Democracy Index 2020

V-Dem liberal democracy rankings as they stood in 2020 — 179 countries scored 0–1, with changes versus one and ten years earlier.

Rank	Country	Score	1y change	10y change
1	Denmark	0.886	−0.003	−0.011
2	Sweden	0.870	−0.001	−0.012
3	Switzerland	0.856	−0.010	+0.005
4	Costa Rica	0.848	+0.005	−0.011
5	Estonia	0.843	−0.006	+0.011
6	Finland	0.842	±0.000	−0.001
7	Norway	0.832	−0.021	−0.036
8	New Zealand	0.829	−0.006	−0.016
9	Belgium	0.828	−0.012	−0.011
10	Ireland	0.827	±0.000	−0.001
11	Germany	0.824	−0.012	−0.038
12	Uruguay	0.810	−0.028	−0.038
13	Portugal	0.807	−0.014	−0.036
14	Netherlands	0.806	−0.008	−0.020
15	United Kingdom	0.800	+0.013	−0.003
16	Australia	0.797	+0.018	−0.063
17	South Korea	0.790	+0.006	+0.120
18	France	0.789	−0.004	−0.025
19	Austria	0.789	−0.007	−0.016
20	Spain	0.788	−0.014	−0.034
21	Luxembourg	0.788	−0.007	−0.008
22	Iceland	0.785	+0.004	−0.015
23	Italy	0.780	−0.003	+0.005
24	Chile	0.765	+0.002	−0.073
25	Slovakia	0.760	+0.018	+0.008
26	Canada	0.750	−0.018	−0.013
27	Lithuania	0.750	−0.007	−0.041
28	Japan	0.748	−0.014	−0.035
29	Latvia	0.739	−0.007	+0.040
30	United States of America	0.725	−0.010	−0.125
31	Taiwan	0.720	−0.007	+0.050
32	Czechia	0.719	+0.007	−0.091
33	Peru	0.709	+0.013	+0.055
34	Jamaica	0.705	−0.002	+0.049
35	Cape Verde	0.698	−0.009	−0.001
36	Cyprus	0.693	−0.022	−0.043
37	Barbados	0.680	+0.016	+0.012
38	Greece	0.670	−0.094	−0.144
39	Slovenia	0.668	−0.076	−0.127
40	Romania	0.665	+0.112	+0.115
41	Croatia	0.660	+0.036	−0.074
42	Vanuatu	0.653	−0.001	+0.036
43	Argentina	0.644	+0.018	+0.053
44	Suriname	0.641	+0.048	+0.004
45	Israel	0.641	+0.016	−0.031
46	Trinidad and Tobago	0.632	−0.008	−0.022
47	Malta	0.624	+0.041	−0.016
48	Tunisia	0.618	−0.011	+0.511
49	Ghana	0.606	−0.007	−0.065
50	South Africa	0.606	−0.011	−0.056
51	Armenia	0.584	−0.039	+0.396
52	Sao Tome and Principe	0.581	+0.005	+0.024
53	Seychelles	0.579	+0.052	+0.205
54	Senegal	0.574	+0.030	+0.045
55	Panama	0.550	+0.013	−0.012
56	Brazil	0.540	−0.003	−0.238
57	Moldova	0.526	+0.085	+0.019
58	Mongolia	0.519	−0.024	−0.044
59	Bhutan	0.518	−0.004	+0.010
60	Namibia	0.516	+0.003	−0.008
61	Lesotho	0.509	+0.015	+0.076
62	Bulgaria	0.498	−0.012	−0.073
63	Colombia	0.497	−0.018	−0.004
64	Timor-Leste	0.490	−0.034	±0.000
65	Kosovo	0.489	−0.006	+0.101
66	Burkina Faso	0.487	+0.005	+0.133
67	Botswana	0.482	−0.077	−0.139
68	Nepal	0.478	+0.003	+0.015
69	Ecuador	0.473	+0.023	+0.162
70	Georgia	0.471	−0.010	+0.127
71	Solomon Islands	0.464	−0.022	+0.039
72	Malawi	0.463	+0.054	+0.056
73	Mauritius	0.451	−0.143	−0.204
74	Poland	0.449	−0.059	−0.382
75	Albania	0.440	+0.016	−0.009
76	Paraguay	0.429	+0.009	−0.081
77	Maldives	0.425	+0.017	+0.032
78	Liberia	0.419	+0.011	−0.071
79	Sierra Leone	0.419	+0.035	+0.091
80	Indonesia	0.415	−0.047	−0.127
81	Mexico	0.406	−0.028	−0.064
82	Guatemala	0.406	−0.015	+0.007
83	The Gambia	0.405	−0.017	+0.291
84	Niger	0.404	+0.008	+0.219
85	North Macedonia	0.404	−0.010	+0.030
86	Dominican Republic	0.400	+0.111	+0.061
87	Kenya	0.398	+0.004	+0.041
88	Guyana	0.393	−0.045	+0.022
89	Montenegro	0.378	+0.019	−0.023
90	Sri Lanka	0.368	−0.062	+0.125
91	Hungary	0.358	−0.006	−0.318
92	Papua New Guinea	0.353	+0.007	−0.007
93	Nigeria	0.346	−0.018	+0.032
94	Bosnia and Herzegovina	0.340	−0.007	−0.038
95	Guinea-Bissau	0.338	±0.000	+0.065
96	Tanzania	0.336	+0.006	−0.063
97	Singapore	0.325	−0.003	+0.016
98	Ukraine	0.323	+0.010	+0.058
99	El Salvador	0.314	−0.079	−0.113
100	Malaysia	0.307	−0.028	+0.090
101	India	0.293	−0.029	−0.246
102	Zambia	0.293	−0.012	−0.132
103	Kuwait	0.289	−0.007	−0.002
104	Philippines	0.286	−0.009	−0.127
105	Benin	0.283	−0.053	−0.241
106	Lebanon	0.277	±0.000	−0.001
107	Fiji	0.273	+0.006	+0.166
108	Mali	0.268	−0.050	−0.137
109	Ivory Coast	0.265	−0.063	−0.038
110	Burma/Myanmar	0.261	+0.006	+0.229
111	Madagascar	0.260	+0.002	+0.179
112	Pakistan	0.255	+0.019	−0.034
113	Kyrgyzstan	0.252	−0.057	−0.002
114	Somaliland	0.248	+0.002	−0.007
115	Togo	0.243	+0.043	+0.006
116	Serbia	0.242	−0.037	−0.266
117	Jordan	0.241	+0.002	+0.030
118	Iraq	0.233	−0.013	−0.043
119	Honduras	0.232	+0.001	−0.003
120	Morocco	0.232	−0.007	−0.001
121	Bolivia	0.230	−0.024	−0.172
122	Uganda	0.230	+0.009	−0.030
123	Mozambique	0.229	−0.020	−0.066
124	Zanzibar	0.219	+0.002	−0.023
125	Haiti	0.216	−0.015	−0.041
126	Mauritania	0.207	+0.021	−0.017
127	Hong Kong	0.207	−0.057	−0.114
128	Central African Republic	0.201	−0.013	+0.009
129	Gabon	0.201	−0.004	−0.008
130	Zimbabwe	0.192	−0.005	−0.005
131	Thailand	0.185	−0.004	−0.150
132	Afghanistan	0.168	+0.003	−0.028
133	Angola	0.160	−0.002	+0.061
134	Democratic Republic of the Congo	0.155	+0.010	−0.001
135	Ethiopia	0.153	−0.007	+0.044
136	Algeria	0.146	+0.001	−0.010
137	Palestine/West Bank	0.146	−0.047	+0.004
138	Libya	0.144	−0.003	+0.101
139	Oman	0.138	−0.006	+0.008
140	Cameroon	0.128	+0.007	−0.026
141	Djibouti	0.122	−0.002	+0.008
142	Egypt	0.121	±0.000	−0.034
143	Republic of the Congo	0.121	+0.016	+0.025
144	Kazakhstan	0.118	+0.005	−0.004
145	Türkiye	0.117	+0.004	−0.255
146	Rwanda	0.116	−0.002	−0.014
147	Iran	0.113	−0.006	+0.005
148	Comoros	0.112	−0.008	−0.144
149	Eswatini	0.111	±0.000	+0.017
150	Guinea	0.109	−0.029	+0.020
151	Vietnam	0.108	−0.011	−0.003
152	Somalia	0.105	+0.002	+0.003
153	Bangladesh	0.097	+0.002	−0.076
154	Russia	0.095	−0.007	−0.041
155	Chad	0.089	±0.000	−0.010
156	United Arab Emirates	0.089	−0.001	+0.007
157	Qatar	0.087	+0.002	−0.011
158	Uzbekistan	0.085	+0.008	+0.049
159	Laos	0.079	−0.016	+0.005
160	South Sudan	0.069	+0.005	—
161	Cambodia	0.065	−0.002	−0.052
162	Azerbaijan	0.065	+0.003	−0.005
163	Sudan	0.060	−0.014	−0.007
164	Cuba	0.060	−0.001	+0.010
165	Venezuela	0.058	−0.004	−0.097
166	Burundi	0.051	−0.002	−0.092
167	Bahrain	0.051	+0.001	−0.032
168	Equatorial Guinea	0.051	−0.001	+0.001
169	Palestine/Gaza	0.048	−0.020	−0.048
170	Belarus	0.046	−0.065	−0.050
171	Nicaragua	0.045	−0.002	−0.148
172	Saudi Arabia	0.045	±0.000	±0.000
173	Tajikistan	0.043	±0.000	−0.024
174	China	0.041	−0.004	−0.013
175	Yemen	0.034	−0.004	−0.120
176	Syria	0.033	+0.006	−0.017
177	Turkmenistan	0.033	−0.002	+0.010
178	North Korea	0.014	±0.000	±0.000
179	Eritrea	0.010	+0.001	+0.005

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 2020, with the highest score of 0.886 on a 0–1 scale.

What are the top 3 countries for liberal democracy index in 2020?

In 2020, the top three of 179 ranked countries are Denmark (0.886), Sweden (0.870), and Switzerland (0.856).

Which country ranks last on liberal democracy index in 2020?

Eritrea ranks #179 of 179 with a score of 0.010.

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

Tunisia shows the largest 10-year shift: its score improved by 0.511 points over the past decade, standing at 0.618 (rank #48) in 2020.

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 2020 edition covers 179 countries.