---
title: "Ethiopia: Politics & Democracy | Model Diplomat"
description: "Ethiopia politics: ranks #145 of 179 on the V-Dem liberal democracy index in 2025 (score 10.0/100). Current leaders, democracy trend since 1946, and upcoming elections."
url: "https://modeldiplomat.com/politics/ethiopia"
---

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# 🇪🇹 Ethiopia: Politics & Democracy

By V-Dem's measure, no — Ethiopia scores 10.0 on the 0–100 liberal democracy index, which places it firmly in the autocratic range.

Liberal democracy rank (2025)

\#145 of 179

Score (0–100)

10.0

10-year change

−0.2

[Full rankings →](https://modeldiplomat.com/politics/democracy-index)

## Current leaders

Taye Atske Selassie

Head of State

since 2024-10-07

Abiy Ahmed

Head of Government · Prosperity Party

since 2018-04-01

## Democracy trend

Ethiopia — V-Dem liberal democracy index, 1900–2025 (0–100 scale). Latest: 10.0 in 2025.

## Voting alignment

Ethiopia's closest UN General Assembly voting partners since 1946:

[Seychelles · 95.6%](https://modeldiplomat.com/politics/alignment/eth-vs-syc)[Mozambique · 95.0%](https://modeldiplomat.com/politics/alignment/eth-vs-moz)[São Tomé & Príncipe · 94.5%](https://modeldiplomat.com/politics/alignment/eth-vs-stp)[All friends & foes →](https://modeldiplomat.com/politics/alignment/ethiopia)

## Frequently asked questions

Is Ethiopia a democracy?

By V-Dem's measure, no — Ethiopia scores 10.0 on the 0–100 liberal democracy index, which places it firmly in the autocratic range. It ranks #145 of 179 countries in 2025.

Is democracy in Ethiopia improving or declining?

Ethiopia's V-Dem liberal democracy score fell by 0.2 points over the past decade (a decline on this index), standing at 10.0 in 2025 (1-year change: +0.7).

Who leads Ethiopia?

Taye Atske Selassie is Ethiopia's head of state; Abiy Ahmed serves as head of government (Prosperity Party).

## More on Ethiopia

[Full country profile](https://modeldiplomat.com/country/ethiopia)[Blocs & alliances](https://modeldiplomat.com/country/ethiopia/blocs-alliances)[Treaties](https://modeldiplomat.com/country/ethiopia/treaties)[Background](https://modeldiplomat.com/country/ethiopia/background)[Politics & democracy](https://modeldiplomat.com/politics/ethiopia)

- [Ethiopia's UN voting friends & foes](https://modeldiplomat.com/politics/alignment/ethiopia)
- [Where Ethiopia ranks on the global democracy index](https://modeldiplomat.com/politics/democracy-index)
- [Upcoming elections worldwide](https://modeldiplomat.com/politics/elections)
- [UN General Assembly voting by topic](https://modeldiplomat.com/politics/un)

Data source: Coppedge, Michael et al. 'V-Dem Country-Year Dataset v16', Varieties of Democracy (V-Dem) Project, https\://www\.v-dem.net, CC BY 4.0.