Democracy Index 2021

V-Dem liberal democracy rankings as they stood in 2021 — 179 countries scored 0–1, with changes versus one and ten years earlier.

Rank	Country	Score	1y change	10y change
1	Denmark	0.887	+0.001	−0.009
2	Sweden	0.869	−0.001	−0.015
3	Estonia	0.855	+0.012	+0.024
4	Switzerland	0.851	−0.005	−0.002
5	Costa Rica	0.844	−0.004	−0.017
6	Finland	0.836	−0.006	−0.008
7	Norway	0.836	+0.004	−0.034
8	Ireland	0.835	+0.008	+0.012
9	Belgium	0.829	+0.001	−0.008
10	New Zealand	0.817	−0.012	−0.025
11	Germany	0.816	−0.008	−0.051
12	Portugal	0.811	+0.004	−0.021
13	Netherlands	0.810	+0.004	−0.018
14	Uruguay	0.795	−0.015	−0.052
15	France	0.788	−0.001	−0.027
16	Luxembourg	0.788	±0.000	−0.008
17	Australia	0.785	−0.012	−0.079
18	Austria	0.783	−0.006	−0.023
19	United Kingdom	0.782	−0.018	−0.021
20	South Korea	0.781	−0.009	+0.111
21	Italy	0.781	+0.001	−0.003
22	Spain	0.778	−0.010	−0.044
23	Chile	0.777	+0.012	−0.063
24	Slovakia	0.758	−0.002	+0.004
25	Canada	0.756	+0.006	+0.010
26	United States of America	0.752	+0.027	−0.096
27	Iceland	0.749	−0.036	−0.048
28	Latvia	0.744	+0.005	+0.019
29	Lithuania	0.739	−0.011	−0.050
30	Japan	0.738	−0.010	−0.045
31	Taiwan	0.710	−0.010	+0.040
32	Czechia	0.706	−0.013	−0.108
33	Jamaica	0.695	−0.010	+0.040
34	Cape Verde	0.679	−0.019	−0.027
35	Barbados	0.676	−0.004	+0.008
36	Vanuatu	0.665	+0.012	+0.048
37	Peru	0.661	−0.048	−0.005
38	Cyprus	0.657	−0.036	−0.078
39	Israel	0.654	+0.013	−0.018
40	Croatia	0.652	−0.008	−0.095
41	Suriname	0.643	+0.002	+0.014
42	Trinidad and Tobago	0.642	+0.010	−0.017
43	Argentina	0.640	−0.004	+0.052
44	Greece	0.636	−0.034	−0.181
45	Seychelles	0.632	+0.053	+0.256
46	Malta	0.630	+0.006	−0.010
47	Moldova	0.624	+0.098	+0.061
48	Slovenia	0.624	−0.044	−0.165
49	Romania	0.608	−0.057	+0.057
50	South Africa	0.607	+0.001	−0.051
51	Sao Tome and Principe	0.575	−0.006	+0.010
52	Senegal	0.564	−0.010	+0.035
53	Ghana	0.560	−0.046	−0.111
54	Bulgaria	0.553	+0.055	−0.012
55	Panama	0.549	−0.001	−0.013
56	Armenia	0.538	−0.046	+0.349
57	Brazil	0.532	−0.008	−0.254
58	Malawi	0.526	+0.063	+0.120
59	Namibia	0.508	−0.008	−0.025
60	Colombia	0.502	+0.005	−0.040
61	Timor-Leste	0.500	+0.010	+0.010
62	Lesotho	0.497	−0.012	+0.058
63	Nepal	0.494	+0.016	+0.023
64	Mongolia	0.492	−0.027	−0.074
65	Bhutan	0.490	−0.028	−0.018
66	Kosovo	0.489	±0.000	+0.112
67	Botswana	0.480	−0.002	−0.140
68	Solomon Islands	0.472	+0.008	+0.039
69	Tunisia	0.461	−0.157	+0.213
70	Ecuador	0.458	−0.015	+0.147
71	Georgia	0.456	−0.015	+0.109
72	Burkina Faso	0.455	−0.032	+0.097
73	Dominican Republic	0.444	+0.044	+0.122
74	Albania	0.438	−0.002	−0.011
75	Paraguay	0.432	+0.003	−0.069
76	Sierra Leone	0.428	+0.009	+0.100
77	Kenya	0.427	+0.029	+0.069
78	Mauritius	0.425	−0.026	−0.230
79	Maldives	0.423	−0.002	+0.030
80	Poland	0.419	−0.030	−0.414
81	Montenegro	0.417	+0.039	+0.017
82	The Gambia	0.415	+0.010	+0.301
83	Liberia	0.407	−0.012	−0.082
84	Indonesia	0.400	−0.015	−0.138
85	Niger	0.398	−0.006	+0.010
86	North Macedonia	0.389	−0.015	+0.046
87	Sri Lanka	0.388	+0.020	+0.146
88	Mexico	0.370	−0.036	−0.099
89	Bolivia	0.366	+0.136	−0.034
90	Guatemala	0.359	−0.047	−0.034
91	Papua New Guinea	0.347	−0.006	−0.006
92	Hungary	0.345	−0.013	−0.297
93	Guyana	0.342	−0.051	−0.030
94	Zambia	0.339	+0.046	−0.081
95	Bosnia and Herzegovina	0.335	−0.005	−0.046
96	Guinea-Bissau	0.334	−0.004	+0.062
97	Nigeria	0.329	−0.017	−0.019
98	Tanzania	0.328	−0.008	−0.079
99	Singapore	0.325	±0.000	+0.006
100	Ukraine	0.321	−0.002	+0.062
101	India	0.310	+0.017	−0.226
102	Malaysia	0.299	−0.008	+0.083
103	Philippines	0.284	−0.002	−0.148
104	Kuwait	0.281	−0.008	−0.011
105	Benin	0.276	−0.007	−0.216
106	Fiji	0.272	−0.001	+0.165
107	Lebanon	0.270	−0.007	−0.017
108	Somaliland	0.257	+0.009	−0.009
109	Madagascar	0.254	−0.006	+0.152
110	Kyrgyzstan	0.250	−0.002	−0.082
111	Pakistan	0.248	−0.007	−0.040
112	Jordan	0.248	+0.007	+0.031
113	Honduras	0.243	+0.011	−0.002
114	Ivory Coast	0.238	−0.027	−0.059
115	Mozambique	0.236	+0.007	−0.059
116	Iraq	0.236	+0.003	−0.035
117	Serbia	0.236	−0.006	−0.276
118	Morocco	0.235	+0.003	+0.001
119	Zanzibar	0.232	+0.013	−0.022
120	Togo	0.224	−0.019	−0.016
121	Uganda	0.212	−0.018	−0.045
122	Gabon	0.203	+0.002	−0.006
123	Mauritania	0.195	−0.012	−0.030
124	Haiti	0.189	−0.027	−0.060
125	Zimbabwe	0.188	−0.004	−0.009
126	Thailand	0.185	±0.000	−0.193
127	Central African Republic	0.175	−0.026	−0.008
128	El Salvador	0.163	−0.151	−0.264
129	Hong Kong	0.163	−0.044	−0.158
130	Mali	0.157	−0.111	−0.248
131	Angola	0.153	−0.007	+0.031
132	Democratic Republic of the Congo	0.144	−0.011	−0.010
133	Ethiopia	0.140	−0.013	+0.032
134	Oman	0.139	+0.001	+0.001
135	Algeria	0.132	−0.014	−0.026
136	Cameroon	0.127	−0.001	−0.028
137	Palestine/West Bank	0.127	−0.019	−0.013
138	Libya	0.125	−0.019	+0.064
139	Kazakhstan	0.123	+0.005	+0.003
140	Egypt	0.122	+0.001	−0.002
141	Djibouti	0.122	±0.000	+0.008
142	Türkiye	0.116	−0.001	−0.241
143	Republic of the Congo	0.116	−0.005	+0.020
144	Somalia	0.111	+0.006	+0.006
145	Vietnam	0.110	+0.002	−0.001
146	Rwanda	0.110	−0.006	−0.020
147	Comoros	0.110	−0.002	−0.163
148	Guinea	0.097	−0.012	−0.016
149	Laos	0.094	+0.015	+0.020
150	Eswatini	0.093	−0.018	−0.001
151	Russia	0.092	−0.003	−0.040
152	Bangladesh	0.092	−0.005	−0.077
153	Iran	0.090	−0.023	−0.018
154	Qatar	0.084	−0.003	−0.015
155	United Arab Emirates	0.084	−0.005	+0.005
156	Uzbekistan	0.081	−0.004	+0.045
157	Burundi	0.070	+0.019	−0.063
158	Azerbaijan	0.065	±0.000	−0.003
159	Cambodia	0.064	−0.001	−0.053
160	South Sudan	0.058	−0.011	−0.043
161	Sudan	0.057	−0.003	−0.002
162	Venezuela	0.057	−0.001	−0.093
163	Cuba	0.055	−0.005	+0.004
164	Chad	0.054	−0.035	−0.046
165	Bahrain	0.053	+0.002	+0.008
166	Palestine/Gaza	0.052	+0.004	−0.043
167	Equatorial Guinea	0.050	−0.001	±0.000
168	Saudi Arabia	0.045	±0.000	±0.000
169	Afghanistan	0.041	−0.127	−0.158
170	China	0.041	±0.000	−0.012
171	Tajikistan	0.041	−0.002	−0.026
172	Syria	0.036	+0.003	−0.004
173	Belarus	0.036	−0.010	−0.058
174	Nicaragua	0.035	−0.010	−0.152
175	Turkmenistan	0.034	+0.001	+0.011
176	Yemen	0.032	−0.002	−0.110
177	Burma/Myanmar	0.020	−0.241	−0.089
178	North Korea	0.014	±0.000	±0.000
179	Eritrea	0.011	+0.001	+0.006

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 2021, with the highest score of 0.887 on a 0–1 scale.

What are the top 3 countries for liberal democracy index in 2021?

In 2021, the top three of 179 ranked countries are Denmark (0.887), Sweden (0.869), and Estonia (0.855).

Which country ranks last on liberal democracy index in 2021?

Eritrea ranks #179 of 179 with a score of 0.011.

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

Poland shows the largest 10-year shift: its score declined by 0.414 points over the past decade, standing at 0.419 (rank #80) in 2021.

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 2021 edition covers 179 countries.