Which countries rank highest on participatory democracy?

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

Rank	Country	Score	1y change	10y change
1	Switzerland	0.794	+0.007	−0.012
2	Uruguay	0.705	+0.045	−0.068
3	Denmark	0.702	±0.000	−0.010
4	Australia	0.637	±0.000	+0.044
5	Norway	0.636	±0.000	−0.006
6	Ireland	0.631	−0.001	−0.016
7	Sweden	0.630	±0.000	−0.033
8	Estonia	0.630	±0.000	−0.001
9	Belgium	0.629	−0.014	−0.023
10	Italy	0.623	−0.011	−0.054
11	Taiwan	0.621	−0.023	+0.013
12	New Zealand	0.614	−0.046	−0.073
13	France	0.605	−0.006	−0.039
14	Costa Rica	0.604	±0.000	−0.083
15	Iceland	0.604	+0.002	−0.033
16	Latvia	0.601	−0.014	−0.062
17	United States of America	0.599	−0.004	−0.054
18	Finland	0.597	−0.008	−0.030
19	Germany	0.596	−0.020	−0.047
20	Chile	0.594	−0.002	+0.002
21	Canada	0.585	−0.005	+0.038
22	United Kingdom	0.581	−0.027	−0.059
23	Czechia	0.579	+0.006	−0.001
24	Lithuania	0.578	+0.001	−0.051
25	Austria	0.577	−0.020	−0.082
26	Spain	0.575	−0.022	−0.050
27	Netherlands	0.561	−0.016	−0.046
28	Luxembourg	0.561	−0.010	−0.067
29	Portugal	0.560	−0.015	−0.081
30	Slovenia	0.549	−0.015	−0.145
31	Brazil	0.548	+0.001	−0.085
32	Malta	0.542	−0.004	+0.013
33	Jamaica	0.534	+0.012	−0.007
34	Japan	0.526	−0.009	−0.011
35	Slovakia	0.525	−0.070	−0.120
36	Greece	0.516	+0.004	−0.095
37	Vanuatu	0.510	+0.010	+0.065
38	Ecuador	0.504	+0.014	+0.135
39	Suriname	0.497	±0.000	+0.023
40	Cyprus	0.492	−0.002	−0.084
41	Croatia	0.488	−0.016	−0.122
42	Poland	0.487	+0.119	−0.144
43	Trinidad and Tobago	0.486	±0.000	+0.007
44	South Korea	0.485	−0.003	+0.016
45	Colombia	0.477	−0.015	+0.018
46	Israel	0.469	−0.003	−0.006
47	South Africa	0.468	+0.021	−0.033
48	Argentina	0.461	−0.109	−0.069
49	Dominican Republic	0.461	+0.017	+0.081
50	Cape Verde	0.459	+0.001	−0.018
51	Timor-Leste	0.455	+0.013	+0.096
52	Bulgaria	0.455	−0.017	−0.025
53	Moldova	0.446	−0.052	+0.038
54	Panama	0.436	+0.003	−0.040
55	Sri Lanka	0.431	+0.073	+0.180
56	Nepal	0.427	−0.032	+0.125
57	Romania	0.423	−0.046	−0.043
58	Sao Tome and Principe	0.423	±0.000	+0.002
59	Peru	0.416	−0.064	−0.168
60	Solomon Islands	0.409	+0.024	+0.073
61	The Gambia	0.408	−0.005	+0.267
62	Lesotho	0.407	−0.009	+0.031
63	Senegal	0.397	−0.005	−0.050
64	Montenegro	0.392	+0.024	+0.079
65	Bolivia	0.390	−0.010	−0.112
66	Guatemala	0.386	+0.101	+0.050
67	Malawi	0.374	+0.009	+0.030
68	North Macedonia	0.364	−0.012	+0.061
69	Kosovo	0.359	−0.041	+0.033
70	Zambia	0.357	−0.012	+0.051
71	Kenya	0.355	−0.018	−0.023
72	Mexico	0.345	−0.042	−0.029
73	Bhutan	0.344	+0.004	−0.017
74	Namibia	0.343	−0.010	−0.072
75	Paraguay	0.343	−0.004	−0.030
76	Barbados	0.342	−0.004	+0.006
77	Nigeria	0.337	+0.006	−0.022
78	Botswana	0.334	+0.022	−0.123
79	Liberia	0.334	−0.007	−0.005
80	Honduras	0.327	−0.004	+0.050
81	Seychelles	0.324	+0.003	+0.124
82	Ghana	0.320	±0.000	−0.056
83	Indonesia	0.318	−0.033	−0.131
84	Maldives	0.318	−0.018	+0.061
85	Armenia	0.316	−0.015	+0.113
86	Mauritius	0.316	+0.013	−0.143
87	Malaysia	0.315	+0.007	+0.080
88	Albania	0.309	−0.006	−0.013
89	Bosnia and Herzegovina	0.302	±0.000	−0.026
90	Ivory Coast	0.293	−0.007	−0.013
91	Sierra Leone	0.292	−0.027	−0.042
92	Guyana	0.291	−0.001	−0.085
93	Benin	0.287	+0.004	−0.099
94	Philippines	0.284	−0.005	−0.093
95	Georgia	0.283	−0.072	−0.148
96	Papua New Guinea	0.278	−0.002	+0.012
97	Hungary	0.273	−0.013	−0.164
98	Fiji	0.271	+0.003	+0.157
99	Tanzania	0.266	+0.005	−0.037
100	Ukraine	0.264	+0.004	−0.020
101	Tunisia	0.263	−0.026	−0.162
102	Somaliland	0.257	+0.006	+0.005
103	Mongolia	0.249	−0.015	−0.152
104	India	0.248	+0.014	−0.138
105	Madagascar	0.247	−0.031	−0.040
106	Mauritania	0.226	−0.007	+0.051
107	Serbia	0.223	−0.020	−0.074
108	Togo	0.211	−0.021	+0.023
109	Gabon	0.208	−0.023	−0.054
110	Mozambique	0.206	−0.028	−0.067
111	Pakistan	0.204	−0.022	−0.093
112	Zimbabwe	0.203	−0.006	−0.031
113	El Salvador	0.200	−0.021	−0.212
114	Niger	0.200	−0.076	−0.251
115	Comoros	0.200	+0.004	−0.119
116	Iraq	0.199	−0.012	−0.054
117	Republic of the Congo	0.196	±0.000	+0.069
118	Lebanon	0.192	−0.017	−0.071
119	Thailand	0.186	+0.044	+0.117
120	Kyrgyzstan	0.179	−0.003	−0.090
121	Mali	0.176	−0.021	−0.151
122	Türkiye	0.171	+0.002	−0.122
123	Democratic Republic of the Congo	0.170	−0.019	−0.041
124	Morocco	0.164	+0.007	−0.003
125	Uganda	0.163	+0.010	−0.062
126	Venezuela	0.161	+0.001	−0.059
127	Zanzibar	0.160	−0.026	−0.060
128	Palestine/West Bank	0.159	+0.014	−0.018
129	Vietnam	0.157	−0.009	−0.010
130	Djibouti	0.143	−0.001	+0.009
131	Central African Republic	0.137	+0.001	+0.023
132	Ethiopia	0.135	−0.019	+0.040
133	Guinea-Bissau	0.134	−0.067	−0.064
134	Rwanda	0.133	−0.004	−0.056
135	Jordan	0.127	+0.009	+0.016
136	Oman	0.125	+0.002	±0.000
137	Guinea	0.124	−0.002	−0.120
138	Kazakhstan	0.124	±0.000	+0.053
139	Russia	0.121	−0.003	−0.038
140	Burkina Faso	0.121	−0.022	−0.217
141	Chad	0.120	+0.013	−0.009
142	Laos	0.116	+0.001	+0.017
143	Eswatini	0.113	+0.003	−0.008
144	Singapore	0.112	+0.004	+0.006
145	Cameroon	0.111	−0.004	−0.062
146	Burundi	0.107	+0.041	−0.087
147	Haiti	0.099	+0.002	−0.145
148	Angola	0.097	−0.002	+0.028
149	Algeria	0.095	−0.004	−0.024
150	Nicaragua	0.094	−0.002	−0.094
151	Burma/Myanmar	0.093	+0.008	−0.121
152	Bangladesh	0.090	−0.017	−0.028
153	Sudan	0.090	+0.002	−0.018
154	Somalia	0.090	±0.000	+0.002
155	Libya	0.086	−0.064	−0.094
156	Kuwait	0.084	−0.017	−0.023
157	Uzbekistan	0.080	+0.001	+0.040
158	Egypt	0.079	+0.002	+0.028
159	Cambodia	0.077	±0.000	−0.051
160	Syria	0.065	+0.016	+0.018
161	Cuba	0.065	+0.001	+0.013
162	Palestine/Gaza	0.062	−0.005	−0.051
163	Tajikistan	0.057	+0.002	+0.001
164	Belarus	0.055	−0.001	−0.029
165	Hong Kong	0.055	+0.005	−0.083
166	Yemen	0.054	−0.015	−0.073
167	South Sudan	0.054	−0.032	−0.021
168	Equatorial Guinea	0.047	−0.003	−0.010
169	North Korea	0.045	±0.000	±0.000
170	Azerbaijan	0.045	−0.006	−0.016
171	Iran	0.041	+0.005	−0.004
172	Bahrain	0.040	±0.000	−0.001
173	Qatar	0.033	+0.016	+0.010
174	Turkmenistan	0.033	+0.003	+0.002
175	China	0.030	−0.003	−0.011
176	United Arab Emirates	0.030	±0.000	±0.000
177	Saudi Arabia	0.021	±0.000	±0.000
178	Afghanistan	0.012	+0.002	−0.132
179	Eritrea	0.010	−0.001	+0.001

Frequently asked questions

Switzerland ranks #1 of 179 countries on the V-Dem participatory democracy index index in 2024, with the highest score of 0.794 on a 0–1 scale.

What are the top 3 countries for participatory democracy index in 2024?

In 2024, the top three of 179 ranked countries are Switzerland (0.794), Uruguay (0.705), and Denmark (0.702).

Which country ranks last on participatory democracy index in 2024?

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

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

The Gambia shows the largest 10-year shift: its score improved by 0.267 points over the past decade, standing at 0.408 (rank #61) in 2024.

How is the participatory 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 2024 edition covers 179 countries.