Democracy Index 2016

V-Dem liberal democracy rankings as they stood in 2016 — 179 countries scored 0–1, with changes versus one and ten years earlier.

Rank	Country	Score	1y change	10y change
1	Denmark	0.894	−0.002	−0.003
2	Sweden	0.884	+0.001	+0.007
3	Estonia	0.862	+0.015	+0.049
4	Norway	0.862	±0.000	−0.002
5	Switzerland	0.858	−0.002	+0.015
6	Costa Rica	0.855	+0.001	+0.004
7	Germany	0.850	+0.003	−0.019
8	Chile	0.840	±0.000	+0.001
9	Belgium	0.838	−0.002	+0.018
10	New Zealand	0.835	±0.000	+0.008
11	Uruguay	0.833	±0.000	+0.006
12	United States of America	0.832	−0.016	+0.025
13	Australia	0.832	+0.003	±0.000
14	Netherlands	0.832	±0.000	+0.018
15	Portugal	0.830	−0.001	−0.010
16	Finland	0.829	−0.001	−0.008
17	Ireland	0.819	−0.007	+0.008
18	France	0.813	±0.000	+0.016
19	Slovenia	0.796	−0.012	+0.059
20	Luxembourg	0.795	±0.000	+0.004
21	Italy	0.794	+0.007	+0.016
22	United Kingdom	0.788	−0.003	−0.017
23	Austria	0.781	−0.027	−0.011
24	Iceland	0.779	−0.003	−0.001
25	Greece	0.777	−0.005	−0.026
26	Czechia	0.773	−0.003	−0.055
27	Lithuania	0.772	−0.009	+0.013
28	Spain	0.767	+0.005	−0.038
29	Canada	0.765	+0.020	±0.000
30	Latvia	0.749	−0.007	+0.050
31	Japan	0.748	±0.000	−0.029
32	Cyprus	0.739	−0.001	+0.025
33	Slovakia	0.732	−0.001	+0.006
34	Taiwan	0.729	+0.048	+0.054
35	Cape Verde	0.718	±0.000	+0.025
36	Jamaica	0.690	+0.007	+0.051
37	Peru	0.665	−0.023	+0.012
38	Barbados	0.664	±0.000	+0.011
39	Brazil	0.662	−0.110	−0.116
40	Vanuatu	0.659	+0.022	+0.149
41	Croatia	0.653	−0.048	+0.019
42	Israel	0.649	−0.007	−0.042
43	South Africa	0.646	−0.003	−0.002
44	Trinidad and Tobago	0.638	−0.007	−0.004
45	Suriname	0.630	−0.007	−0.028
46	South Korea	0.628	+0.022	−0.144
47	Mauritius	0.624	−0.002	−0.019
48	Tunisia	0.623	−0.003	+0.527
49	Romania	0.623	+0.014	+0.152
50	Ghana	0.618	−0.015	−0.021
51	Argentina	0.616	+0.015	−0.005
52	Poland	0.593	−0.186	−0.212
53	Botswana	0.591	−0.001	−0.023
54	Namibia	0.587	+0.007	+0.043
55	Benin	0.582	+0.053	+0.045
56	Malta	0.581	−0.009	−0.027
57	Senegal	0.579	−0.009	+0.048
58	Sao Tome and Principe	0.569	−0.007	+0.030
59	Bulgaria	0.562	−0.006	−0.054
60	Colombia	0.557	±0.000	+0.104
61	Panama	0.557	±0.000	+0.002
62	Nepal	0.553	+0.021	+0.344
63	Mongolia	0.550	−0.001	−0.015
64	Georgia	0.518	+0.012	+0.140
65	Burkina Faso	0.507	+0.200	+0.163
66	Indonesia	0.500	−0.011	−0.040
67	Seychelles	0.493	+0.068	+0.140
68	Bhutan	0.477	−0.004	+0.309
69	Hungary	0.471	−0.007	−0.273
70	El Salvador	0.469	+0.004	+0.121
71	Timor-Leste	0.459	−0.012	+0.045
72	Guyana	0.458	+0.008	+0.087
73	Liberia	0.456	+0.005	−0.047
74	Niger	0.453	−0.034	+0.026
75	Guatemala	0.453	+0.020	+0.074
76	Kosovo	0.449	+0.003	+0.078
77	Solomon Islands	0.448	+0.005	+0.100
78	Sri Lanka	0.442	+0.047	+0.199
79	Albania	0.441	−0.001	−0.010
80	Malawi	0.440	−0.005	+0.070
81	Mexico	0.433	±0.000	−0.046
82	Moldova	0.430	−0.044	+0.089
83	Lesotho	0.429	−0.020	−0.026
84	Kenya	0.419	−0.003	+0.063
85	Paraguay	0.419	+0.002	−0.007
86	India	0.405	−0.017	−0.166
87	Nigeria	0.399	−0.002	+0.107
88	Bolivia	0.372	±0.000	−0.092
89	Montenegro	0.369	−0.006	−0.006
90	Philippines	0.367	−0.062	+0.017
91	Bosnia and Herzegovina	0.364	−0.005	−0.051
92	Ivory Coast	0.354	+0.030	+0.056
93	Tanzania	0.353	−0.039	−0.041
94	Mali	0.350	±0.000	−0.071
95	Papua New Guinea	0.343	+0.002	−0.062
96	Singapore	0.332	+0.007	+0.024
97	Zambia	0.330	−0.038	−0.089
98	Serbia	0.322	−0.024	−0.205
99	Sierra Leone	0.308	−0.004	−0.037
100	Guinea-Bissau	0.306	+0.001	+0.035
101	Kyrgyzstan	0.302	−0.012	+0.109
102	Lebanon	0.301	+0.002	+0.042
103	Dominican Republic	0.292	−0.008	−0.047
104	Hong Kong	0.289	−0.010	−0.031
105	Kuwait	0.288	+0.002	−0.006
106	Mozambique	0.285	−0.011	−0.023
107	Fiji	0.278	+0.010	+0.012
108	North Macedonia	0.278	+0.010	−0.172
109	Ecuador	0.268	+0.005	−0.193
110	Togo	0.268	+0.007	+0.086
111	Iraq	0.264	+0.009	+0.011
112	Pakistan	0.259	−0.008	+0.069
113	Comoros	0.253	+0.001	−0.004
114	Honduras	0.252	+0.010	−0.064
115	Somaliland	0.252	+0.006	+0.006
116	Madagascar	0.251	+0.002	−0.011
117	Haiti	0.237	+0.011	+0.041
118	Ukraine	0.236	+0.012	−0.143
119	Burma/Myanmar	0.233	+0.050	+0.216
120	Morocco	0.232	+0.003	+0.005
121	Uganda	0.230	−0.016	−0.032
122	Central African Republic	0.230	+0.049	+0.039
123	Gabon	0.230	+0.002	+0.025
124	Zanzibar	0.211	−0.021	−0.017
125	Armenia	0.204	±0.000	+0.017
126	Malaysia	0.204	−0.002	−0.006
127	Zimbabwe	0.201	−0.007	+0.051
128	Jordan	0.195	−0.028	−0.012
129	Afghanistan	0.190	−0.014	−0.009
130	Maldives	0.182	−0.005	+0.057
131	Mauritania	0.180	±0.000	+0.060
132	Libya	0.168	−0.002	+0.127
133	Palestine/West Bank	0.162	−0.001	−0.152
134	Guinea	0.160	±0.000	+0.047
135	Algeria	0.159	−0.007	±0.000
136	Türkiye	0.145	−0.088	−0.349
137	Oman	0.144	+0.001	+0.016
138	Cameroon	0.143	−0.011	−0.013
139	Iran	0.128	+0.002	+0.010
140	Democratic Republic of the Congo	0.126	−0.002	+0.006
141	Rwanda	0.126	−0.010	+0.003
142	Angola	0.124	+0.001	+0.037
143	Egypt	0.123	+0.028	−0.032
144	Vietnam	0.122	+0.004	+0.012
145	Nicaragua	0.121	−0.005	−0.200
146	Venezuela	0.117	+0.013	−0.050
147	Kazakhstan	0.117	+0.004	−0.006
148	Djibouti	0.114	−0.001	−0.001
149	Bangladesh	0.110	+0.001	−0.105
150	Somalia	0.110	−0.012	+0.015
151	The Gambia	0.109	+0.002	−0.007
152	Thailand	0.108	+0.002	−0.067
153	Belarus	0.108	+0.006	+0.013
154	Russia	0.106	−0.001	−0.042
155	Republic of the Congo	0.104	−0.002	+0.004
156	Cambodia	0.103	−0.011	−0.020
157	Ethiopia	0.100	−0.003	−0.010
158	Eswatini	0.096	±0.000	±0.000
159	Chad	0.093	±0.000	−0.003
160	Qatar	0.091	±0.000	−0.006
161	United Arab Emirates	0.091	+0.001	+0.020
162	Laos	0.075	+0.001	+0.001
163	Sudan	0.066	+0.001	+0.003
164	Palestine/Gaza	0.064	+0.001	—
165	Azerbaijan	0.061	−0.003	−0.012
166	Cuba	0.056	−0.001	+0.015
167	South Sudan	0.053	−0.013	—
168	Equatorial Guinea	0.052	+0.001	−0.002
169	China	0.049	−0.002	−0.005
170	Burundi	0.046	−0.016	−0.139
171	Saudi Arabia	0.045	−0.001	+0.003
172	Bahrain	0.044	+0.001	−0.047
173	Tajikistan	0.040	−0.004	−0.032
174	Uzbekistan	0.038	+0.002	+0.005
175	Yemen	0.037	−0.033	−0.114
176	Syria	0.026	+0.001	−0.025
177	Turkmenistan	0.025	±0.000	+0.011
178	North Korea	0.014	±0.000	±0.000
179	Eritrea	0.006	±0.000	±0.000

Frequently asked questions

Which countries are the most liberal democracies?

Denmark ranks #1 of 179 countries on the V-Dem liberal democracy index index in 2016, with the highest score of 0.894 on a 0–1 scale.

What are the top 3 countries for liberal democracy index in 2016?

In 2016, the top three of 179 ranked countries are Denmark (0.894), Sweden (0.884), and Estonia (0.862).

Which country ranks last on liberal democracy index in 2016?

Eritrea ranks #179 of 179 with a score of 0.006.

Which country changed most on liberal democracy index over the last decade?

Tunisia shows the largest 10-year shift: its score improved by 0.527 points over the past decade, standing at 0.623 (rank #48) in 2016.

How is the liberal democracy index index measured?

The index comes from the V-Dem (Varieties of Democracy) project and runs from 0 to 1. Higher scores are better. The 2016 edition covers 179 countries.