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🇧🇫 Burkina Faso: Politics & Democracy

By V-Dem's measure, no — Burkina Faso scores 10.3 on the 0–100 liberal democracy index, which places it firmly in the autocratic range.

Liberal democracy rank (2025)

#141 of 179

Score (0–100)

10.3

10-year change

−20.3

Full rankings →

Current leaders

Ibrahim Traoré

Head of State

since 2022-10-06

Apollinaire Joachim Kyélem de Tambèla

Head of Government

since 2022-01-23

Democracy trend

05010019192025
Burkina Faso — V-Dem liberal democracy index, 1919–2025 (0–100 scale). Latest: 10.3 in 2025.

Voting alignment

Burkina Faso's closest UN General Assembly voting partners since 1946:

Frequently asked questions

Is Burkina Faso a democracy?

By V-Dem's measure, no — Burkina Faso scores 10.3 on the 0–100 liberal democracy index, which places it firmly in the autocratic range. It ranks #141 of 179 countries in 2025.

Is democracy in Burkina Faso improving or declining?

Burkina Faso's V-Dem liberal democracy score has declined by 20.3 points over the past decade, standing at 10.3 in 2025 (1-year change: −2.3).

Who leads Burkina Faso?

Ibrahim Traoré is Burkina Faso's head of state; Apollinaire Joachim Kyélem de Tambèla serves as head of government.

More on Burkina Faso

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.