Democracy Index 2019

V-Dem liberal democracy rankings as they stood in 2019 — 179 countries scored 0–1, with changes versus one and ten years earlier.

Rank	Country	Score	1y change	10y change
1	Denmark	0.889	−0.004	−0.008
2	Sweden	0.871	−0.007	−0.010
3	Switzerland	0.866	−0.001	+0.014
4	Norway	0.853	+0.008	−0.012
5	Estonia	0.849	−0.013	+0.035
6	Costa Rica	0.843	+0.007	−0.012
7	Finland	0.842	−0.004	−0.001
8	Belgium	0.840	+0.003	−0.003
9	Uruguay	0.838	−0.001	+0.011
10	Germany	0.836	+0.002	−0.027
11	New Zealand	0.835	±0.000	−0.008
12	Ireland	0.827	+0.002	−0.001
13	Portugal	0.821	−0.028	−0.019
14	Netherlands	0.814	−0.017	−0.008
15	Spain	0.802	+0.026	−0.018
16	Austria	0.796	+0.012	−0.013
17	Luxembourg	0.795	±0.000	+0.001
18	France	0.793	−0.004	−0.021
19	United Kingdom	0.787	−0.022	−0.018
20	South Korea	0.784	−0.013	+0.115
21	Italy	0.783	−0.005	+0.012
22	Iceland	0.781	−0.014	−0.015
23	Australia	0.779	−0.034	−0.071
24	Canada	0.768	+0.003	+0.004
25	Greece	0.764	−0.006	−0.049
26	Chile	0.763	−0.042	−0.072
27	Japan	0.762	+0.002	−0.023
28	Lithuania	0.757	+0.007	−0.030
29	Latvia	0.746	+0.001	+0.052
30	Slovenia	0.744	−0.014	−0.051
31	Slovakia	0.742	+0.036	+0.005
32	United States of America	0.735	−0.007	−0.115
33	Taiwan	0.727	−0.007	+0.059
34	Cyprus	0.715	−0.008	−0.010
35	Czechia	0.712	−0.005	−0.109
36	Cape Verde	0.707	+0.007	+0.004
37	Jamaica	0.707	+0.014	+0.051
38	Peru	0.696	−0.003	+0.049
39	Barbados	0.664	+0.009	−0.006
40	Vanuatu	0.654	−0.016	+0.041
41	Trinidad and Tobago	0.640	+0.012	−0.006
42	Tunisia	0.629	−0.002	+0.533
43	Argentina	0.626	−0.011	+0.032
44	Israel	0.625	−0.007	−0.059
45	Croatia	0.624	+0.007	−0.032
46	Armenia	0.623	+0.219	+0.443
47	South Africa	0.617	−0.022	−0.033
48	Ghana	0.613	−0.019	−0.046
49	Mauritius	0.594	−0.035	−0.047
50	Suriname	0.593	−0.029	−0.065
51	Malta	0.583	+0.020	−0.055
52	Sao Tome and Principe	0.576	+0.034	+0.039
53	Botswana	0.559	−0.018	−0.056
54	Romania	0.553	+0.070	+0.019
55	Senegal	0.544	+0.002	+0.029
56	Brazil	0.543	−0.074	−0.230
57	Mongolia	0.543	+0.007	−0.001
58	Panama	0.537	−0.002	−0.022
59	Seychelles	0.527	+0.010	+0.159
60	Timor-Leste	0.524	+0.017	+0.044
61	Bhutan	0.522	+0.024	+0.014
62	Colombia	0.515	−0.023	+0.043
63	Namibia	0.513	−0.051	−0.025
64	Bulgaria	0.510	−0.004	−0.082
65	Poland	0.508	−0.015	−0.323
66	Kosovo	0.495	+0.024	+0.121
67	Lesotho	0.494	+0.047	+0.074
68	Solomon Islands	0.486	+0.021	+0.065
69	Burkina Faso	0.482	−0.009	+0.145
70	Georgia	0.481	−0.039	+0.138
71	Nepal	0.475	−0.043	+0.010
72	Indonesia	0.462	−0.002	−0.066
73	Ecuador	0.450	−0.010	+0.118
74	Moldova	0.441	+0.048	+0.084
75	Guyana	0.438	−0.019	+0.066
76	Mexico	0.434	−0.021	−0.026
77	Sri Lanka	0.430	−0.049	+0.196
78	Albania	0.424	−0.008	−0.027
79	The Gambia	0.422	+0.005	+0.308
80	Guatemala	0.421	+0.006	+0.016
81	Paraguay	0.420	+0.004	−0.085
82	North Macedonia	0.414	+0.024	+0.030
83	Malawi	0.409	−0.034	+0.010
84	Liberia	0.408	−0.021	−0.102
85	Maldives	0.408	+0.216	+0.008
86	Niger	0.396	−0.007	+0.121
87	Kenya	0.394	+0.003	+0.090
88	El Salvador	0.393	−0.039	−0.006
89	Sierra Leone	0.384	+0.008	+0.060
90	Nigeria	0.364	−0.024	+0.063
91	Hungary	0.364	−0.009	−0.402
92	Montenegro	0.359	−0.001	−0.038
93	Bosnia and Herzegovina	0.347	±0.000	−0.026
94	Papua New Guinea	0.346	−0.003	−0.022
95	Guinea-Bissau	0.338	+0.016	+0.065
96	Benin	0.336	−0.142	−0.187
97	Malaysia	0.335	+0.020	+0.118
98	Tanzania	0.330	−0.002	−0.065
99	Ivory Coast	0.328	−0.020	+0.031
100	Singapore	0.328	−0.005	+0.018
101	India	0.322	−0.038	−0.223
102	Mali	0.318	+0.013	−0.090
103	Ukraine	0.313	+0.068	−0.083
104	Kyrgyzstan	0.309	−0.016	+0.152
105	Zambia	0.305	+0.011	−0.117
106	Kuwait	0.296	+0.003	+0.003
107	Philippines	0.295	−0.021	−0.058
108	Dominican Republic	0.289	+0.003	−0.052
109	Serbia	0.279	−0.005	−0.252
110	Lebanon	0.277	−0.013	+0.002
111	Fiji	0.267	−0.018	+0.169
112	Hong Kong	0.264	−0.010	−0.059
113	Madagascar	0.258	−0.017	+0.155
114	Burma/Myanmar	0.255	+0.016	+0.237
115	Bolivia	0.254	−0.091	−0.183
116	Mozambique	0.249	−0.012	−0.054
117	Iraq	0.246	−0.010	−0.036
118	Somaliland	0.246	−0.003	+0.001
119	Jordan	0.239	−0.003	+0.032
120	Morocco	0.239	−0.003	+0.014
121	Pakistan	0.236	−0.018	−0.024
122	Haiti	0.231	−0.009	−0.047
123	Honduras	0.231	−0.001	−0.047
124	Uganda	0.221	±0.000	−0.039
125	Zanzibar	0.217	−0.006	−0.016
126	Central African Republic	0.214	−0.031	+0.023
127	Gabon	0.205	−0.009	−0.001
128	Togo	0.200	−0.022	−0.036
129	Zimbabwe	0.197	−0.014	+0.020
130	Palestine/West Bank	0.193	+0.016	+0.053
131	Thailand	0.189	+0.074	−0.153
132	Mauritania	0.186	+0.017	−0.003
133	Afghanistan	0.165	−0.014	−0.033
134	Angola	0.162	±0.000	+0.062
135	Ethiopia	0.160	+0.028	+0.047
136	Libya	0.147	−0.003	+0.106
137	Algeria	0.145	−0.011	−0.012
138	Democratic Republic of the Congo	0.145	+0.023	−0.012
139	Oman	0.144	+0.002	+0.015
140	Guinea	0.138	−0.013	+0.084
141	Djibouti	0.124	+0.010	+0.011
142	Egypt	0.121	+0.008	−0.036
143	Cameroon	0.121	−0.006	−0.035
144	Comoros	0.120	−0.051	−0.134
145	Vietnam	0.119	+0.003	+0.008
146	Iran	0.119	−0.005	+0.006
147	Rwanda	0.118	+0.002	−0.010
148	Türkiye	0.113	+0.004	−0.300
149	Kazakhstan	0.113	+0.004	−0.011
150	Belarus	0.111	−0.001	+0.013
151	Eswatini	0.111	−0.001	+0.014
152	Republic of the Congo	0.105	−0.008	+0.008
153	Somalia	0.103	−0.003	+0.009
154	Russia	0.102	−0.002	−0.038
155	Bangladesh	0.095	−0.005	−0.101
156	Laos	0.095	+0.017	+0.021
157	United Arab Emirates	0.090	−0.003	+0.009
158	Chad	0.089	+0.010	−0.008
159	Qatar	0.085	−0.006	−0.013
160	Uzbekistan	0.077	+0.011	+0.043
161	Sudan	0.074	+0.006	+0.011
162	Palestine/Gaza	0.068	+0.029	−0.023
163	Cambodia	0.067	−0.005	−0.052
164	South Sudan	0.064	+0.013	—
165	Venezuela	0.062	−0.002	−0.096
166	Azerbaijan	0.062	+0.003	−0.010
167	Cuba	0.061	+0.001	+0.011
168	Burundi	0.053	+0.009	−0.120
169	Equatorial Guinea	0.052	±0.000	−0.001
170	Bahrain	0.050	+0.007	−0.037
171	Nicaragua	0.047	−0.004	−0.151
172	China	0.045	−0.003	−0.010
173	Saudi Arabia	0.045	+0.002	±0.000
174	Tajikistan	0.043	−0.006	−0.029
175	Yemen	0.038	+0.004	−0.113
176	Turkmenistan	0.035	+0.005	+0.012
177	Syria	0.027	+0.001	−0.023
178	North Korea	0.014	±0.000	±0.000
179	Eritrea	0.009	+0.002	+0.004

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 2019, with the highest score of 0.889 on a 0–1 scale.

What are the top 3 countries for liberal democracy index in 2019?

In 2019, the top three of 179 ranked countries are Denmark (0.889), Sweden (0.871), and Switzerland (0.866).

Which country ranks last on liberal democracy index in 2019?

Eritrea ranks #179 of 179 with a score of 0.009.

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

Tunisia shows the largest 10-year shift: its score improved by 0.533 points over the past decade, standing at 0.629 (rank #42) in 2019.

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 2019 edition covers 179 countries.