Democracy Index 2022

V-Dem liberal democracy rankings as they stood in 2022 — 179 countries scored 0–1, with changes versus one and ten years earlier.

Rank	Country	Score	1y change	10y change
1	Denmark	0.890	+0.003	−0.007
2	Sweden	0.864	−0.005	−0.023
3	Estonia	0.854	−0.001	+0.024
4	Switzerland	0.851	±0.000	−0.010
5	Belgium	0.837	+0.008	±0.000
6	Norway	0.834	−0.002	−0.036
7	Finland	0.833	−0.003	−0.011
8	Ireland	0.826	−0.009	+0.004
9	New Zealand	0.823	+0.006	−0.018
10	Costa Rica	0.809	−0.035	−0.050
11	France	0.808	+0.020	−0.010
12	Germany	0.805	−0.011	−0.062
13	Australia	0.800	+0.015	−0.064
14	Netherlands	0.797	−0.013	−0.028
15	Luxembourg	0.792	+0.004	−0.004
16	Czechia	0.789	+0.083	−0.030
17	Spain	0.785	+0.007	−0.020
18	Chile	0.779	+0.002	−0.067
19	Italy	0.766	−0.015	−0.025
20	United Kingdom	0.766	−0.016	−0.038
21	United States of America	0.763	+0.011	−0.084
22	Austria	0.762	−0.021	−0.044
23	Slovakia	0.762	+0.004	+0.022
24	Portugal	0.758	−0.053	−0.074
25	Canada	0.749	−0.007	+0.007
26	Uruguay	0.748	−0.047	−0.099
27	Latvia	0.743	−0.001	+0.010
28	Iceland	0.742	−0.007	−0.054
29	Lithuania	0.741	+0.002	−0.043
30	Japan	0.738	±0.000	−0.038
31	Slovenia	0.730	+0.106	−0.038
32	South Korea	0.729	−0.052	+0.069
33	Taiwan	0.727	+0.017	+0.050
34	Jamaica	0.699	+0.004	+0.033
35	Vanuatu	0.676	+0.011	+0.058
36	Barbados	0.673	−0.003	+0.005
37	Seychelles	0.665	+0.033	+0.294
38	Argentina	0.661	+0.021	+0.072
39	Cape Verde	0.656	−0.023	−0.051
40	Suriname	0.655	+0.012	+0.025
41	Israel	0.653	−0.001	−0.025
42	Moldova	0.652	+0.028	+0.098
43	Croatia	0.651	−0.001	−0.096
44	Cyprus	0.651	−0.006	−0.082
45	Peru	0.634	−0.027	−0.060
46	Malta	0.631	+0.001	−0.007
47	Trinidad and Tobago	0.627	−0.015	−0.032
48	Bulgaria	0.614	+0.061	+0.052
49	Greece	0.610	−0.026	−0.198
50	South Africa	0.605	−0.002	−0.056
51	Sao Tome and Principe	0.565	−0.010	+0.003
52	Panama	0.563	+0.014	+0.001
53	Ghana	0.560	±0.000	−0.110
54	Colombia	0.559	+0.057	+0.015
55	Brazil	0.545	+0.013	−0.237
56	Senegal	0.539	−0.025	+0.004
57	Romania	0.536	−0.072	±0.000
58	Timor-Leste	0.516	+0.016	+0.014
59	Lesotho	0.514	+0.017	+0.059
60	Malawi	0.512	−0.014	+0.092
61	Kosovo	0.509	+0.020	+0.129
62	Namibia	0.502	−0.006	−0.031
63	Ecuador	0.500	+0.042	+0.193
64	The Gambia	0.500	+0.085	+0.387
65	Nepal	0.497	+0.003	+0.186
66	Solomon Islands	0.478	+0.006	+0.043
67	Bhutan	0.470	−0.020	−0.043
68	Georgia	0.463	+0.007	+0.100
69	Botswana	0.461	−0.019	−0.153
70	Mongolia	0.458	−0.034	−0.111
71	Kenya	0.449	+0.022	+0.090
72	Armenia	0.443	−0.095	+0.241
73	Zambia	0.439	+0.100	+0.020
74	Dominican Republic	0.437	−0.007	+0.113
75	Sri Lanka	0.436	+0.048	+0.192
76	Sierra Leone	0.435	+0.007	+0.115
77	Albania	0.433	−0.005	−0.016
78	Paraguay	0.432	±0.000	−0.048
79	Maldives	0.431	+0.008	+0.101
80	Poland	0.417	−0.002	−0.415
81	Montenegro	0.415	−0.002	+0.011
82	Liberia	0.407	±0.000	−0.072
83	Indonesia	0.393	−0.007	−0.145
84	Niger	0.386	−0.012	−0.095
85	Honduras	0.381	+0.138	+0.142
86	North Macedonia	0.375	−0.014	+0.056
87	Mauritius	0.373	−0.052	−0.282
88	Papua New Guinea	0.370	+0.023	+0.023
89	Tanzania	0.346	+0.018	−0.061
90	Bosnia and Herzegovina	0.344	+0.009	−0.036
91	Bolivia	0.343	−0.023	−0.055
92	Guyana	0.341	−0.001	−0.032
93	Hungary	0.335	−0.010	−0.284
94	Mexico	0.334	−0.036	−0.127
95	Singapore	0.324	−0.001	−0.004
96	Nigeria	0.318	−0.011	−0.037
97	Malaysia	0.317	+0.018	+0.101
98	Guatemala	0.309	−0.050	−0.083
99	India	0.293	−0.017	−0.232
100	Benin	0.293	+0.017	−0.195
101	Kuwait	0.289	+0.008	+0.001
102	Philippines	0.288	+0.004	−0.144
103	Fiji	0.266	−0.006	+0.159
104	Serbia	0.260	+0.024	−0.227
105	Lebanon	0.255	−0.015	−0.034
106	Somaliland	0.255	−0.002	−0.011
107	Madagascar	0.254	±0.000	+0.152
108	Morocco	0.246	+0.011	+0.010
109	Ivory Coast	0.245	+0.007	−0.078
110	Jordan	0.244	−0.004	+0.027
111	Zanzibar	0.240	+0.008	−0.014
112	Mozambique	0.235	−0.001	−0.060
113	Pakistan	0.234	−0.014	−0.050
114	Ukraine	0.234	−0.087	−0.023
115	Kyrgyzstan	0.233	−0.017	−0.085
116	Burkina Faso	0.226	−0.229	−0.134
117	Togo	0.225	+0.001	−0.015
118	Iraq	0.218	−0.018	−0.052
119	Uganda	0.215	+0.003	−0.039
120	Gabon	0.206	+0.003	−0.010
121	Tunisia	0.195	−0.266	−0.452
122	Mauritania	0.192	−0.003	−0.034
123	Thailand	0.191	+0.006	−0.214
124	Zimbabwe	0.180	−0.008	−0.016
125	Central African Republic	0.169	−0.006	−0.016
126	Angola	0.154	+0.001	+0.032
127	Democratic Republic of the Congo	0.152	+0.008	+0.009
128	Mali	0.149	−0.008	−0.084
129	Guinea-Bissau	0.148	−0.186	−0.027
130	Haiti	0.143	−0.046	−0.111
131	Cameroon	0.139	+0.012	−0.022
132	Kazakhstan	0.138	+0.015	+0.025
133	Oman	0.137	−0.002	−0.004
134	Hong Kong	0.136	−0.027	−0.180
135	Ethiopia	0.134	−0.006	+0.026
136	Egypt	0.129	+0.007	−0.031
137	Djibouti	0.123	+0.001	+0.008
138	Palestine/West Bank	0.122	−0.005	−0.020
139	El Salvador	0.118	−0.045	−0.320
140	Republic of the Congo	0.116	±0.000	+0.020
141	Somalia	0.116	+0.005	+0.008
142	Algeria	0.115	−0.017	−0.047
143	Türkiye	0.114	−0.002	−0.236
144	Comoros	0.111	+0.001	−0.162
145	Vietnam	0.109	−0.001	−0.002
146	Libya	0.108	−0.017	−0.099
147	Rwanda	0.107	−0.003	−0.025
148	Laos	0.103	+0.009	+0.029
149	Bangladesh	0.095	+0.003	−0.071
150	Eswatini	0.095	+0.002	+0.001
151	United Arab Emirates	0.086	+0.002	±0.000
152	Qatar	0.084	±0.000	−0.015
153	Guinea	0.081	−0.016	−0.032
154	Burundi	0.080	+0.010	−0.054
155	Uzbekistan	0.080	−0.001	+0.043
156	Iran	0.078	−0.012	−0.033
157	Russia	0.069	−0.023	−0.051
158	South Sudan	0.063	+0.005	−0.038
159	Cambodia	0.062	−0.002	−0.055
160	Azerbaijan	0.062	−0.003	−0.006
161	Sudan	0.056	−0.001	−0.005
162	Venezuela	0.056	−0.001	−0.090
163	Cuba	0.056	+0.001	+0.005
164	Palestine/Gaza	0.055	+0.003	−0.041
165	Bahrain	0.054	+0.001	+0.011
166	Equatorial Guinea	0.048	−0.002	−0.002
167	Saudi Arabia	0.047	+0.002	+0.001
168	China	0.042	+0.001	−0.012
169	Yemen	0.041	+0.009	−0.123
170	Tajikistan	0.041	±0.000	−0.024
171	Chad	0.040	−0.014	−0.059
172	Belarus	0.037	+0.001	−0.057
173	Syria	0.032	−0.004	±0.000
174	Turkmenistan	0.032	−0.002	+0.009
175	Nicaragua	0.027	−0.008	−0.128
176	Burma/Myanmar	0.016	−0.004	−0.117
177	North Korea	0.014	±0.000	±0.000
178	Afghanistan	0.012	−0.029	−0.188
179	Eritrea	0.012	+0.001	+0.007

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 2022, with the highest score of 0.890 on a 0–1 scale.

What are the top 3 countries for liberal democracy index in 2022?

In 2022, the top three of 179 ranked countries are Denmark (0.890), Sweden (0.864), and Estonia (0.854).

Which country ranks last on liberal democracy index in 2022?

Eritrea ranks #179 of 179 with a score of 0.012.

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

Tunisia shows the largest 10-year shift: its score declined by 0.452 points over the past decade, standing at 0.195 (rank #121) in 2022.

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 2022 edition covers 179 countries.