Data for 2008

V-Dem Electoral Democracy Index, 2008

Name: V-Dem Electoral Democracy Index, 2008
Creator: V-Dem Institute, University of Gothenburg
License: https://v-dem.net/data/the-v-dem-dataset/

2008, as V-Dem Institute’s 2026 release gives it · stored as published, never rewritten

V-Dem Electoral Democracy Index, 2008 covers 175 countries on 5 measures. Denmark is highest, at 0.921; Saudi Arabia is lowest, at 0.019. The middle country reads 0.512. Against 2007, 126 values changed (66 up, 60 down), the same countries are covered.

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V-Dem Electoral Democracy Index · Data for 2008

HighestDenmark

0.921

LowestSaudi Arabia

0.019

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

175countries
5measures per country
2008the year it describes
157distinct 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, 2008, 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 175 countries · select a heading to sort

V-Dem Electoral Democracy Index, 2008: every country, as published by V-Dem Institute, University of Gothenburg.
derived
1	Denmark`DNK`Northern Europe	0.921	0.895	0.710	0.879	0.883
2	Sweden`SWE`Northern Europe	0.914	0.881	0.684	0.880	0.869
3	Costa Rica`CRI`Central America	0.908	0.854	0.698	0.859	0.811
4	Germany`DEU`Western Europe	0.902	0.864	0.656	0.872	0.842
=5	Greece`GRC`Southern Europe	0.900	0.811	0.614	0.770	0.817
=5	United States`USA`Northern America	0.900	0.845	0.653	0.849	0.726
7	Belgium`BEL`Western Europe	0.899	0.832	0.649	0.810	0.840
8	Norway`NOR`Northern Europe	0.898	0.864	0.649	0.870	0.859
9	Czechia`CZE`Eastern Europe	0.897	0.821	0.622	0.810	0.819
10	Ireland`IRL`Northern Europe	0.896	0.820	0.644	0.747	0.783
11	Switzerland`CHE`Western Europe	0.895	0.850	0.797	0.862	0.827
12	Chile`CHL`South America	0.894	0.841	0.592	0.823	0.646
13	Portugal`PRT`Southern Europe	0.893	0.839	0.655	0.821	0.810
14	Uruguay`URY`South America	0.892	0.822	0.740	0.844	0.792
15	Poland`POL`Eastern Europe	0.891	0.825	0.654	0.747	0.791
16	Australia`AUS`Australia and New Zealand	0.889	0.849	0.640	0.823	0.796
17	Spain`ESP`Southern Europe	0.886	0.819	0.646	0.800	0.808
18	France`FRA`Western Europe	0.885	0.816	0.659	0.820	0.795
19	Finland`FIN`Northern Europe	0.881	0.842	0.631	0.834	0.820
=20	Iceland`ISL`Northern Europe	0.880	0.795	0.625	0.752	0.809
=20	New Zealand`NZL`Australia and New Zealand	0.880	0.825	0.670	0.767	0.779
=22	Austria`AUT`Western Europe	0.872	0.802	0.628	0.800	0.777
=22	Netherlands`NLD`Western Europe	0.872	0.823	0.619	0.793	0.801
24	Estonia`EST`Northern Europe	0.871	0.811	0.637	0.769	0.771
=25	Luxembourg`LUX`Western Europe	0.870	0.787	0.633	0.812	0.817
=25	United Kingdom`GBR`Northern Europe	0.870	0.807	0.614	0.756	0.753
27	Brazil`BRA`South America	0.866	0.769	0.651	0.802	0.620
28	Italy`ITA`Southern Europe	0.855	0.768	0.675	0.796	0.780
29	Hungary`HUN`Eastern Europe	0.850	0.766	0.632	0.622	0.699
30	Japan`JPN`Eastern Asia	0.846	0.772	0.559	0.751	0.764
31	Cyprus`CYP`Western Asia	0.836	0.723	0.568	0.741	0.719
32	Slovakia`SVK`Eastern Europe	0.834	0.735	0.633	0.664	0.676
33	Canada`CAN`Northern America	0.827	0.753	0.563	0.701	0.703
34	Slovenia`SVN`Southern Europe	0.825	0.737	0.694	0.692	0.737
35	Lithuania`LTU`Northern Europe	0.824	0.765	0.595	0.748	0.745
36	Malta`MLT`Southern Europe	0.803	0.610	0.551	0.677	0.702
=37	Peru`PER`South America	0.801	0.650	0.536	0.645	0.484
=37	Trinidad and Tobago`TTO`Caribbean	0.801	0.684	0.516	0.654	0.679
39	Taiwan`TWN`Eastern Asia	0.793	0.685	0.630	0.678	0.689
40	Latvia`LVA`Northern Europe	0.792	0.686	0.601	0.616	0.659
41	Barbados`BRB`Caribbean	0.783	0.665	0.340	0.689	0.656
42	Cabo Verde`CPV`Western Africa	0.782	0.697	0.466	0.661	0.635
43	Croatia`HRV`Southern Europe	0.779	0.638	0.487	0.560	0.647
44	South Africa`ZAF`Southern Africa	0.775	0.657	0.527	0.679	0.530
45	Jamaica`JAM`Caribbean	0.774	0.654	0.506	0.634	0.588
46	Argentina`ARG`South America	0.766	0.590	0.519	0.548	0.606
=47	South Korea`KOR`Eastern Asia	0.759	0.661	0.514	0.630	0.654
=47	Suriname`SUR`South America	0.759	0.647	0.480	0.608	0.560
49	Israel`ISR`Western Asia	0.758	0.684	0.488	0.620	0.629
50	Mauritius`MUS`Eastern Africa	0.737	0.641	0.473	0.678	0.591
51	Panama`PAN`Central America	0.736	0.547	0.469	0.639	0.476
52	Ghana`GHA`Western Africa	0.732	0.632	0.381	0.664	0.528
53	India`IND`Southern Asia	0.721	0.569	0.475	0.654	0.467
54	Bolivia`BOL`South America	0.719	0.453	0.561	0.563	0.485
55	Botswana`BWA`Southern Africa	0.715	0.617	0.471	0.581	0.515
56	Bulgaria`BGR`Eastern Europe	0.711	0.617	0.445	0.610	0.563
57	Indonesia`IDN`South-eastern Asia	0.707	0.545	0.463	0.632	0.464
58	Senegal`SEN`Western Africa	0.674	0.526	0.410	0.582	0.484
59	Namibia`NAM`Southern Africa	0.662	0.548	0.415	0.525	0.437
60	Liberia`LBR`Western Africa	0.655	0.506	0.352	0.599	0.417
=61	Mongolia`MNG`Eastern Asia	0.653	0.539	0.375	0.569	0.514
=61	Vanuatu`VUT`Melanesia	0.653	0.549	0.385	0.512	0.521
63	Mexico`MEX`Central America	0.649	0.456	0.400	0.535	0.331
64	São Tomé and Príncipe`STP`Middle Africa	0.643	0.527	0.398	0.428	0.454
65	Dominican Republic`DOM`Caribbean	0.638	0.376	0.411	0.492	0.335
66	Benin`BEN`Western Africa	0.635	0.515	0.406	0.571	0.494
67	Ecuador`ECU`South America	0.634	0.343	0.469	0.476	0.418
68	Serbia`SRB`Southern Europe	0.628	0.525	0.428	0.528	0.479
69	Romania`ROU`Eastern Europe	0.621	0.495	0.429	0.413	0.492
70	Paraguay`PRY`South America	0.620	0.493	0.402	0.434	0.289
71	Timor-Leste`TLS`South-eastern Asia	0.618	0.460	0.340	0.420	0.384
=72	Mali`MLI`Western Africa	0.608	0.406	0.404	0.495	0.409
=72	Ukraine`UKR`Eastern Europe	0.608	0.394	0.387	0.478	0.419
74	Colombia`COL`South America	0.585	0.462	0.402	0.379	0.343
75	Guatemala`GTM`Central America	0.582	0.395	0.344	0.392	0.251
=76	Guyana`GUY`South America	0.576	0.366	0.353	0.328	0.397
=76	Niger`NER`Western Africa	0.576	0.421	0.359	0.456	0.402
78	Bosnia and Herzegovina`BIH`Southern Europe	0.562	0.367	0.318	0.389	0.386
=79	El Salvador`SLV`Central America	0.561	0.357	0.343	0.358	0.244
=79	Lesotho`LSO`Southern Africa	0.561	0.415	0.330	0.358	0.458
81	Solomon Islands`SLB`Melanesia	0.559	0.434	0.327	0.361	0.327
82	Türkiye`TUR`Western Asia	0.554	0.411	0.358	0.377	0.396
83	North Macedonia`MKD`Southern Europe	0.553	0.412	0.369	0.351	0.404
84	Albania`ALB`Southern Europe	0.551	0.447	0.348	0.409	0.385
85	Burkina Faso`BFA`Western Africa	0.531	0.333	0.309	0.429	0.360
86	Honduras`HND`Central America	0.519	0.323	0.315	0.407	0.221
87	Sierra Leone`SLE`Western Africa	0.517	0.325	0.344	0.389	0.288
88	Kosovo`XKX`Southern Europe	0.512	0.362	0.289	0.296	0.345
89	Zambia`ZMB`Eastern Africa	0.510	0.424	0.324	0.449	0.320
90	Montenegro`MNE`Southern Europe	0.506	0.406	0.342	0.409	0.393
91	Madagascar`MDG`Eastern Africa	0.504	0.277	0.315	0.289	0.254
92	Georgia`GEO`Western Asia	0.495	0.339	0.310	0.327	0.415
93	Bhutan`BTN`Southern Asia	0.491	0.431	0.308	0.434	0.415
94	Seychelles`SYC`Eastern Africa	0.480	0.373	0.182	0.343	0.393
=95	Nepal`NPL`Southern Asia	0.478	0.413	0.229	0.409	0.359
=95	Papua New Guinea`PNG`Melanesia	0.478	0.376	0.285	0.296	0.271
97	Haiti`HTI`Caribbean	0.468	0.301	0.270	0.321	0.151
98	Tanzania`TZA`Eastern Africa	0.464	0.396	0.302	0.378	0.348
99	Maldives`MDV`Southern Asia	0.459	0.246	0.211	0.309	0.333
=100	Mozambique`MOZ`Eastern Africa	0.456	0.309	0.280	0.321	0.293
=100	Philippines`PHL`South-eastern Asia	0.456	0.347	0.319	0.403	0.238
102	Nicaragua`NIC`Central America	0.445	0.203	0.263	0.312	0.230
=103	Lebanon`LBN`Western Asia	0.443	0.259	0.236	0.312	0.281
=103	Malawi`MWI`Eastern Africa	0.443	0.367	0.226	0.384	0.275
105	Côte d’Ivoire`CIV`Western Africa	0.436	0.282	0.289	0.362	0.278
106	Moldova`MDA`Eastern Europe	0.435	0.345	0.253	0.252	0.333
107	Togo`TGO`Western Africa	0.433	0.227	0.191	0.363	0.323
108	Venezuela`VEN`South America	0.432	0.159	0.306	0.202	0.303
109	Iraq`IRQ`Western Asia	0.426	0.261	0.272	0.336	0.241
110	Pakistan`PAK`Southern Asia	0.416	0.223	0.267	0.284	0.141
111	Kenya`KEN`Eastern Africa	0.415	0.305	0.249	0.379	0.262
=112	Comoros`COM`Eastern Africa	0.414	0.235	0.263	0.267	0.293
=112	Nigeria`NGA`Western Africa	0.414	0.303	0.290	0.340	0.234
114	Burundi`BDI`Eastern Africa	0.405	0.178	0.275	0.272	0.242
=115	Guinea-Bissau`GNB`Western Africa	0.402	0.228	0.178	0.217	0.220
=115	Thailand`THA`South-eastern Asia	0.402	0.336	0.197	0.354	0.257
117	Mauritania`MRT`Western Africa	0.400	0.208	0.152	0.268	0.189
118	Somaliland`XSL`Eastern Africa	0.393	0.239	0.253	0.269	0.173
119	Singapore`SGP`South-eastern Asia	0.387	0.311	0.105	0.314	0.349
120	Hong Kong`HKG`Eastern Asia	0.369	0.324	0.143	0.339	0.323
=121	Afghanistan`AFG`Southern Asia	0.368	0.196	0.147	0.293	0.207
=121	Sri Lanka`LKA`Southern Asia	0.368	0.236	0.202	0.185	0.271
123	DR Congo`COD`Middle Africa	0.357	0.149	0.223	0.214	0.193
124	Gabon`GAB`Middle Africa	0.351	0.204	0.240	0.293	0.257
125	Central African Republic`CAF`Middle Africa	0.342	0.191	0.168	0.196	0.187
126	Algeria`DZA`Northern Africa	0.329	0.165	0.144	0.245	0.260
127	Malaysia`MYS`South-eastern Asia	0.328	0.216	0.233	0.253	0.236
128	Kuwait`KWT`Western Asia	0.324	0.287	0.104	0.308	0.246
129	Uganda`UGA`Eastern Africa	0.320	0.243	0.241	0.275	0.211
130	Armenia`ARM`Western Asia	0.317	0.172	0.169	0.207	0.272
131	Cambodia`KHM`South-eastern Asia	0.316	0.121	0.124	0.165	0.116
132	Cameroon`CMR`Middle Africa	0.311	0.153	0.157	0.158	0.193
133	Kyrgyzstan`KGZ`Central Asia	0.306	0.169	0.181	0.179	0.223
134	Russia`RUS`Eastern Europe	0.302	0.139	0.186	0.236	0.228
135	Yemen`YEM`Western Asia	0.285	0.153	0.155	0.171	0.101
136	Chad`TCD`Middle Africa	0.277	0.094	0.136	0.108	0.107
137	Guinea`GIN`Western Africa	0.271	0.096	0.202	0.093	0.161
=138	Morocco`MAR`Northern Africa	0.252	0.224	0.134	0.217	0.179
=138	Republic of the Congo`COG`Middle Africa	0.252	0.095	0.133	0.153	0.097
140	Zimbabwe`ZWE`Eastern Africa	0.251	0.149	0.203	0.196	0.164
141	Ethiopia`ETH`Eastern Africa	0.244	0.113	0.091	0.151	0.158
142	Gambia`GMB`Western Africa	0.243	0.111	0.148	0.074	0.174
143	Djibouti`DJI`Eastern Africa	0.242	0.114	0.134	0.137	0.159
144	Kazakhstan`KAZ`Central Asia	0.241	0.122	0.080	0.104	0.182
145	Jordan`JOR`Western Asia	0.232	0.205	0.092	0.206	0.185
146	Tajikistan`TJK`Central Asia	0.229	0.068	0.085	0.084	0.131
147	Belarus`BLR`Eastern Europe	0.224	0.096	0.087	0.073	0.264
148	Bahrain`BHR`Western Asia	0.220	0.091	0.103	0.141	0.153
=149	Azerbaijan`AZE`Western Asia	0.212	0.070	0.076	0.055	0.145
=149	Egypt`EGY`Northern Africa	0.212	0.152	0.082	0.148	0.091
151	Bangladesh`BGD`Southern Asia	0.210	0.105	0.110	0.097	0.107
152	Rwanda`RWA`Eastern Africa	0.203	0.125	0.182	0.187	0.199
153	Sudan`SDN`Northern Africa	0.201	0.064	0.086	0.059	0.068
154	Tunisia`TUN`Northern Africa	0.191	0.095	0.134	0.127	0.198
155	Angola`AGO`Middle Africa	0.181	0.092	0.054	0.083	0.064
156	Equatorial Guinea`GNQ`Middle Africa	0.179	0.053	0.045	0.060	0.098
157	Somalia`SOM`Eastern Africa	0.172	0.094	0.080	0.113	0.042
158	Iran`IRN`Southern Asia	0.167	0.125	0.041	0.181	0.177
159	Uzbekistan`UZB`Central Asia	0.163	0.034	0.042	0.036	0.128
160	Oman`OMN`Western Asia	0.157	0.126	0.073	0.053	0.173
161	Vietnam`VNM`South-eastern Asia	0.149	0.105	0.168	0.184	0.195
162	Syria`SYR`Western Asia	0.144	0.050	0.047	0.025	0.107
163	Turkmenistan`TKM`Central Asia	0.141	0.025	0.042	0.021	0.097
164	Fiji`FJI`Melanesia	0.131	0.105	0.085	0.071	0.144
165	Eswatini`SWZ`Southern Africa	0.127	0.097	0.126	0.092	0.077
166	Cuba`CUB`Caribbean	0.105	0.039	0.042	0.076	0.222
167	Myanmar`MMR`South-eastern Asia	0.096	0.018	0.049	0.026	0.072
168	China`CHN`Eastern Asia	0.095	0.057	0.050	0.162	0.106
169	Laos`LAO`South-eastern Asia	0.090	0.088	0.091	0.041	0.095
170	North Korea`PRK`Eastern Asia	0.085	0.014	0.043	0.008	0.088
171	Libya`LBY`Northern Africa	0.072	0.045	0.044	0.039	0.125
172	United Arab Emirates`ARE`Western Asia	0.071	0.080	0.020	0.094	0.125
173	Eritrea`ERI`Eastern Africa	0.067	0.006	0.009	0.026	0.139
174	Qatar`QAT`Western Asia	0.041	0.097	0.032	0.077	0.112
175	Saudi Arabia`SAU`Western Asia	0.019	0.044	0.024	0.052	0.104

02In 2008

At either end

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

Highest

1Denmark0.921
2Sweden0.914
3Costa Rica0.908
4Germany0.902
5Greeceshared0.900

Lowest

175Saudi Arabia0.019
174Qatar0.041
173Eritrea0.067
172United Arab Emirates0.071
171Libya0.072

A higher value is the better result. The middle country reads 0.512. “Shared” marks a value another country also holds.

Each measure’s ends

Liberal democracy (0–1)
HighestDenmark0.895
LowestEritrea0.006
Middle country: 0.367
Participatory democracy (0–1)
HighestSwitzerland0.797
LowestEritrea0.009
Middle country: 0.318
Deliberative democracy (0–1)
HighestSweden0.880
LowestNorth Korea0.008
Middle country: 0.379
Egalitarian democracy (0–1)
HighestDenmark0.883
LowestSomalia0.042
Middle country: 0.335

032007 → 2008

Since 2007

What changed between 2007 and this one: who joined or left, and how far the headline moved.

+0 / −0countries joined / left
126values changed, of 175 in both
66 · 60rose · fell
49unchanged

Rose most

Bhutan0.133 → 0.491+0.358
Thailand0.181 → 0.402+0.221
Nepal0.274 → 0.478+0.204
Maldives0.308 → 0.459+0.151
Togo0.355 → 0.433+0.078

Fell most

Kenya0.511 → 0.415−0.096
South Korea0.834 → 0.759−0.075
Türkiye0.616 → 0.554−0.062
Mauritania0.450 → 0.400−0.050
Georgia0.539 → 0.495−0.044

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 2008.
157 distinct values among 175
Values are stored exactly as published, to 3 decimals. 2 countries share 0.900. 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 175 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
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175 rows · 8.8 KB · UTF-8, opens in Excel
Opens with 11 lines of source notes; the table starts on row 13.
Download vdem-democracy-2008-nations-inquiry.csv
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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 (2008). V-Dem Electoral Democracy Index, 2008 [data set], describing 2008. As held by Nations Inquiry, https://nationsinquiry.com/datasets/vdem-democracy/2008

0636 held

Other years

‹ The year before
V-Dem Electoral Democracy Index, 2007
175 countries
The year after ›
V-Dem Electoral Democracy Index, 2009
175 countries
All of them
V-Dem Electoral Democracy Index: every year
36 held, with the data dictionary, coverage and licence.
How it has moved, charted by country

07Questions