	0.246	0.221	0.147
=76	Thailand`THA`South-eastern Asia	0.371	0.264	0.126	0.297	0.177
78	Singapore`SGP`South-eastern Asia	0.365	0.299	0.096	0.302	0.321
=79	Algeria`DZA`Northern Africa	0.350	0.164	0.140	0.300	0.280
=79	Niger`NER`Western Africa	0.350	0.217	0.153	0.196	0.257
81	Lebanon`LBN`Western Asia	0.342	0.195	0.116	0.217	0.230
82	Cabo Verde`CPV`Western Africa	0.338	0.289	0.113	0.263	0.282
83	Guyana`GUY`South America	0.314	0.218	0.225	0.136	0.247
84	Georgia`GEO`Western Asia	0.313	0.131	0.071	0.079	0.276
85	Côte d’Ivoire`CIV`Western Africa	0.306	0.188	0.197	0.116	0.194
86	Zimbabwe`ZWE`Eastern Africa	0.303	0.222	0.193	0.261	0.226
87	Bangladesh`BGD`Southern Asia	0.302	0.162	0.137	0.118	0.146
88	Tanzania`TZA`Eastern Africa	0.287	0.270	0.134	0.244	0.264
=89	Hong Kong`HKG`Eastern Asia	0.263	0.252	0.103	0.276	0.262
=89	Taiwan`TWN`Eastern Asia	0.263	0.226	0.155	0.261	0.272
91	Malaysia`MYS`South-eastern Asia	0.260	0.163	0.167	0.175	0.204
92	Tajikistan`TJK`Central Asia	0.259	0.123	0.076	0.113	0.249
93	Nepal`NPL`Southern Asia	0.258	0.217	0.138	0.143	0.151
94	Kyrgyzstan`KGZ`Central Asia	0.252	0.141	0.071	0.084	0.250
95	Kazakhstan`KAZ`Central Asia	0.247	0.150	0.074	0.173	0.204
96	Cameroon`CMR`Middle Africa	0.245	0.127	0.147	0.082	0.155
=97	Russia`RUS`Eastern Europe	0.234	0.096	0.115	0.248	0.247
=97	São Tomé and Príncipe`STP`Middle Africa	0.234	0.201	0.175	0.198	0.194
99	Madagascar`MDG`Eastern Africa	0.232	0.110	0.151	0.087	0.129
=100	Central African Republic`CAF`Middle Africa	0.224	0.123	0.097	0.097	0.182
=100	South Africa`ZAF`Southern Africa	0.224	0.139	0.157	0.231	0.047
=100	Yemen`YEM`Western Asia	0.224	0.114	0.037	0.150	0.096
=103	Egypt`EGY`Northern Africa	0.223	0.161	0.089	0.165	0.117
=103	Fiji`FJI`Melanesia	0.223	0.147	0.155	0.081	0.186
105	Benin`BEN`Western Africa	0.221	0.162	0.136	0.293	0.232
106	Jordan`JOR`Western Asia	0.220	0.197	0.074	0.191	0.196
107	Gabon`GAB`Middle Africa	0.218	0.152	0.097	0.191	0.139
=108	Rwanda`RWA`Eastern Africa	0.217	0.157	0.078	0.116	0.135
=108	Zambia`ZMB`Eastern Africa	0.217	0.161	0.167	0.153	0.192
110	El Salvador`SLV`Central America	0.212	0.085	0.144	0.088	0.079
111	Seychelles`SYC`Eastern Africa	0.210	0.178	0.051	0.114	0.230
=112	Nigeria`NGA`Western Africa	0.203	0.100	0.163	0.075	0.132
=112	Uzbekistan`UZB`Central Asia	0.203	0.069	0.044	0.095	0.152
=114	Haiti`HTI`Caribbean	0.202	0.080	0.102	0.140	0.069
=114	Mali`MLI`Western Africa	0.202	0.145	0.104	0.134	0.173
116	Serbia`SRB`Southern Europe	0.200	0.150	0.150	0.119	0.219
=117	Sierra Leone`SLE`Western Africa	0.196	0.086	0.117	0.124	0.084
=117	Tunisia`TUN`Northern Africa	0.196	0.092	0.120	0.166	0.207
119	Indonesia`IDN`South-eastern Asia	0.192	0.057	0.046	0.108	0.130
120	Kenya`KEN`Eastern Africa	0.189	0.123	0.114	0.186	0.140
121	Albania`ALB`Southern Europe	0.187	0.070	0.059	0.091	0.227
122	Djibouti`DJI`Eastern Africa	0.180	0.084	0.040	0.047	0.109
123	Uganda`UGA`Eastern Africa	0.178	0.161	0.129	0.225	0.173
124	DR Congo`COD`Middle Africa	0.177	0.051	0.118	0.061	0.086
125	Azerbaijan`AZE`Western Asia	0.172	0.078	0.027	0.131	0.163
126	Morocco`MAR`Northern Africa	0.170	0.169	0.087	0.112	0.104
=127	Burkina Faso`BFA`Western Africa	0.167	0.102	0.092	0.162	0.186
=127	Liberia`LBR`Western Africa	0.167	0.063	0.112	0.092	0.142
=127	Malawi`MWI`Eastern Africa	0.167	0.077	0.056	0.047	0.120
=127	Maldives`MDV`Southern Asia	0.167	0.059	0.061	0.031	0.153
131	Equatorial Guinea`GNQ`Middle Africa	0.162	0.049	0.042	0.057	0.102
132	Iran`IRN`Southern Asia	0.160	0.111	0.062	0.182	0.167
133	Lesotho`LSO`Southern Africa	0.159	0.180	0.074	0.077	0.191
134	Republic of the Congo`COG`Middle Africa	0.157	0.065	0.156	0.196	0.070
135	Togo`TGO`Western Africa	0.155	0.064	0.068	0.047	0.151
136	Vietnam`VNM`South-eastern Asia	0.154	0.073	0.169	0.169	0.199
137	Ethiopia`ETH`Eastern Africa	0.150	0.032	0.026	0.039	0.131
=138	Somalia`SOM`Eastern Africa	0.144	0.039	0.049	0.027	0.063
=138	Syria`SYR`Western Asia	0.144	0.037	0.053	0.021	0.129
140	Cambodia`KHM`South-eastern Asia	0.138	0.027	0.049	0.027	0.059
141	Chad`TCD`Middle Africa	0.125	0.043	0.076	0.028	0.061
142	Eswatini`SWZ`Southern Africa	0.124	0.104	0.128	0.046	0.075
143	Mozambique`MOZ`Eastern Africa	0.123	0.111	0.054	0.066	0.144
144	Guinea`GIN`Western Africa	0.117	0.047	0.103	0.055	0.110
145	Laos`LAO`South-eastern Asia	0.116	0.092	0.095	0.031	0.114
146	Myanmar`MMR`South-eastern Asia	0.115	0.020	0.049	0.027	0.075
147	Mauritania`MRT`Western Africa	0.114	0.045	0.050	0.024	0.085
148	Ghana`GHA`Western Africa	0.104	0.097	0.095	0.069	0.150
149	Guinea-Bissau`GNB`Western Africa	0.101	0.048	0.068	0.044	0.098
150	Afghanistan`AFG`Southern Asia	0.094	0.045	0.025	0.035	0.099
151	China`CHN`Eastern Asia	0.093	0.065	0.033	0.107	0.114
152	Burundi`BDI`Eastern Africa	0.089	0.086	0.066	0.190	0.123
=153	Kuwait`KWT`Western Asia	0.086	0.111	0.027	0.171	0.163
=153	North Korea`PRK`Eastern Asia	0.086	0.014	0.044	0.014	0.110
=153	Sudan`SDN`Northern Africa	0.086	0.012	0.044	0.034	0.048
156	Iraq`IRQ`Western Asia	0.081	0.062	0.035	0.009	0.099
157	Timor-Leste`TLS`South-eastern Asia	0.077	—	—	0.010	0.076
158	Eritrea`ERI`Eastern Africa	0.076	0.015	0.016	0.023	0.090
159	Angola`AGO`Middle Africa	0.075	0.050	0.017	0.023	0.053
160	Libya`LBY`Northern Africa	0.072	0.048	0.044	0.023	0.125
161	Cuba`CUB`Caribbean	0.071	0.033	0.043	0.051	0.224
162	Bhutan`BTN`Southern Asia	0.059	0.128	0.054	0.138	0.151
163	Bahrain`BHR`Western Asia	0.049	—	0.011	0.022	0.102
164	United Arab Emirates`ARE`Western Asia	0.023	0.055	0.014	0.117	0.083
165	Qatar`QAT`Western Asia	0.016	0.080	0.013	0.027	0.110
166	Oman`OMN`Western Asia	0.014	0.066	0.051	0.017	0.114
167	Saudi Arabia`SAU`Western Asia	0.013	0.037	0.018	0.030	0.108

02In 1990

At either end

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

Highest

1Sweden0.913
2Denmark0.908
3Australiashared0.892
3Germanyshared0.892
3Spainshared0.892

Lowest

167Saudi Arabia0.013
166Oman0.014
165Qatar0.016
164United Arab Emirates0.023
163Bahrain0.049

A higher value is the better result. The middle country reads 0.313. “Shared” marks a value another country also holds.

Each measure’s ends

Liberal democracy (0–1)
HighestDenmark0.880
LowestSudan0.012
Middle country: 0.205
Participatory democracy (0–1)
HighestSwitzerland0.788
LowestBahrain0.011
Middle country: 0.165
Deliberative democracy (0–1)
HighestSweden0.887
LowestIraq0.009
Middle country: 0.225
Egalitarian democracy (0–1)
HighestSweden0.876
LowestSouth Africa0.047
Middle country: 0.230

03Caveats

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 1990.
141 distinct values among 167
Values are stored exactly as published, to 3 decimals. 4 countries share 0.167. Countries sharing a value share a position too.
The position is ours
V-Dem Institute publishes values only; the order is this site’s.
3 empty cells
An empty cell means the publisher gave no figure. It is never a zero.

04The files

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The table as a file, digit for digit, what this site changed, and a citation for this edition.

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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 (1990). V-Dem Electoral Democracy Index, 1990 [data set], describing 1990. As held by Nations Inquiry, https://nationsinquiry.com/datasets/vdem-democracy/1990

0536 held

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06Questions