Democracy Index 2023

V-Dem liberal democracy rankings as they stood in 2023 — 179 countries scored 0–1, with changes versus one and ten years earlier.

Rank	Country	Score	1y change	10y change
1	Denmark	0.884	−0.006	−0.012
2	Estonia	0.849	−0.005	+0.013
3	Sweden	0.845	−0.019	−0.042
4	Switzerland	0.841	−0.010	−0.020
5	Norway	0.833	−0.001	−0.023
6	Ireland	0.829	+0.003	+0.003
7	Finland	0.825	−0.008	−0.031
8	New Zealand	0.825	+0.002	−0.009
9	Belgium	0.816	−0.021	−0.029
10	Germany	0.812	+0.007	−0.042
11	France	0.810	+0.002	−0.010
12	Costa Rica	0.805	−0.004	−0.049
13	Australia	0.804	+0.004	−0.019
14	Czechia	0.801	+0.012	+0.013
15	Luxembourg	0.794	+0.002	−0.002
16	Netherlands	0.790	−0.007	−0.039
17	Chile	0.781	+0.002	−0.067
18	Austria	0.777	+0.015	−0.030
19	United States of America	0.771	+0.008	−0.079
20	United Kingdom	0.768	+0.002	−0.031
21	Latvia	0.765	+0.022	+0.022
22	Spain	0.763	−0.022	−0.013
23	Portugal	0.757	−0.001	−0.074
24	Uruguay	0.757	+0.009	−0.089
25	Iceland	0.755	+0.013	−0.024
26	Canada	0.746	−0.003	±0.000
27	Japan	0.742	+0.004	−0.007
28	Italy	0.732	−0.034	−0.054
29	Slovakia	0.730	−0.032	±0.000
30	Lithuania	0.726	−0.015	−0.047
31	Taiwan	0.723	−0.004	+0.043
32	Vanuatu	0.701	+0.025	+0.079
33	Brazil	0.698	+0.153	−0.088
34	Argentina	0.695	+0.034	+0.101
35	Jamaica	0.684	−0.015	+0.001
36	Barbados	0.675	+0.002	+0.010
37	Slovenia	0.655	−0.075	−0.133
38	Seychelles	0.654	−0.011	+0.260
39	Cape Verde	0.651	−0.005	−0.067
40	Croatia	0.646	−0.005	−0.069
41	Cyprus	0.645	−0.006	−0.088
42	Suriname	0.639	−0.016	+0.008
43	Malta	0.635	+0.004	+0.027
44	South Korea	0.630	−0.099	+0.019
45	Israel	0.630	−0.023	−0.033
46	Trinidad and Tobago	0.627	±0.000	−0.004
47	Moldova	0.609	−0.043	+0.082
48	South Africa	0.600	−0.005	−0.045
49	Peru	0.585	−0.049	−0.099
50	Bulgaria	0.585	−0.029	+0.041
51	Greece	0.584	−0.026	−0.212
52	Colombia	0.571	+0.012	+0.029
53	Panama	0.567	+0.004	+0.016
54	Sao Tome and Principe	0.565	±0.000	−0.001
55	Ghana	0.561	+0.001	−0.082
56	Nepal	0.530	+0.033	+0.339
57	Lesotho	0.529	+0.015	+0.050
58	Timor-Leste	0.525	+0.009	+0.025
59	The Gambia	0.517	+0.017	+0.412
60	Namibia	0.503	+0.001	−0.032
61	Romania	0.500	−0.036	−0.056
62	Kosovo	0.493	−0.016	+0.132
63	Solomon Islands	0.490	+0.012	+0.053
64	Malawi	0.484	−0.028	+0.044
65	Montenegro	0.471	+0.056	+0.092
66	Senegal	0.466	−0.073	−0.114
67	Ecuador	0.460	−0.040	+0.192
68	Kenya	0.457	+0.008	+0.048
69	Georgia	0.454	−0.009	+0.001
70	Bhutan	0.453	−0.017	−0.033
71	Poland	0.452	+0.035	−0.375
72	Maldives	0.448	+0.017	+0.211
73	Botswana	0.439	−0.022	−0.169
74	Zambia	0.432	−0.007	+0.043
75	Dominican Republic	0.431	−0.006	+0.118
76	Liberia	0.423	+0.016	−0.034
77	Mongolia	0.421	−0.037	−0.139
78	Armenia	0.419	−0.024	+0.214
79	Paraguay	0.419	−0.013	+0.016
80	Fiji	0.415	+0.149	+0.300
81	Sri Lanka	0.413	−0.023	+0.142
82	Albania	0.398	−0.035	−0.037
83	Honduras	0.392	+0.011	+0.139
84	Sierra Leone	0.381	−0.054	+0.069
85	Papua New Guinea	0.377	+0.007	+0.033
86	Tanzania	0.366	+0.020	−0.033
87	North Macedonia	0.366	−0.009	+0.078
88	Malaysia	0.357	+0.040	+0.147
89	Indonesia	0.356	−0.037	−0.167
90	Mauritius	0.353	−0.020	−0.286
91	Bolivia	0.345	+0.002	−0.055
92	Bosnia and Herzegovina	0.337	−0.007	−0.039
93	Singapore	0.331	+0.007	+0.006
94	Hungary	0.323	−0.012	−0.241
95	Benin	0.321	+0.028	−0.157
96	Guyana	0.316	−0.025	−0.075
97	Nigeria	0.314	−0.004	−0.065
98	Mexico	0.307	−0.027	−0.118
99	Guatemala	0.303	−0.006	−0.102
100	Kuwait	0.302	+0.013	+0.017
101	Philippines	0.299	+0.011	−0.130
102	Tunisia	0.291	+0.096	−0.346
103	Niger	0.285	−0.101	−0.209
104	India	0.273	−0.020	−0.252
105	Somaliland	0.250	−0.005	+0.002
106	Jordan	0.249	+0.005	+0.027
107	Morocco	0.248	+0.002	+0.017
108	Serbia	0.247	−0.013	−0.155
109	Ivory Coast	0.244	−0.001	−0.071
110	Guinea-Bissau	0.242	+0.094	+0.039
111	Zanzibar	0.242	+0.002	−0.014
112	Lebanon	0.240	−0.015	−0.068
113	Thailand	0.240	+0.049	−0.108
114	Madagascar	0.240	−0.014	+0.114
115	Ukraine	0.237	+0.003	−0.013
116	Iraq	0.223	+0.005	−0.035
117	Mozambique	0.219	−0.016	−0.079
118	Uganda	0.215	±0.000	−0.037
119	Pakistan	0.211	−0.023	−0.076
120	Togo	0.201	−0.024	−0.043
121	Gabon	0.189	−0.017	−0.039
122	Kyrgyzstan	0.188	−0.045	−0.126
123	Burkina Faso	0.182	−0.044	−0.227
124	Mauritania	0.181	−0.011	+0.006
125	Zimbabwe	0.172	−0.008	−0.034
126	Angola	0.157	+0.003	+0.034
127	Mali	0.149	±0.000	−0.046
128	Kazakhstan	0.141	+0.003	+0.030
129	Oman	0.139	+0.002	−0.005
130	Somalia	0.133	+0.017	+0.014
131	Democratic Republic of the Congo	0.132	−0.020	+0.003
132	Cameroon	0.129	−0.010	−0.023
133	Egypt	0.128	−0.001	+0.031
134	Palestine/West Bank	0.124	+0.002	−0.041
135	Hong Kong	0.124	−0.012	−0.188
136	Republic of the Congo	0.122	+0.006	+0.016
137	Djibouti	0.121	−0.002	+0.007
138	Algeria	0.115	±0.000	−0.048
139	Vietnam	0.113	+0.004	−0.005
140	Türkiye	0.113	−0.001	−0.184
141	El Salvador	0.109	−0.009	−0.330
142	Ethiopia	0.109	−0.025	+0.005
143	Central African Republic	0.104	−0.065	−0.046
144	Libya	0.103	−0.005	−0.196
145	Comoros	0.103	−0.008	−0.193
146	Rwanda	0.098	−0.009	−0.036
147	Bangladesh	0.096	+0.001	−0.050
148	Eswatini	0.095	±0.000	−0.001
149	Laos	0.091	−0.012	+0.017
150	Qatar	0.085	+0.001	−0.006
151	Guinea	0.080	−0.001	−0.033
152	Uzbekistan	0.080	±0.000	+0.043
153	United Arab Emirates	0.079	−0.007	−0.008
154	Iran	0.076	−0.002	−0.044
155	South Sudan	0.072	+0.009	−0.002
156	Palestine/Gaza	0.071	+0.016	+0.003
157	Haiti	0.068	−0.075	−0.178
158	Burundi	0.063	−0.017	−0.047
159	Russia	0.062	−0.007	−0.053
160	Azerbaijan	0.062	±0.000	−0.006
161	Cuba	0.055	−0.001	−0.002
162	Venezuela	0.054	−0.002	−0.055
163	Cambodia	0.054	−0.008	−0.060
164	Bahrain	0.053	−0.001	+0.010
165	Equatorial Guinea	0.053	+0.005	+0.001
166	Chad	0.049	+0.009	−0.045
167	Syria	0.048	+0.016	+0.023
168	Sudan	0.046	−0.010	−0.017
169	Saudi Arabia	0.046	−0.001	±0.000
170	Yemen	0.045	+0.004	−0.102
171	Tajikistan	0.041	±0.000	−0.013
172	China	0.036	−0.006	−0.016
173	Belarus	0.035	−0.002	−0.064
174	Turkmenistan	0.034	+0.002	+0.009
175	Nicaragua	0.021	−0.006	−0.106
176	Afghanistan	0.016	+0.004	−0.186
177	Burma/Myanmar	0.015	−0.001	−0.145
178	North Korea	0.014	±0.000	±0.000
179	Eritrea	0.010	−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 2023, with the highest score of 0.884 on a 0–1 scale.

What are the top 3 countries for liberal democracy index in 2023?

In 2023, the top three of 179 ranked countries are Denmark (0.884), Estonia (0.849), and Sweden (0.845).

Which country ranks last on liberal democracy index in 2023?

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

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

The Gambia shows the largest 10-year shift: its score improved by 0.412 points over the past decade, standing at 0.517 (rank #59) in 2023.

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 2023 edition covers 179 countries.