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๐Ÿ‡ง๐Ÿ‡ญ Bahrain: Politics & Democracy

By V-Dem's measure, no โ€” Bahrain scores 6.2 on the 0โ€“100 liberal democracy index, which places it firmly in the autocratic range.

Liberal democracy rank (2025)

#158 of 179

Score (0โ€“100)

6.2

10-year change

+1.1

Full rankings โ†’

Current leaders

Hamad II of Bahrain

Head of State

since 1999-03-06

Salman bin Hamad, Crown Prince of Bahrain

Head of Government

since 2020-11-11

Democracy trend

05010020022025
Bahrain โ€” V-Dem liberal democracy index, 2002โ€“2025 (0โ€“100 scale). Latest: 6.2 in 2025.

Upcoming elections

2026 Bahraini general election

2026-11-30T00:00:00Z

Voting alignment

Bahrain's closest UN General Assembly voting partners since 1946:

Frequently asked questions

Is Bahrain a democracy?

By V-Dem's measure, no โ€” Bahrain scores 6.2 on the 0โ€“100 liberal democracy index, which places it firmly in the autocratic range. It ranks #158 of 179 countries in 2025.

Is democracy in Bahrain improving or declining?

Bahrain's V-Dem liberal democracy score has improved by 1.1 points over the past decade, standing at 6.2 in 2025 (1-year change: 0.0).

Who leads Bahrain?

Hamad II of Bahrain is Bahrain's head of state; Salman bin Hamad, Crown Prince of Bahrain serves as head of government.

When is the next election in Bahrain?

2026 Bahraini general election is scheduled for 2026-11-30T00:00:00Z.

More on Bahrain

Data source: Coppedge, Michael et al. 'V-Dem Country-Year Dataset v15', Varieties of Democracy (V-Dem) Project, https://www.v-dem.net, CC BY 4.0.