0.900–1.000 0.800–0.899 0.700–0.799 0.600–0.699 | 0.500–0.599 0.400–0.499 0.300–0.399 0.200–0.299 | 0.100–0.199 0.000–0.099 No data |
The Democracy Indices by V-Dem are democracy indices published by the V-Dem Institute that describe qualities of different democracies. It is published annually. [1] In particular, the V-Dem dataset is popular among political scientists and describes the characteristics of political regimes. Datasets released by the V-Dem Institute include information on hundreds of indicator variables describing all aspects of government, especially on the quality of democracy, inclusivity, and other economic indicators.
By 2020, the V-Dem index had "more than 470 indicators, 82 mid-level indices, and 5 high-level indices covering 202 polities from the period of 1789–2019". [2] V-Dem uses methodological tools to deal with the subject nature of ratings and their reliability. [2]
As of 2022, the V-Dem Institute published 483 indicators and republishes 59 other indicators. [3] [4] V-Dem publishes five core indices with several other supplementary indices. The core indices are the electoral democracy index, the liberal democracy index, the participatory democracy index, the Deliberative Democracy Index and the egalitarian democracy index. [5]
The table below shows V-Dem Democracy rankings published in 2024. [7] [8] [9]
Country | Democracy Indices | Democracy Component Indices | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Electoral | Liberal | Liberal | Egalitarian | Participatory | Deliberative | |
Denmark | 0.915 | 0.883 | 0.977 | 0.972 | 0.716 | 0.967 |
Ireland | 0.896 | 0.831 | 0.933 | 0.875 | 0.634 | 0.905 |
Estonia | 0.895 | 0.845 | 0.955 | 0.887 | 0.638 | 0.85 |
Belgium | 0.895 | 0.814 | 0.909 | 0.931 | 0.648 | 0.91 |
Switzerland | 0.89 | 0.844 | 0.962 | 0.931 | 0.882 | 0.98 |
New Zealand | 0.886 | 0.831 | 0.95 | 0.866 | 0.703 | 0.831 |
Norway | 0.886 | 0.836 | 0.955 | 0.961 | 0.655 | 0.988 |
Sweden | 0.884 | 0.852 | 0.98 | 0.903 | 0.651 | 0.905 |
Luxembourg | 0.878 | 0.798 | 0.91 | 0.939 | 0.578 | 0.975 |
France | 0.877 | 0.81 | 0.93 | 0.811 | 0.632 | 0.939 |
Czech Republic | 0.871 | 0.805 | 0.933 | 0.913 | 0.585 | 0.88 |
Costa Rica | 0.868 | 0.816 | 0.953 | 0.886 | 0.648 | 0.945 |
Finland | 0.86 | 0.82 | 0.972 | 0.896 | 0.637 | 0.942 |
Canada | 0.856 | 0.755 | 0.882 | 0.777 | 0.648 | 0.822 |
Germany | 0.856 | 0.812 | 0.967 | 0.941 | 0.662 | 0.976 |
Australia | 0.854 | 0.804 | 0.957 | 0.832 | 0.704 | 0.921 |
Netherlands | 0.854 | 0.8 | 0.951 | 0.891 | 0.62 | 0.943 |
United Kingdom | 0.852 | 0.772 | 0.914 | 0.81 | 0.66 | 0.843 |
Latvia | 0.852 | 0.768 | 0.908 | 0.862 | 0.674 | 0.825 |
United States | 0.848 | 0.772 | 0.92 | 0.651 | 0.657 | 0.838 |
Portugal | 0.845 | 0.751 | 0.887 | 0.795 | 0.611 | 0.872 |
Uruguay | 0.845 | 0.77 | 0.922 | 0.821 | 0.768 | 0.849 |
Austria | 0.844 | 0.773 | 0.926 | 0.893 | 0.65 | 0.827 |
Spain | 0.843 | 0.757 | 0.902 | 0.841 | 0.645 | 0.828 |
Argentina | 0.84 | 0.69 | 0.803 | 0.769 | 0.616 | 0.696 |
Chile | 0.838 | 0.786 | 0.956 | 0.723 | 0.661 | 0.939 |
Italy | 0.837 | 0.757 | 0.911 | 0.904 | 0.747 | 0.911 |
Iceland | 0.834 | 0.744 | 0.896 | 0.87 | 0.659 | 0.845 |
Slovakia | 0.823 | 0.739 | 0.909 | 0.792 | 0.686 | 0.583 |
Taiwan | 0.823 | 0.722 | 0.878 | 0.913 | 0.751 | 0.897 |
Japan | 0.818 | 0.731 | 0.901 | 0.927 | 0.565 | 0.9 |
Lithuania | 0.798 | 0.735 | 0.938 | 0.868 | 0.692 | 0.822 |
Jamaica | 0.798 | 0.678 | 0.847 | 0.829 | 0.59 | 0.807 |
Barbados | 0.796 | 0.678 | 0.849 | 0.825 | 0.295 | 0.887 |
Vanuatu | 0.796 | 0.691 | 0.872 | 0.764 | 0.556 | 0.754 |
Brazil | 0.784 | 0.692 | 0.887 | 0.592 | 0.643 | 0.925 |
Malta | 0.779 | 0.64 | 0.807 | 0.894 | 0.653 | 0.803 |
Cyprus | 0.774 | 0.636 | 0.817 | 0.869 | 0.574 | 0.837 |
Slovenia | 0.758 | 0.653 | 0.864 | 0.884 | 0.71 | 0.867 |
Cape Verde | 0.754 | 0.648 | 0.863 | 0.725 | 0.538 | 0.695 |
Trinidad and Tobago | 0.753 | 0.635 | 0.84 | 0.788 | 0.577 | 0.928 |
Suriname | 0.753 | 0.631 | 0.837 | 0.713 | 0.572 | 0.773 |
Greece | 0.751 | 0.582 | 0.752 | 0.835 | 0.641 | 0.868 |
Seychelles | 0.743 | 0.659 | 0.894 | 0.831 | 0.288 | 0.942 |
Croatia | 0.733 | 0.639 | 0.879 | 0.768 | 0.625 | 0.68 |
Panama | 0.73 | 0.571 | 0.76 | 0.541 | 0.518 | 0.737 |
Israel | 0.723 | 0.634 | 0.889 | 0.762 | 0.603 | 0.759 |
Moldova | 0.713 | 0.608 | 0.86 | 0.8 | 0.665 | 0.93 |
Colombia | 0.704 | 0.565 | 0.793 | 0.528 | 0.648 | 0.695 |
South Korea | 0.703 | 0.604 | 0.863 | 0.863 | 0.61 | 0.844 |
Peru | 0.699 | 0.576 | 0.819 | 0.519 | 0.622 | 0.506 |
East Timor | 0.698 | 0.507 | 0.692 | 0.555 | 0.554 | 0.72 |
South Africa | 0.687 | 0.584 | 0.851 | 0.629 | 0.563 | 0.865 |
Dominican Republic | 0.685 | 0.438 | 0.577 | 0.46 | 0.595 | 0.837 |
Nepal | 0.681 | 0.523 | 0.742 | 0.592 | 0.614 | 0.555 |
São Tomé and Príncipe | 0.675 | 0.563 | 0.835 | 0.67 | 0.561 | 0.678 |
Kosovo | 0.674 | 0.494 | 0.702 | 0.685 | 0.524 | 0.6 |
Romania | 0.669 | 0.501 | 0.72 | 0.674 | 0.657 | 0.35 |
Bulgaria | 0.666 | 0.588 | 0.898 | 0.76 | 0.663 | 0.914 |
Ghana | 0.661 | 0.562 | 0.858 | 0.683 | 0.381 | 0.854 |
Ecuador | 0.646 | 0.467 | 0.689 | 0.488 | 0.759 | 0.54 |
Namibia | 0.646 | 0.519 | 0.792 | 0.425 | 0.486 | 0.706 |
Lesotho | 0.644 | 0.503 | 0.758 | 0.727 | 0.531 | 0.689 |
The Gambia | 0.641 | 0.517 | 0.798 | 0.659 | 0.592 | 0.728 |
Liberia | 0.639 | 0.436 | 0.638 | 0.561 | 0.469 | 0.836 |
Armenia | 0.634 | 0.422 | 0.611 | 0.811 | 0.442 | 0.69 |
Solomon Islands | 0.619 | 0.481 | 0.759 | 0.517 | 0.514 | 0.495 |
Senegal | 0.617 | 0.459 | 0.719 | 0.688 | 0.582 | 0.844 |
Georgia | 0.604 | 0.473 | 0.761 | 0.784 | 0.542 | 0.803 |
Maldives | 0.599 | 0.453 | 0.728 | 0.61 | 0.49 | 0.782 |
Poland | 0.588 | 0.444 | 0.729 | 0.877 | 0.555 | 0.719 |
Bolivia | 0.586 | 0.353 | 0.53 | 0.595 | 0.632 | 0.541 |
Montenegro | 0.581 | 0.467 | 0.785 | 0.771 | 0.561 | 0.759 |
Malawi | 0.58 | 0.485 | 0.83 | 0.479 | 0.567 | 0.753 |
Sri Lanka | 0.58 | 0.421 | 0.688 | 0.625 | 0.549 | 0.61 |
Paraguay | 0.579 | 0.426 | 0.697 | 0.315 | 0.535 | 0.493 |
Kenya | 0.564 | 0.456 | 0.789 | 0.59 | 0.603 | 0.833 |
North Macedonia | 0.56 | 0.359 | 0.584 | 0.598 | 0.61 | 0.64 |
Botswana | 0.558 | 0.434 | 0.753 | 0.658 | 0.432 | 0.587 |
Indonesia | 0.541 | 0.36 | 0.604 | 0.445 | 0.595 | 0.816 |
Mexico | 0.534 | 0.299 | 0.476 | 0.452 | 0.654 | 0.545 |
Honduras | 0.534 | 0.394 | 0.695 | 0.389 | 0.544 | 0.675 |
Zambia | 0.529 | 0.424 | 0.771 | 0.582 | 0.652 | 0.883 |
Mongolia | 0.527 | 0.405 | 0.732 | 0.607 | 0.398 | 0.769 |
Bhutan | 0.527 | 0.445 | 0.819 | 0.831 | 0.558 | 0.921 |
Guyana | 0.512 | 0.332 | 0.578 | 0.686 | 0.513 | 0.38 |
Bosnia and Herzegovina | 0.512 | 0.346 | 0.616 | 0.655 | 0.527 | 0.678 |
Albania | 0.51 | 0.402 | 0.75 | 0.706 | 0.555 | 0.444 |
Malaysia | 0.506 | 0.359 | 0.655 | 0.726 | 0.533 | 0.662 |
Guatemala | 0.505 | 0.309 | 0.536 | 0.294 | 0.489 | 0.46 |
Fiji | 0.504 | 0.41 | 0.779 | 0.638 | 0.432 | 0.78 |
Benin | 0.498 | 0.325 | 0.58 | 0.729 | 0.487 | 0.516 |
Sierra Leone | 0.497 | 0.384 | 0.728 | 0.642 | 0.585 | 0.912 |
Nigeria | 0.491 | 0.327 | 0.597 | 0.493 | 0.609 | 0.614 |
Mauritius | 0.479 | 0.36 | 0.696 | 0.729 | 0.57 | 0.809 |
Papua New Guinea | 0.475 | 0.383 | 0.761 | 0.493 | 0.527 | 0.524 |
Madagascar | 0.474 | 0.241 | 0.404 | 0.313 | 0.5 | 0.44 |
Tunisia | 0.472 | 0.301 | 0.558 | 0.813 | 0.548 | 0.766 |
Ivory Coast | 0.454 | 0.253 | 0.457 | 0.522 | 0.611 | 0.822 |
Hungary | 0.44 | 0.325 | 0.668 | 0.631 | 0.571 | 0.361 |
Tanzania | 0.435 | 0.39 | 0.844 | 0.708 | 0.532 | 0.777 |
Philippines | 0.43 | 0.287 | 0.581 | 0.334 | 0.567 | 0.749 |
Guinea-Bissau | 0.421 | 0.233 | 0.425 | 0.454 | 0.345 | 0.401 |
Togo | 0.416 | 0.215 | 0.409 | 0.626 | 0.477 | 0.735 |
Ukraine | 0.415 | 0.249 | 0.5 | 0.654 | 0.58 | 0.761 |
Somaliland | 0.404 | 0.247 | 0.508 | 0.28 | 0.509 | 0.507 |
Singapore | 0.403 | 0.331 | 0.735 | 0.81 | 0.134 | 0.738 |
Niger | 0.389 | 0.282 | 0.595 | 0.613 | 0.599 | 0.792 |
El Salvador | 0.388 | 0.111 | 0.151 | 0.315 | 0.469 | 0.261 |
India | 0.377 | 0.275 | 0.621 | 0.429 | 0.507 | 0.612 |
Iraq | 0.367 | 0.21 | 0.452 | 0.449 | 0.462 | 0.589 |
Lebanon | 0.364 | 0.237 | 0.529 | 0.503 | 0.472 | 0.667 |
Serbia | 0.364 | 0.253 | 0.579 | 0.747 | 0.55 | 0.486 |
Mauritania | 0.363 | 0.184 | 0.373 | 0.338 | 0.52 | 0.548 |
Kyrgyzstan | 0.358 | 0.199 | 0.432 | 0.582 | 0.392 | 0.367 |
Mozambique | 0.353 | 0.221 | 0.496 | 0.513 | 0.539 | 0.56 |
Angola | 0.349 | 0.173 | 0.358 | 0.293 | 0.179 | 0.367 |
Pakistan | 0.344 | 0.212 | 0.484 | 0.243 | 0.545 | 0.531 |
Kuwait | 0.333 | 0.313 | 0.8 | 0.58 | 0.186 | 0.66 |
Democratic Republic of the Congo | 0.317 | 0.122 | 0.244 | 0.353 | 0.398 | 0.631 |
Central African Republic | 0.302 | 0.1 | 0.189 | 0.282 | 0.306 | 0.373 |
Cameroon | 0.298 | 0.131 | 0.289 | 0.498 | 0.25 | 0.229 |
Gabon | 0.293 | 0.175 | 0.429 | 0.632 | 0.56 | 0.533 |
Zanzibar | 0.289 | 0.23 | 0.608 | 0.696 | 0.462 | 0.698 |
Thailand | 0.288 | 0.228 | 0.598 | 0.472 | 0.388 | 0.341 |
Zimbabwe | 0.288 | 0.174 | 0.436 | 0.36 | 0.532 | 0.543 |
Turkey | 0.287 | 0.113 | 0.245 | 0.53 | 0.416 | 0.195 |
Kazakhstan | 0.284 | 0.144 | 0.345 | 0.597 | 0.299 | 0.446 |
Ethiopia | 0.283 | 0.11 | 0.238 | 0.518 | 0.385 | 0.612 |
Uganda | 0.28 | 0.217 | 0.577 | 0.421 | 0.392 | 0.693 |
Comoros | 0.275 | 0.106 | 0.232 | 0.592 | 0.534 | 0.483 |
Algeria | 0.27 | 0.121 | 0.287 | 0.716 | 0.23 | 0.434 |
Morocco | 0.263 | 0.249 | 0.706 | 0.566 | 0.411 | 0.727 |
Jordan | 0.256 | 0.253 | 0.729 | 0.566 | 0.284 | 0.692 |
Palestine (West Bank) | 0.254 | 0.138 | 0.359 | 0.623 | 0.422 | 0.388 |
Bangladesh | 0.253 | 0.096 | 0.219 | 0.243 | 0.303 | 0.298 |
Djibouti | 0.253 | 0.122 | 0.303 | 0.528 | 0.397 | 0.387 |
Republic of the Congo | 0.245 | 0.119 | 0.305 | 0.34 | 0.546 | 0.562 |
Mali | 0.229 | 0.148 | 0.413 | 0.609 | 0.582 | 0.724 |
Uzbekistan | 0.215 | 0.081 | 0.2 | 0.449 | 0.173 | 0.445 |
Rwanda | 0.214 | 0.096 | 0.252 | 0.548 | 0.419 | 0.589 |
Haiti | 0.214 | 0.066 | 0.152 | 0.128 | 0.259 | 0.597 |
Venezuela | 0.211 | 0.055 | 0.115 | 0.285 | 0.482 | 0.067 |
Burkina Faso | 0.205 | 0.182 | 0.559 | 0.619 | 0.421 | 0.697 |
Cambodia | 0.198 | 0.057 | 0.13 | 0.219 | 0.371 | 0.187 |
Libya | 0.194 | 0.103 | 0.295 | 0.446 | 0.451 | 0.703 |
Russia | 0.19 | 0.062 | 0.151 | 0.396 | 0.379 | 0.2 |
Egypt | 0.189 | 0.129 | 0.388 | 0.317 | 0.211 | 0.303 |
Azerbaijan | 0.188 | 0.064 | 0.162 | 0.37 | 0.119 | 0.123 |
Burundi | 0.188 | 0.059 | 0.145 | 0.31 | 0.181 | 0.199 |
Equatorial Guinea | 0.183 | 0.057 | 0.14 | 0.327 | 0.113 | 0.1 |
Guinea | 0.18 | 0.088 | 0.253 | 0.388 | 0.424 | 0.22 |
Cuba | 0.176 | 0.058 | 0.151 | 0.771 | 0.236 | 0.3 |
Somalia | 0.172 | 0.136 | 0.429 | 0.29 | 0.251 | 0.734 |
Oman | 0.17 | 0.137 | 0.436 | 0.58 | 0.388 | 0.203 |
Nicaragua | 0.17 | 0.027 | 0.042 | 0.306 | 0.28 | 0.033 |
Tajikistan | 0.168 | 0.041 | 0.091 | 0.198 | 0.157 | 0.149 |
Belarus | 0.157 | 0.036 | 0.082 | 0.734 | 0.161 | 0.044 |
Iran | 0.156 | 0.082 | 0.246 | 0.5 | 0.079 | 0.186 |
Hong Kong | 0.154 | 0.124 | 0.401 | 0.721 | 0.131 | 0.17 |
Turkmenistan | 0.15 | 0.036 | 0.083 | 0.288 | 0.065 | 0.043 |
Vietnam | 0.149 | 0.114 | 0.372 | 0.662 | 0.563 | 0.613 |
Chad | 0.148 | 0.047 | 0.127 | 0.215 | 0.34 | 0.327 |
Syria | 0.146 | 0.054 | 0.153 | 0.167 | 0.137 | 0.056 |
South Sudan | 0.143 | 0.065 | 0.193 | 0.082 | 0.232 | 0.076 |
Palestine (Gaza Strip) | 0.136 | 0.07 | 0.219 | 0.582 | 0.357 | 0.202 |
Sudan | 0.135 | 0.046 | 0.132 | 0.208 | 0.279 | 0.163 |
Laos | 0.132 | 0.095 | 0.313 | 0.44 | 0.393 | 0.181 |
Yemen | 0.13 | 0.048 | 0.14 | 0.108 | 0.217 | 0.181 |
Bahrain | 0.129 | 0.054 | 0.165 | 0.391 | 0.122 | 0.209 |
Eswatini | 0.124 | 0.094 | 0.315 | 0.219 | 0.253 | 0.164 |
United Arab Emirates | 0.102 | 0.078 | 0.27 | 0.486 | 0.095 | 0.285 |
Qatar | 0.087 | 0.085 | 0.306 | 0.382 | 0.041 | 0.389 |
North Korea | 0.084 | 0.015 | 0.036 | 0.317 | 0.153 | 0.036 |
Myanmar | 0.081 | 0.016 | 0.044 | 0.207 | 0.314 | 0.221 |
Afghanistan | 0.075 | 0.03 | 0.101 | 0.112 | 0.03 | 0.093 |
China | 0.074 | 0.037 | 0.129 | 0.315 | 0.124 | 0.382 |
Eritrea | 0.068 | 0.01 | 0.025 | 0.439 | 0.028 | 0.109 |
Saudi Arabia | 0.015 | 0.046 | 0.184 | 0.446 | 0.087 | 0.249 |
A variety of other organizations use V-Dem's dataset in the construction of their indicators. [11] [12] The World Bank's Worldwide Governance Indicators also use V-Dem's data to inform their Control of Corruption indicator (includes V-Dem's Corruption index), Rule of Law Indicator (includes V-Dem's liberal component index), and the Voice and Accountability Indicator (includes V-Dem's Expanded freedom of expression, freedom of association, and Clean elections indicators). [12]
The Digital Society Project is a subset of indicators on V-Dem's survey that asks questions about social media's political status and the internet. [6] Specifically, the Digital Society Project measures a range of questions related to internet censorship, misinformation online, and internet shutdowns. [13] This annual report includes 35 indicators assessing five areas: disinformation, digital media freedom, state regulation of digital media, the polarization of online media, and online social cleavages. [14] [15] It has been updated each year starting in 2019, with data covering from 2000–2021. [14] Similar to other expert analyses like Freedom House, these data are more prone to false positives when compared with remotely sensed data, such as that from Access Now or the OpenNet Initiative. [15]
Political scientist Jonas Wolff criticized V-Dem for gradually abandoning a pluralist conceptualization of democracy. According to him, V-Dem has moved away from its original emphasis on the conceptual varieties of democracy and adopted an uncontested view of democracy as liberal democracy while also ignoring the limitations of liberal democracy. [19]
The V-Dem dataset does not cover some countries, namely: Andorra, Antigua and Barbuda, Bahamas, Belize, Brunei, Dominica, Federated States of Micronesia, Grenada, Kiribati, Liechtenstein, Marshall Islands, Monaco, Nauru, Palau, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Samoa, San Marino, Tonga, Tuvalu, and the Vatican.
Absolute monarchy is a form of monarchy in which the sovereign is the sole source of political power, unconstrained by constitutions, legislatures or other checks on their authority.
Labor rights or workers' rights are both legal rights and human rights relating to labor relations between workers and employers. These rights are codified in national and international labor and employment law. In general, these rights influence working conditions in the relations of employment. One of the most prominent is the right to freedom of association, otherwise known as the right to organize. Workers organized in trade unions exercise the right to collective bargaining to improve working conditions.
The Polity data series is a data series in political science research. Along with the V-Dem Democracy indices project and Democracy Index, Polity is among prominent datasets that measure democracy and autocracy.
The following are links to some international rankings of the United States.
A free and fair election is defined as an election in which "coercion is comparatively uncommon". This definition was popularized by political scientist Robert Dahl. A free and fair election involves political freedoms and fair processes leading up to the vote, a fair count of eligible voters who cast a ballot, a lack of electoral fraud or voter suppression, and acceptance of election results by all parties. An election may partially meet international standards for free and fair elections, or may meet some standards but not others.
Freedom in the World is a yearly survey and report by the U.S.-based non-governmental organization Freedom House that measures the degree of civil liberties and political rights in every nation and significant related and disputed territories around the world.
The following are international rankings of Japan.
These are the international rankings of the United Kingdom.
An Internet outage or Internet blackout or Internet shutdown is the complete or partial failure of the internet services. It can occur due to censorship, cyberattacks, disasters, police or security services actions or errors.
Staffan I. Lindberg, is a Swedish political scientist, Principal Investigator for Varieties of Democracy (V-Dem) Institute and Director of the V-Dem Institute at the University of Gothenburg. He is a professor in the Department of Political Science, and member of the Board of University of Gothenburg, Sweden member of the Young Academy of Sweden, Wallenberg Academy Fellow, Research Fellow at the Quality of Government Institute; and senior advisor for the Oslo Analytica.
Democratic backsliding is a process of regime change toward autocracy in which the exercise of political power becomes more arbitrary and repressive. The process typically restricts the space for public contest and political participation in the process of government selection. Democratic decline involves the weakening of democratic institutions, such as the peaceful transition of power or free and fair elections, or the violation of individual rights that underpin democracies, especially freedom of expression. Democratic backsliding is the opposite of democratization.
Democracy in Africa is measured according to various definitions of democracy by a variety of indexes, such as V-Dem Democracy indices, and Democracy Index by The Economist.
The V-Dem Institute, founded by Staffan I. Lindberg in 2014, studies the qualities of government. The headquarters of the project is based at the department of political science, University of Gothenburg, Sweden.
Freedom on the Net is an annual report providing analytical reports and numerical ratings regarding the state of Internet freedom for countries worldwide, published by the American non-profit research and advocacy group Freedom House. The countries surveyed represent a sample with a broad range of geographical diversity and levels of economic development, as well as varying levels of political and media freedom.
Democracy in Iraq is a fledgling process, but Iraq achieved a more democratic approach than most surrounding countries. Iraq has a score of 3.51 of ten on the 2021 The Economist Democracy Index, which is considered authoritarian. Iraq scored 0.362 on the V-Dem Electoral Democracy Index in 2023, ranking 3rd in the Middle East and 115th worldwide. Numerous wars, corruption, and civil and ethnic conflict in Iraq have made it difficult for a stable democratic government to emerge.
Democracy indices are quantitative and comparative assessments of the state of democracy for different countries according to various definitions of democracy.
Democracy in Asia can be comparatively assessed according to various definitions of democracy. According to the V-Dem Democracy indices, the Asian countries with the highest democracy scores in year 2023 were Taiwan, Japan, Cyprus, Israel, and South Korea, meanwhile the Asian countries with lowest democracy scores in 2023 are Saudi Arabia, China and Afghanistan. Democratic backsliding can be observed in parts of Asia. The V-Dem Democracy Report identified for the year 2023 East Timor as a case of stand-alone democratization and Thailand and Maldives as cases of U-Turn democratization.
The Democracy in Latin America and the Caribbean can be compared according to the different definitions of democracy. The V-Dem Democracy indices considers the Latin American and Caribbean countries with the highest democracy scores in 2023 as Costa Rica, Argentina, Chile, Uruguay and Jamaica and countries with lowest democracy scores as Nicaragua, Cuba and Venezuela. Democratic backsliding can be observed in parts of Latin America and the Caribbean. Democratization is reported by V-Dem Democracy Report 2024 in Brazil, Dominican Republic, Honduras and Bolivia.
Democracy in Europe can be comparatively assessed according to various definitions of democracy. According to the V-Dem Democracy Indices, the European countries with the highest democracy scores in 2023 are Denmark, Norway and Sweden, meanwhile the European countries with lowest democracy scores in 2023 are Belarus, Russia and Turkey.