Democracy Index 2017

V-Dem liberal democracy rankings as they stood in 2017 — 179 countries scored 0–1, with changes versus one and ten years earlier.

Rank	Country	Score	1y change	10y change
1	Denmark	0.893	−0.001	−0.004
2	Sweden	0.884	±0.000	+0.003
3	Switzerland	0.867	+0.009	+0.022
4	Estonia	0.861	−0.001	+0.048
5	Norway	0.860	−0.002	−0.004
6	Costa Rica	0.852	−0.003	−0.003
7	Portugal	0.847	+0.017	+0.007
8	Germany	0.843	−0.007	−0.026
9	Chile	0.842	+0.002	±0.000
10	Finland	0.839	+0.010	−0.003
11	Belgium	0.837	−0.001	+0.004
12	Netherlands	0.835	+0.003	+0.013
13	New Zealand	0.829	−0.006	+0.002
14	Uruguay	0.826	−0.007	−0.001
15	Australia	0.825	−0.007	−0.011
16	Ireland	0.822	+0.003	±0.000
17	France	0.815	+0.002	+0.010
18	United Kingdom	0.804	+0.016	−0.001
19	South Korea	0.795	+0.167	+0.025
20	Italy	0.795	+0.001	+0.006
21	Luxembourg	0.795	±0.000	+0.004
22	Austria	0.785	+0.004	−0.024
23	Iceland	0.782	+0.003	−0.006
24	Greece	0.775	−0.002	−0.030
25	Slovenia	0.773	−0.023	+0.032
26	Canada	0.769	+0.004	+0.003
27	Spain	0.756	−0.011	−0.048
28	Lithuania	0.749	−0.023	−0.011
29	Japan	0.747	−0.001	−0.030
30	Latvia	0.746	−0.003	+0.062
31	United States of America	0.745	−0.087	−0.096
32	Czechia	0.741	−0.032	−0.089
33	Cyprus	0.733	−0.006	+0.005
34	Taiwan	0.732	+0.003	+0.055
35	Slovakia	0.726	−0.006	−0.004
36	Cape Verde	0.706	−0.012	+0.008
37	Jamaica	0.704	+0.014	+0.057
38	Peru	0.677	+0.012	+0.027
39	Vanuatu	0.672	+0.013	+0.162
40	Barbados	0.655	−0.009	+0.001
41	Brazil	0.647	−0.015	−0.126
42	Israel	0.637	−0.012	−0.051
43	Ghana	0.636	+0.018	−0.004
44	Trinidad and Tobago	0.634	−0.004	−0.008
45	Suriname	0.632	+0.002	−0.025
46	Tunisia	0.632	+0.009	+0.536
47	South Africa	0.627	−0.019	−0.024
48	Croatia	0.625	−0.028	−0.017
49	Mauritius	0.618	−0.006	−0.025
50	Argentina	0.612	−0.004	−0.005
51	Benin	0.598	+0.016	+0.068
52	Namibia	0.575	−0.012	+0.034
53	Malta	0.569	−0.012	−0.037
54	Botswana	0.567	−0.024	−0.050
55	Senegal	0.555	−0.024	+0.035
56	Colombia	0.554	−0.003	+0.086
57	Sao Tome and Principe	0.554	−0.015	+0.017
58	Panama	0.552	−0.005	−0.003
59	Nepal	0.551	−0.002	+0.275
60	Poland	0.544	−0.049	−0.260
61	Mongolia	0.540	−0.010	−0.025
62	Bulgaria	0.526	−0.036	−0.090
63	Romania	0.526	−0.097	+0.043
64	Burkina Faso	0.511	+0.004	+0.172
65	Seychelles	0.509	+0.016	+0.141
66	Georgia	0.503	−0.015	+0.132
67	Timor-Leste	0.489	+0.030	+0.020
68	Indonesia	0.486	−0.014	−0.057
69	Bhutan	0.485	+0.008	+0.310
70	El Salvador	0.469	±0.000	+0.119
71	Solomon Islands	0.464	+0.016	+0.042
72	Liberia	0.460	+0.004	−0.051
73	Guatemala	0.459	+0.006	+0.068
74	Malawi	0.454	+0.014	+0.085
75	Guyana	0.454	−0.004	+0.083
76	Sri Lanka	0.442	±0.000	+0.205
77	Albania	0.440	−0.001	−0.008
78	Mexico	0.439	+0.006	−0.013
79	Hungary	0.435	−0.036	−0.333
80	Niger	0.424	−0.029	−0.006
81	Paraguay	0.416	−0.003	−0.029
82	Kenya	0.406	−0.013	+0.053
83	Kosovo	0.403	−0.046	+0.036
84	Moldova	0.397	−0.033	+0.055
85	The Gambia	0.390	+0.281	+0.276
86	Nigeria	0.387	−0.012	+0.092
87	North Macedonia	0.383	+0.105	−0.057
88	Lesotho	0.375	−0.054	−0.047
89	Bolivia	0.366	−0.006	−0.096
90	India	0.366	−0.039	−0.205
91	Bosnia and Herzegovina	0.364	±0.000	−0.013
92	Montenegro	0.359	−0.010	−0.027
93	Tanzania	0.346	−0.007	−0.049
94	Philippines	0.342	−0.025	−0.014
95	Ivory Coast	0.342	−0.012	+0.043
96	Ecuador	0.342	+0.074	−0.067
97	Papua New Guinea	0.340	−0.003	−0.046
98	Singapore	0.340	+0.008	+0.034
99	Sierra Leone	0.337	+0.029	−0.009
100	Mali	0.326	−0.024	−0.086
101	Guinea-Bissau	0.304	−0.002	+0.031
102	Lebanon	0.302	+0.001	+0.041
103	Kyrgyzstan	0.301	−0.001	+0.129
104	Kuwait	0.296	+0.008	+0.004
105	Zambia	0.293	−0.037	−0.129
106	Serbia	0.292	−0.030	−0.236
107	Fiji	0.287	+0.009	+0.179
108	Hong Kong	0.282	−0.007	−0.038
109	Dominican Republic	0.280	−0.012	−0.064
110	Mozambique	0.269	−0.016	−0.041
111	Pakistan	0.257	−0.002	+0.068
112	Madagascar	0.253	+0.002	−0.015
113	Somaliland	0.253	+0.001	+0.008
114	Iraq	0.249	−0.015	−0.032
115	Togo	0.244	−0.024	+0.047
116	Honduras	0.241	−0.011	−0.074
117	Morocco	0.240	+0.008	+0.012
118	Ukraine	0.240	+0.004	−0.156
119	Jordan	0.237	+0.042	+0.030
120	Haiti	0.235	−0.002	−0.050
121	Burma/Myanmar	0.234	+0.001	+0.217
122	Gabon	0.234	+0.004	+0.029
123	Central African Republic	0.231	+0.001	+0.040
124	Uganda	0.223	−0.007	−0.043
125	Zimbabwe	0.221	+0.020	+0.071
126	Armenia	0.221	+0.017	+0.032
127	Zanzibar	0.218	+0.007	−0.012
128	Malaysia	0.209	+0.005	−0.001
129	Comoros	0.194	−0.059	−0.064
130	Afghanistan	0.187	−0.003	−0.013
131	Maldives	0.175	−0.007	+0.049
132	Palestine/West Bank	0.170	+0.008	−0.010
133	Libya	0.164	−0.004	+0.122
134	Guinea	0.160	±0.000	+0.041
135	Mauritania	0.158	−0.022	−0.077
136	Algeria	0.155	−0.004	−0.003
137	Angola	0.142	+0.018	+0.054
138	Oman	0.142	−0.002	+0.013
139	Cameroon	0.136	−0.007	−0.019
140	Iran	0.126	−0.002	+0.009
141	Somalia	0.124	+0.014	+0.028
142	Vietnam	0.118	−0.004	+0.007
143	Democratic Republic of the Congo	0.118	−0.008	−0.033
144	Egypt	0.116	−0.007	−0.040
145	Rwanda	0.114	−0.012	−0.009
146	Kazakhstan	0.113	−0.004	−0.010
147	Djibouti	0.111	−0.003	−0.004
148	Belarus	0.109	+0.001	+0.013
149	Bangladesh	0.107	−0.003	+0.004
150	Russia	0.106	±0.000	−0.040
151	Thailand	0.105	−0.003	−0.081
152	Republic of the Congo	0.105	+0.001	+0.006
153	Türkiye	0.104	−0.041	−0.367
154	Nicaragua	0.103	−0.018	−0.115
155	Ethiopia	0.099	−0.001	−0.013
156	Eswatini	0.097	+0.001	+0.002
157	United Arab Emirates	0.091	±0.000	+0.011
158	Qatar	0.088	−0.003	−0.010
159	Chad	0.085	−0.008	−0.011
160	Venezuela	0.082	−0.035	−0.079
161	Laos	0.081	+0.006	+0.007
162	Cambodia	0.079	−0.024	−0.043
163	Sudan	0.075	+0.009	+0.011
164	Azerbaijan	0.067	+0.006	−0.006
165	South Sudan	0.059	+0.006	—
166	Cuba	0.058	+0.002	+0.017
167	Palestine/Gaza	0.056	−0.008	−0.033
168	Uzbekistan	0.052	+0.014	+0.018
169	Equatorial Guinea	0.050	−0.002	−0.004
170	China	0.048	−0.001	−0.006
171	Burundi	0.047	+0.001	−0.135
172	Saudi Arabia	0.044	−0.001	+0.002
173	Tajikistan	0.043	+0.003	−0.028
174	Bahrain	0.042	−0.002	−0.045
175	Yemen	0.035	−0.002	−0.115
176	Syria	0.027	+0.001	−0.023
177	Turkmenistan	0.027	+0.002	+0.004
178	North Korea	0.014	±0.000	±0.000
179	Eritrea	0.007	+0.001	+0.002

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 2017, with the highest score of 0.893 on a 0–1 scale.

What are the top 3 countries for liberal democracy index in 2017?

In 2017, the top three of 179 ranked countries are Denmark (0.893), Sweden (0.884), and Switzerland (0.867).

Which country ranks last on liberal democracy index in 2017?

Eritrea ranks #179 of 179 with a score of 0.007.

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

Tunisia shows the largest 10-year shift: its score improved by 0.536 points over the past decade, standing at 0.632 (rank #46) in 2017.

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 2017 edition covers 179 countries.