Which countries protect political civil liberties best?

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

Rank	Country	Score	1y change	10y change
1	Denmark	0.982	±0.000	−0.003
2	Switzerland	0.975	±0.000	−0.004
3	Ireland	0.970	±0.000	−0.003
4	Estonia	0.965	±0.000	−0.004
5	Belgium	0.963	−0.004	−0.009
6	Luxembourg	0.958	±0.000	−0.001
7	Sweden	0.954	±0.000	−0.021
8	United States of America	0.954	+0.003	−0.025
9	Norway	0.954	±0.000	−0.013
10	France	0.952	−0.003	−0.013
11	Czechia	0.949	+0.005	−0.002
12	Chile	0.947	+0.011	−0.018
13	New Zealand	0.945	−0.008	−0.015
14	Latvia	0.942	+0.001	−0.016
15	Brazil	0.941	+0.008	−0.015
16	Jamaica	0.939	±0.000	−0.006
17	Finland	0.939	−0.011	−0.031
18	Iceland	0.938	+0.002	−0.006
19	Vanuatu	0.938	±0.000	+0.024
20	Australia	0.932	+0.006	−0.009
21	Costa Rica	0.932	±0.000	−0.043
22	Canada	0.931	−0.009	−0.002
23	Spain	0.931	−0.002	−0.021
24	Uruguay	0.931	+0.009	−0.044
25	Austria	0.928	−0.017	−0.034
26	Trinidad and Tobago	0.927	±0.000	+0.035
27	Japan	0.925	−0.001	+0.013
28	Portugal	0.923	−0.015	−0.031
29	Barbados	0.923	−0.004	+0.008
30	Germany	0.922	−0.017	−0.042
31	Dominican Republic	0.921	−0.008	+0.062
32	Poland	0.916	+0.164	−0.047
33	United Kingdom	0.915	−0.027	−0.030
34	Italy	0.910	−0.002	−0.048
35	Cape Verde	0.909	−0.005	−0.026
36	Taiwan	0.907	−0.009	−0.010
37	Lithuania	0.901	+0.015	−0.028
38	Seychelles	0.898	+0.011	+0.209
39	Suriname	0.894	±0.000	−0.018
40	Malta	0.894	+0.003	−0.009
41	Ghana	0.893	−0.001	−0.032
42	South Africa	0.889	+0.006	−0.008
43	Honduras	0.881	−0.008	+0.115
44	Montenegro	0.879	±0.000	+0.090
45	Solomon Islands	0.878	±0.000	+0.033
46	Netherlands	0.877	−0.035	−0.064
47	Panama	0.877	+0.014	−0.009
48	Namibia	0.876	+0.015	−0.025
49	Cyprus	0.874	−0.003	−0.053
50	Nigeria	0.865	+0.019	−0.012
51	Botswana	0.865	+0.021	−0.015
52	Timor-Leste	0.865	+0.006	+0.055
53	Liberia	0.864	±0.000	−0.015
54	Papua New Guinea	0.864	−0.009	+0.020
55	Sao Tome and Principe	0.863	±0.000	−0.003
56	Colombia	0.862	−0.012	−0.037
57	Sierra Leone	0.862	+0.004	+0.034
58	Nepal	0.856	−0.025	−0.027
59	Bulgaria	0.855	+0.017	+0.028
60	Greece	0.853	+0.020	−0.112
61	Guyana	0.852	+0.010	+0.012
62	Kenya	0.848	−0.014	+0.006
63	Lesotho	0.847	−0.006	+0.030
64	Romania	0.845	−0.005	−0.044
65	Moldova	0.840	−0.049	+0.024
66	Zambia	0.839	−0.041	+0.097
67	Armenia	0.839	−0.003	+0.153
68	The Gambia	0.837	−0.002	+0.568
69	Kosovo	0.835	−0.038	−0.025
70	Sri Lanka	0.834	+0.113	+0.326
71	Niger	0.831	−0.043	−0.066
72	Slovakia	0.831	−0.080	−0.092
73	Argentina	0.827	−0.112	−0.063
74	Croatia	0.819	−0.006	−0.085
75	Slovenia	0.817	−0.037	−0.137
76	Senegal	0.813	−0.047	−0.115
77	South Korea	0.809	+0.008	+0.009
78	Malawi	0.804	±0.000	−0.041
79	Madagascar	0.803	−0.002	−0.001
80	Paraguay	0.801	−0.001	−0.011
81	Israel	0.798	−0.013	−0.030
82	Guatemala	0.789	+0.141	−0.017
83	Ecuador	0.787	−0.005	+0.139
84	North Macedonia	0.787	−0.001	+0.126
85	Albania	0.783	−0.006	−0.039
86	Gabon	0.770	+0.008	−0.038
87	Ivory Coast	0.757	−0.006	−0.030
88	Benin	0.756	+0.019	−0.116
89	Fiji	0.755	+0.002	+0.274
90	Maldives	0.753	−0.032	+0.179
91	Bolivia	0.739	−0.043	−0.065
92	Tanzania	0.735	−0.006	+0.009
93	Peru	0.734	−0.107	−0.192
94	Bosnia and Herzegovina	0.731	+0.002	−0.085
95	Lebanon	0.720	−0.003	−0.035
96	Bhutan	0.718	+0.021	+0.023
97	Malaysia	0.711	+0.002	+0.145
98	Georgia	0.706	−0.126	−0.198
99	Mongolia	0.698	−0.052	−0.212
100	Haiti	0.697	+0.021	−0.057
101	Indonesia	0.693	+0.020	−0.126
102	Guinea-Bissau	0.671	−0.030	−0.029
103	Mauritius	0.670	+0.003	−0.202
104	Mexico	0.659	−0.028	−0.113
105	Philippines	0.649	+0.002	−0.204
106	Somaliland	0.640	−0.005	+0.009
107	Hungary	0.631	+0.009	−0.197
108	Democratic Republic of the Congo	0.626	+0.045	+0.043
109	Serbia	0.607	−0.014	−0.069
110	Tunisia	0.604	−0.053	−0.258
111	Zanzibar	0.604	−0.027	−0.003
112	Angola	0.593	+0.034	+0.115
113	Mali	0.585	−0.123	−0.272
114	Morocco	0.569	±0.000	−0.031
115	Jordan	0.561	+0.035	+0.019
116	Somalia	0.555	−0.007	+0.020
117	Mauritania	0.543	−0.073	−0.166
118	Libya	0.543	−0.002	−0.118
119	Comoros	0.528	−0.017	−0.248
120	Togo	0.521	−0.093	−0.263
121	Ukraine	0.518	−0.016	−0.124
122	Thailand	0.516	+0.016	+0.324
123	Singapore	0.512	−0.003	+0.008
124	Iraq	0.510	+0.023	−0.052
125	Pakistan	0.509	+0.004	−0.221
126	Mozambique	0.508	−0.120	−0.262
127	Central African Republic	0.499	−0.037	−0.100
128	Cameroon	0.493	−0.016	−0.103
129	Kyrgyzstan	0.487	−0.020	−0.251
130	India	0.484	+0.034	−0.274
131	El Salvador	0.469	−0.025	−0.413
132	Uganda	0.435	+0.020	−0.138
133	Djibouti	0.419	±0.000	+0.043
134	Palestine/West Bank	0.418	−0.082	−0.200
135	Burkina Faso	0.405	−0.255	−0.494
136	Kuwait	0.402	−0.013	+0.032
137	Bangladesh	0.394	+0.027	−0.069
138	Kazakhstan	0.389	−0.008	+0.047
139	Zimbabwe	0.373	−0.035	−0.054
140	Guinea	0.369	−0.031	−0.219
141	Chad	0.347	+0.054	−0.122
142	Republic of the Congo	0.345	+0.013	+0.023
143	Algeria	0.324	−0.009	−0.195
144	Ethiopia	0.323	−0.046	+0.019
145	Sudan	0.319	+0.026	+0.117
146	Yemen	0.298	+0.009	−0.167
147	Türkiye	0.254	−0.001	−0.234
148	Hong Kong	0.250	+0.004	−0.544
149	Uzbekistan	0.241	+0.002	+0.153
150	Venezuela	0.207	−0.033	−0.236
151	South Sudan	0.201	−0.001	+0.047
152	Cambodia	0.196	−0.014	−0.235
153	Oman	0.171	+0.006	+0.038
154	Rwanda	0.170	−0.037	−0.126
155	Iran	0.168	+0.057	+0.011
156	Burundi	0.150	−0.022	−0.192
157	Azerbaijan	0.150	−0.076	−0.105
158	Egypt	0.143	+0.007	+0.005
159	Equatorial Guinea	0.132	−0.029	−0.048
160	Bahrain	0.121	±0.000	−0.012
161	United Arab Emirates	0.118	+0.005	−0.032
162	Tajikistan	0.106	+0.025	−0.159
163	Russia	0.097	−0.020	−0.282
164	Palestine/Gaza	0.095	−0.151	−0.203
165	Vietnam	0.092	−0.002	−0.065
166	Qatar	0.077	+0.002	−0.068
167	Syria	0.077	−0.005	+0.037
168	Burma/Myanmar	0.070	+0.003	−0.462
169	Saudi Arabia	0.070	−0.005	−0.019
170	Eswatini	0.068	±0.000	−0.063
171	Turkmenistan	0.064	+0.006	+0.024
172	Laos	0.053	−0.001	−0.002
173	Afghanistan	0.046	+0.024	−0.635
174	Cuba	0.044	+0.008	+0.006
175	China	0.038	−0.001	−0.075
176	Belarus	0.036	±0.000	−0.330
177	Eritrea	0.027	±0.000	−0.003
178	Nicaragua	0.020	−0.014	−0.485
179	North Korea	0.015	+0.003	+0.004

Frequently asked questions

Denmark ranks #1 of 179 countries on the V-Dem political civil liberties index in 2024, with the highest score of 0.982 on a 0–1 scale.

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

In 2024, the top three of 179 ranked countries are Denmark (0.982), Switzerland (0.975), and Ireland (0.970).

Which country ranks last on political civil liberties in 2024?

North Korea ranks #179 of 179 with a score of 0.015.

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

Afghanistan shows the largest 10-year shift: its score declined by 0.635 points over the past decade, standing at 0.046 (rank #173) in 2024.

How is the political civil liberties 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.