Which countries protect civil liberties best?

Every country ranked by the V-Dem civil liberties index index for 2024 (179 countries, 0–1 scale).

Rank	Country	Score	1y change	10y change
1	Sweden	0.960	±0.000	−0.016
2	Estonia	0.960	−0.004	−0.001
3	Denmark	0.959	±0.000	−0.004
4	Ireland	0.956	±0.000	+0.001
5	New Zealand	0.956	−0.002	−0.006
6	Belgium	0.955	−0.002	−0.012
7	Czechia	0.955	+0.002	+0.002
8	Switzerland	0.954	±0.000	−0.002
9	Iceland	0.949	−0.003	−0.002
10	Spain	0.948	±0.000	−0.008
11	Finland	0.947	−0.006	−0.021
12	Luxembourg	0.947	±0.000	−0.002
13	Germany	0.941	−0.010	−0.023
14	Norway	0.941	±0.000	−0.028
15	Latvia	0.939	+0.018	−0.010
16	Taiwan	0.932	−0.003	−0.006
17	Chile	0.932	+0.005	−0.026
18	Costa Rica	0.932	±0.000	−0.029
19	Japan	0.928	−0.006	−0.003
20	Uruguay	0.928	−0.004	−0.017
21	United States of America	0.924	−0.002	−0.028
22	Australia	0.923	+0.001	−0.019
23	Cape Verde	0.922	−0.001	−0.007
24	Barbados	0.920	±0.000	+0.016
25	Malta	0.917	+0.002	+0.006
26	Lithuania	0.914	+0.002	−0.020
27	France	0.913	−0.002	−0.035
28	Italy	0.911	−0.001	−0.013
29	Austria	0.911	−0.017	−0.040
30	Netherlands	0.908	−0.012	−0.033
31	Seychelles	0.908	+0.019	+0.141
32	Poland	0.907	+0.072	−0.046
33	Canada	0.904	+0.006	−0.035
34	Portugal	0.901	−0.020	−0.057
35	Suriname	0.900	+0.003	+0.023
36	Sao Tome and Principe	0.900	±0.000	−0.004
37	Croatia	0.899	−0.002	−0.034
38	Ghana	0.897	±0.000	−0.029
39	Montenegro	0.896	±0.000	+0.039
40	Cyprus	0.893	+0.004	−0.019
41	Panama	0.889	+0.006	−0.015
42	Slovenia	0.889	−0.018	−0.052
43	Trinidad and Tobago	0.884	±0.000	−0.017
44	Vanuatu	0.883	+0.001	+0.004
45	The Gambia	0.882	−0.001	+0.560
46	United Kingdom	0.880	−0.010	−0.026
47	Jamaica	0.879	±0.000	−0.018
48	Albania	0.876	−0.005	−0.017
49	Namibia	0.875	+0.011	±0.000
50	Timor-Leste	0.874	+0.015	+0.030
51	Greece	0.872	−0.008	−0.074
52	Dominican Republic	0.871	−0.011	+0.025
53	Romania	0.870	−0.011	−0.046
54	Moldova	0.868	−0.034	+0.062
55	Slovakia	0.862	−0.051	−0.071
56	Solomon Islands	0.855	±0.000	+0.021
57	Argentina	0.854	−0.053	−0.041
58	Brazil	0.850	+0.002	−0.015
59	Guyana	0.849	+0.005	+0.067
60	South Africa	0.847	+0.007	−0.012
61	Botswana	0.847	+0.027	−0.023
62	Zambia	0.844	−0.023	+0.087
63	Bulgaria	0.842	−0.042	−0.031
64	Liberia	0.839	±0.000	−0.002
65	Benin	0.838	+0.010	−0.024
66	South Korea	0.837	−0.047	−0.044
67	Armenia	0.822	−0.017	+0.044
68	Hungary	0.822	±0.000	−0.069
69	Honduras	0.819	+0.004	+0.037
70	Sierra Leone	0.818	+0.012	+0.012
71	Kosovo	0.811	−0.014	+0.018
72	Bosnia and Herzegovina	0.811	−0.001	−0.046
73	North Macedonia	0.803	−0.004	+0.069
74	Senegal	0.802	−0.030	−0.057
75	Tanzania	0.801	−0.002	+0.057
76	Paraguay	0.799	+0.004	−0.036
77	Sri Lanka	0.798	+0.067	+0.201
78	Israel	0.797	−0.008	−0.041
79	Papua New Guinea	0.796	−0.003	−0.012
80	Gabon	0.794	+0.009	−0.066
81	Lesotho	0.789	−0.018	−0.002
82	Malawi	0.789	−0.002	+0.014
83	Mongolia	0.788	−0.037	−0.108
84	Peru	0.780	−0.071	−0.107
85	Georgia	0.772	−0.097	−0.040
86	Fiji	0.770	+0.007	+0.095
87	Serbia	0.770	−0.011	−0.066
88	Bolivia	0.767	−0.025	−0.066
89	Niger	0.767	−0.007	−0.046
90	Nepal	0.761	−0.020	−0.021
91	Ecuador	0.759	−0.057	−0.040
92	Guinea-Bissau	0.754	−0.012	+0.056
93	Maldives	0.745	+0.008	+0.202
94	Colombia	0.743	−0.052	−0.063
95	Malaysia	0.743	−0.008	+0.124
96	Guatemala	0.742	+0.034	+0.022
97	Bhutan	0.727	+0.001	−0.009
98	Kenya	0.723	−0.051	+0.036
99	Ivory Coast	0.723	−0.014	−0.076
100	Mauritius	0.714	+0.001	−0.170
101	Singapore	0.709	−0.003	−0.010
102	Tunisia	0.707	−0.013	−0.056
103	Madagascar	0.707	−0.016	−0.038
104	Indonesia	0.704	−0.016	−0.079
105	Nigeria	0.680	+0.009	+0.026
106	Lebanon	0.675	−0.001	−0.054
107	Jordan	0.672	+0.013	+0.016
108	Zanzibar	0.664	−0.005	−0.022
109	Mali	0.630	−0.081	−0.171
110	Haiti	0.627	+0.008	−0.084
111	Morocco	0.624	−0.002	+0.008
112	Angola	0.624	+0.026	+0.125
113	Hong Kong	0.621	−0.001	−0.256
114	Somaliland	0.620	−0.028	−0.087
115	Mexico	0.598	−0.075	−0.076
116	India	0.597	+0.048	−0.128
117	Togo	0.574	−0.037	−0.107
118	Philippines	0.565	+0.016	−0.188
119	Ukraine	0.558	−0.031	−0.051
120	Kyrgyzstan	0.556	−0.003	−0.120
121	Cameroon	0.551	−0.009	−0.108
122	Kuwait	0.548	−0.020	−0.004
123	Mauritania	0.529	−0.091	−0.079
124	Kazakhstan	0.526	−0.005	+0.038
125	Burkina Faso	0.506	−0.173	−0.310
126	Iraq	0.501	+0.020	+0.073
127	El Salvador	0.486	−0.025	−0.341
128	Mozambique	0.480	−0.117	−0.241
129	Bangladesh	0.477	+0.057	+0.013
130	Democratic Republic of the Congo	0.476	−0.007	+0.032
131	Thailand	0.475	+0.007	+0.070
132	Comoros	0.466	−0.017	−0.197
133	Pakistan	0.452	+0.028	−0.067
134	Oman	0.448	+0.005	+0.019
135	Palestine/West Bank	0.445	−0.068	−0.172
136	Central African Republic	0.435	−0.021	+0.036
137	Somalia	0.430	−0.004	+0.093
138	Algeria	0.416	−0.003	−0.195
139	Türkiye	0.412	+0.023	−0.135
140	Vietnam	0.410	+0.038	−0.053
141	Djibouti	0.408	±0.000	−0.026
142	Uganda	0.397	−0.001	−0.139
143	Zimbabwe	0.374	−0.020	−0.056
144	Uzbekistan	0.372	+0.002	+0.231
145	Qatar	0.357	+0.002	−0.077
146	United Arab Emirates	0.351	−0.002	−0.051
147	Republic of the Congo	0.349	+0.001	+0.027
148	Venezuela	0.333	−0.008	−0.227
149	Libya	0.332	+0.011	−0.058
150	Chad	0.309	+0.012	−0.087
151	Azerbaijan	0.305	−0.052	−0.139
152	Ethiopia	0.295	−0.075	−0.064
153	Guinea	0.293	−0.034	−0.254
154	Cuba	0.293	+0.006	−0.031
155	Bahrain	0.280	±0.000	+0.082
156	Sudan	0.269	−0.045	+0.120
157	Egypt	0.266	+0.031	+0.092
158	Russia	0.260	−0.036	−0.230
159	Iran	0.255	+0.051	+0.015
160	Cambodia	0.254	−0.022	−0.206
161	Burundi	0.253	−0.004	−0.019
162	Yemen	0.231	+0.014	−0.085
163	South Sudan	0.229	+0.002	+0.067
164	Belarus	0.213	+0.003	−0.380
165	Eswatini	0.204	+0.012	−0.106
166	Tajikistan	0.199	+0.028	−0.108
167	Equatorial Guinea	0.187	−0.038	−0.028
168	China	0.186	+0.013	−0.058
169	Rwanda	0.180	−0.009	−0.223
170	Saudi Arabia	0.173	+0.012	−0.005
171	Laos	0.148	±0.000	+0.030
172	Syria	0.121	+0.001	+0.058
173	Turkmenistan	0.109	±0.000	+0.011
174	Palestine/Gaza	0.107	−0.102	−0.202
175	Burma/Myanmar	0.105	−0.001	−0.312
176	Nicaragua	0.084	−0.007	−0.605
177	Eritrea	0.048	−0.006	+0.002
178	Afghanistan	0.042	+0.004	−0.483
179	North Korea	0.019	+0.002	+0.004

Frequently asked questions

Sweden ranks #1 of 179 countries on the V-Dem civil liberties index index in 2024, with the highest score of 0.960 on a 0–1 scale.

What are the top 3 countries for civil liberties index in 2024?

In 2024, the top three of 179 ranked countries are Sweden (0.960), Estonia (0.960), and Denmark (0.959).

Which country ranks last on civil liberties index in 2024?

North Korea ranks #179 of 179 with a score of 0.019.

Which country changed most on civil liberties index over the last decade?

Nicaragua shows the largest 10-year shift: its score declined by 0.605 points over the past decade, standing at 0.084 (rank #176) in 2024.

How is the civil liberties 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 2024 edition covers 179 countries.