Democratic country list. Afghanistan has been the lowest-ranked country .
Democratic country list. They do not provide a single index of democracy. To be labelled a flawed democracy, countries like Chile, Israel and Italy have Knowing countries with Presidential Democracy is significantly important to get an idea about presence of Presidential Democracy countries around the globe. (2018) based on expert estimates by V-Dem. This is a list of social democratic and democratic socialist parties which have governed countries, whether as the ruling party or as a member of a governing coalition. For example, in preparing its annual Democracy Index, the Economist Intelligence Unit scores each of the world’s countries in five distinct categories—which we can examine to determine several of the Economist’s democratic wish list: Democracy Ranking refers to countries (country-based democracies) with a population of one million or more and that are classified by Freedom House as "free" or at least as "partly free" (see also the Freedom House report). In 2024, just 6. ”) Here’s a closer look at some examples of how V-Dem stats Freedom House - Explore the map of global freedom and internet freedom around the world. Afghanistan has been the lowest-ranked country Apr 24, 2023 · How many countries globally are true democracies? This map showcases the state of democracy in every country worldwide. Member states of the European Union use various forms of democracy. If you're looking for the names of countries with democracy governments, then you're in the right place. We provide a complete list of Direct Democractic countries which gives you a measure of how well Direct Democracy is/was accepted across the globe. How has democracy spread across countries? Are we moving towards a more democratic world? Explore global data and research on democracy. Data by Freedom House. 6% of the world population lived in “full democracies”, falling from 12. The index uses certain indicators to decipher the democracy score for each country, including electoral process and pluralism, whether they have a functioning government, political participation of its citizens, political culture Sep 15, 2025 · This chart shows countries around the world as rated on the democracy index. Explore the list of democratic countries. Many democratic socialist countries are in South America. A full methodology and explanations can be found in the Appendix. As a cross between two similar systems, democratic republics may function on principles shared by both republics and direct democracies. About 15 % of countries are getting fruits of full democracy and roughly a third of the world’s nations are being run under authoritarian regimes. For the 16th consecutive year, Norway was named the most democratic country in the world, with a score of 9. S. This list of democratic socialist countries includes those in which democratic socialist parties are in charge as of November 2024. List of people's democratic states, a list of communist states that have self-designated as people's democracies Liberal democratic constitutions with references to socialism, liberal democratic states with references to socialism in their constitution List of tables and charts Table 1 Democracy Index 2019, by regime type Chart 1 Democracy Index 2019, global map by regime type Chart 2: Evolution of democracy by category, 2008-19 List of Liberal Democratic Countries The popularity of a type of government depends on how widely that government type is adopted or had been adopted across the world. Countries that are democracies and non-democracies, World Data by the Economist Intelligence Unit. You can skip our detailed analysis on the link between democracy and economic growth, and head over directly to the Top 10 Knowing countries with Parliamentary Democracy is significantly important to get an idea about presence of Parliamentary Democratic countries around the globe. Coming in the fifth position is Iceland, with a score of 9. Jun 12, 2018 · This list of countries that use democracy as their form of government contains various bits of information about each nation, such as the official language or currency of the country. Meanwhile, major nations like the United States are categorized as 'flawed democracies,' with a score of 7. List of Direct Democractic Countries The popularity of a type of government depends on how widely that government type is adopted or had been adopted across the world. That leaves over 80 non-democratic countries. (The EIU publishes the Democracy Index annually, which assesses the state of democracy in countries around the world based on various criteria, including electoral process, civil liberties, political Mar 17, 2025 · Greece, more specifically Athens, was the birthplace of democracy or “rule by the people” in 507 BCE. What is an authoritarian government? An authoritarian government is one that imposes strict rules that limit the person freedoms of its people. Get a complete list for all the Representative Democratic countries in the past and current times. Fortunately, it isn’t wrong to say that 50 % world lives under a democracy of some sort. Countries that are democracies and autocracies, World Classification by Lührmann et al. Nov 21, 2023 · Understand what a democratic country is by learning the characteristics of democracy. Oct 6, 2025 · While country is traditionally thought of as a conservative genre of music, there are a surprising amount of liberals in country music. [3] Democratic backsliding can be observed in parts Presidential / Separated republics Where a president is the active head of the executive branch of government and is independent from the legislature. Dec 31, 2024 · As the world enters 2025, democracy faces complex challenges and opportunities outside the United States. Expert estimates of the extent to which citizens can choose their political leaders in free and fair elections, enjoy civil liberties, prefer democracy over other political systems, can and do participate in politics, and have a functioning government that acts on their behalf. Although democracy is a wonderful concept, it’s a complex one, as well, making it difficult to unpack from one country or region to the next. We take a look at the results. Sep 19, 2025 · These countries demonstrate a powerful commitment to implementing democratic principles and showcase the success of the social-democratic model. As a result, there is international recognition and respect from the international community. 55 in 2015 (on a scale of 0 to 10). The list given above includes all the past and present Liberal Democratic Jan 5, 2015 · European countries are most Democratic, occupying most spots on the top ten list. Authoritarian governments Jan 13, 2020 · The world's most democratic countries of 2019 have been ranked in the latest Democracy Index. Get a complete list for all the Presidential Democracy countries in the past and current times. Oct 9, 2024 · Map created by Wikimedia user Newfraferz87The map above shows the systems of government used by each country around the world in 2023. They have arrived economically and Oct 2, 2025 · What are Democrats' demands in the government shutdown fight? The Democrats want to extend Obamacare subsidies and stop cuts to Medicaid. The folks from the Economist Intelligence Unit do the heavy lifting on this one, looking into how elections are run and how much freedom people actually have. Countries with the Highest Democracy-Dictatorship Indices Full democracy countries have the highest scores globally. Below are ten key themes shaping global democratic resilience, complete with tangible examples and their broader implications. Aug 21, 2024 · Do you want to move to a democratic country? Check out the democracy index most democratic countries in the world updated version. Feb 14, 2024 · The country is the world's 14th biggest democracy but only the globe's 29th biggest nation overall, showing how non-democratic countries and hybrid regimes make up slightly more than half of nations. Overall, the vast majority of these countries are in Europe, with notable exceptions—such as Japan, Mauritius, and Costa Rica The state of democracy in Middle East and North Africa can be comparatively assessed [1] according to various definitions of democracy. where the democracy Index is very high. New Zealand and Sweden followed. Sep 25, 2025 · Democrats are threatening to hold government funding hostage to score political points, ignoring the real-world consequences — barreling our country towards a government shutdown if Republicans Mar 17, 2025 · Liberal democracy index Data by V-Dem. 8, closely followed by New Zealand and Finland, both performing extraordinarily well in political and non-political dimensions. The index ranges from 0 to 1 (most democratic). A political party is a political organization subscribing to a certain ideology or formed around special issues with the aim to participate in Freedom in the World is the most widely read and cited report of its kind, tracking global trends in political rights and civil liberties for over 50 years. Aug 21, 2025 · Most Democratic Countries in the World: Most Democratic Countries include Norway, Iceland, Sweden, New Zealand, etc. The list of the top non-democratic based on the Democracy Index countries includes Russia, China, and Burundi. Despite its smaller size and population, Iceland is a stalwart example of integrated and established democracy. Feb 1, 2023 · The world’s most, and least, democratic countries in 2022 The EIU’s global democracy index shows several authoritarian rulers tightened their grip Sep 23, 2024 · The new interconnected breed of autocrats gains and retains power by deception, globally undermining democracies through their own institutions Democratic republic A democratic republic is a form of government operating on principles adopted from a republic, ie: a representative democracy. 85. 75 out of 10, which means they're doing a fantastic job at having a fair and open system where people can have a say in how things are run. At a European Council Summit held in Copenhagen, Denmark, on 21 June and 22 June 1993, [2] the European Union defined the Copenhagen criteria regarding the conditions a candidate country has to fulfill Countries with Social Democracy Since its origin years ago, Social Democracy has been applied as a type of government in many countries. On the other hand, Countries like North Korea, South Data by the Economist Intelligence Unit. Get a complete list for all the Democratic countries in the past and current times. The following list includes democratic and non-democratic states: This list of ruling political parties by country is presented in the form of a table that includes a link to an overview of political parties with parliamentary representation in each country and shows which party system is dominant in each country. 81, followed by New Zealand and Iceland. Knowing countries with Democracy is significantly important to get an idea about presence of Democratic countries around the globe. 2 on the Democracy Index. Knowing countries with Social Democracy is significantly important to get an idea about presence of Social Democratic countries around the globe. The index is based on categories like electoral process and pluralism, civil liberties, functioning of government, political participation, and political culture. The Economist Intelligence Unit compiles and publishes an annual report referred to as the Democracy Index, which measures the state of democracy across the world. (V-Dem is short for “Varieties of Democracy. The Democracy in the Americas can be compared [1] according to the different definitions of democracy. Mar 17, 2025 · Electoral democracy index, 2024 Data by V-Dem. Expert estimates of the extent to which political leaders are elected under comprehensive voting rights in free and fair elections, and freedoms of association and expression are guaranteed. Get a complete list for all the Parliamentary Democratic countries in the past and current times. Click on a country name below to access the full country narrative report. Interactive Map Use the fields on the left to see a customized view of the state of democracy around the world last month or the values of the Global State of Democracy Indices for the previous year. Most of these parties were members of the Socialist International. After 75+ years of independence from British rule, they have now become the biggest and most important democracy in the world, and that’s Jul 30, 2024 · The following countries are in the top 15 of the most democratic countries in the world, with Norway ranked first in the list, here they are. Mar 5, 2025 · Based on its scores on a range of indicators within these categories, each country is then classified as one of four types of regime: "full democracy", "flawed democracy", "hybrid regime" or "authoritarian regime". Each country is then given a score of 10, which Full-fledged democracies are countries with a political culture that respects fundamental political and civil liberties. The Democracy Index published by the Economist Group is an index measuring the quality of democracy across the world. There are other standards, but one might consider this a list of 1st World countries. Right there, you see, by 2025, with a staggering population of 1,435. 52, down from 5. Countries that are democracies and non-democracies, World Data by Freedom House. Norway, for example, got a high score of 9. Most of the countries considered to be sufficiently democratic have political and economic stability. These include the Feb 23, 2017 · The EIU’s Democracy Index measures the state of democracy by rating electoral processes and pluralism, the state of civil liberties, the functioning of government, political participation and political culture in more than 160 countries worldwide. Mar 10, 2025 · The 4 info maps below come from datainrace and show countries based on their 2024 Economist Intelligence Unit Democracy Index scores. The index ranges from 0 to 10 (most democratic). [2] The V-Dem Democracy indices considers the Americas with the highest democracy scores in 2023 as Argentina, Canada, Chile, Costa Rica, Uruguay, USA and Jamaica and countries with lowest democracy scores as Nicaragua, Cuba and Venezuela. But despite the rolling back of public health restrictions, democracy didn't bounce back in most world regions. Some famous country singers who are Democrats donate money to Nov 15, 2024 · Here is a list of those Muslim-majority countries with a democracy index, sourced from The Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) 2022/2023. Ranking of Countries by Quality of Democracy Complete Ranking: Total Value Index 2020 (Context Measurement) Aug 31, 2024 · This list provides a snapshot of some prominent democratic nations across continents, highlighting their commitment to democratic values, human rights, and political freedoms. Discover the types The conventional analysis of government in democratic countries by political science and constitutional law starts from the traditional types of presidentialism and parliamentarism. Click to see country scores. Jun 23, 2025 · The most democratic countries worldwide are the Nordic countries and New Zealand, reflecting the countries high levels of openness and political trust. Using this specific criteria, there is only one country with continuous democracy for more than 200 years (The United States), and fourteen countries with democracies older than a century. Countries with Social Democracy Since its origin years ago, Social Democracy has been applied as a type of government in many countries. Oct 10, 2023 · In this article, we look at the most democratic countries in the world. 2 million, electoral processes kinda have become entirely unduplicated as well as unmatched. The V-Dem Democracy Index helps take the guesswork out of analyzing and comparing the way democracy manifests from one country to the next. The European Union (EU) is a sui generis supranational union of states. Expert estimates of the extent of voting rights, the freedom and fairness of elections, freedoms of association and expression, civil liberties, and executive constraints. We have also discussed the meaning and characteristics of a social democratic country in another article. What is a democracy? 2 days ago · Democracy has always been a topic of great interest to people worldwide. The Economist Intelligence Unit’s Democracy Index provides a snapshot of the state of democracy worldwide in 165 independent states and two territories. May 19, 2025 · Don't confuse democratic socialism with socialist democracy. Many Muslim scholars have argued that traditional Islamic notions such as Non-EU member states are marked by a brighter colour. 2022 was a year that saw war in Europe and the Covid pandemic ease. , are considered flawed Feb 18, 2024 · In this article, we will look at the top 5 democratic socialist countries in Europe. Norway topped the list with a total score of 9. Sep 15, 2025 · This chart shows countries around the world as rated on the democracy index. Some of the indices measure only some aspects of Feb 11, 2021 · The State of Democracy in the World: The Most Democratic Countries Only half the world lives in some form of democracy, and the majority of those, including the U. They have systems of checks and balances, a well-functioning government, an independent and authoritative judiciary, and the media. Countries with Democracy Since its origin years ago, Democracy has been applied as a type of government in many countries. This year, we have included annual global rankings of country performance for each of the categories of democratic performance—Representation, Rights, Rule of Law, and Participation— rather than classifying regimes on an overall basis. This chart shows countries with the best and worst 2021 Democracy Index scores. Sep 19, 2025 · Norway leads the pack with a Democracy Index score of 9. Oct 9, 2023 · In this article, we look at the most democratic countries in the world. You can skip our detailed analysis on the link between democracy and economic growth, and head over directly to the Top 10 Most Democratic Countries in the World. The most recent data from 2022 shows 24 countries operated with full democracies, indicated by scores greater than 8. Political Culture Civil Liberties The V-Dem (Varieties of Democracy) Democracy Report divides its scores into several sub-indices: Liberal Democracy Index (LDI) - Represents the degree to which a country meets the principles of liberal democracy, including respect for individual rights, rule of law, and constraints on executive power. Also find out Social Dec 8, 2024 · When it comes to democracy, India is not just the largest; it is also among the most dynamic. Full democracies are political systems in which citizens have the right to choose the chief executive and the legislature in multi-party, uncertain elections, and enjoy freedoms of expression, assembly, and association. The index uses certain indicators to decipher the democracy score for each country, including electoral process and pluralism, whether they have a functioning government, political participation of its citizens, political culture Mar 5, 2025 · Data by the Economist Intelligence Unit. While all of the countries on this list have democratic systems, all of them have varying official forms of government, which Knowing countries with Representative Democracy is significantly important to get an idea about presence of Representative Democratic countries around the globe. The list given above includes all the past and present Direct Democractic countries. Dec 25, 2024 · Let’s chat about the Democracy Index, which piles countries into neat little boxes based on how democratic they are. Also find out Social Nov 19, 2019 · The Global State of Democracy Indices (GSoD Indices) measure democratic trends at the country, regional and global levels across a broad range of indicators of democratic performance. Mar 11, 2025 · The state of global democracy is at 20-year lows, with 83 countries seeing downgrades to their Democracy Index scores in 2024, a historic election year. Liberal country singers vary greatly on the political spectrum in terms of how far left they lean. Athenian democracy only lasted for two centuries, but the idea of this type of government lived on and many countries today are democracies to a certain degree. May 29, 2025 · Countries were ranked based on the average annual decline in the liberal democracy index – a composite measure classifying governments on a spectrum of liberal democracy to closed autocracy People living in democratizing and autocratizing countries Episodes of Regime Transformation People living in democratizing and autocratizing countries Episodes of Regime Transformation, within regimes People living in free countries and territories Freedom House Political Corruption Index vs. ' Norway retains its top spot with a score of 9. There exist a number of perspectives on the relationship between the religion of Islam and democracy (the form of government in which political power is vested in the people or the population of a state and democracy) among Islamic political theorists and other thinkers, the general Muslim public, and Western authors. Get a complete list for all the Social Democratic countries in the past and current times. Individual freedoms—ranging from the right to vote to freedom of expression and equality before the law—can be affected by state or nonstate actors. 5% a decade ago. As you’ll notice in the data, many countries became democracies after World War II. Citizens of countries that have an authoritarian government have diminished rights and priviledges, and are typically unable to freely worship, fully express themselves, or choose their leaders through free and fair elections. This question is for testing whether you are a human visitor and to prevent automated spam submission. This quantitative and comparative assessment is centrally concerned with democratic rights and democratic institutions. In this sense, the Global Democracy Index is a valuable tool for measuring democracy in countries worldwide. Freedom House rates people’s access to political rights and civil liberties in 208 countries and territories through its annual Freedom in the World report. We provide a complete list of Liberal Democratic countries which gives you a measure of how well Liberal Democracy is/was accepted across the globe. Saint Helena, Ascension, and Tristan da CunhaSaint Kitts and Nevis This article is a list of freedom indices produced by several non-governmental organizations that publish and maintain assessments of the state of freedom in the world, according to their own various definitions of the term, and rank countries using various measures of freedom, including civil liberties, political rights and economic rights. The World Bank counts high-income countries as developed. Democratic socialist countries are easily confused with social democracies, which are a related, but distinctly different Nov 21, 2024 · The Economist Democracy Index 2023 evaluates the state of democracy across countries, ranking them on a scale from 'full democracy' to 'flawed democracy. You can skip our detailed analysis on the link between democracy and economic growth, and head over directly to the Top 10 Democracy Ranking is an aggregate score that tracks multiple metrics in five subcategories: electoral process and pluralism, functioning of government, political participation, political culture, and civil liberties. The EIU’s ranking shows the average global democracy score in 2016 fell to 5. 9. May 16, 2018 · Impacts of a Full Democracy A full democracy has positive effects on a country. . Electoral Democracy Index Identifying which countries qualify as democratic socialist is challenging, as the definition of the term varies from one source to another. 81. [2] De jure democracies in the Middle East and North Africa are according to system of government: Parliamentary republic: Iraq, [3] Israel, Lebanon [4] Presidential republic: Syria, Tunisia, Turkey Semi-presidential republic: Algeria, Egypt, Mauritania The V Jul 22, 2025 · List of Developed Democracies and Why it Matters This is a list of countries with more than a million population that are considered free by Freedom House and high income or developed by World Bank in 2023. 00 on the Democracy Index. Despite being the birthplace of modern democracy, the United States ranks 26th with a score of 7. Countries that are long-standing full democracies, World Data by the Lexical Index of Electoral Democracy. Jan 5, 2017 · Out of 196 countries in the world, 113 are officially recognized as democratic states. Knowing countries with Representative Democracy is significantly important to get an idea about presence of Representative Democratic countries around the globe. Jul 5, 2023 · Democracy & Justice Which are the Most and Least Democratic Countries in the World? Every year, the Democracy Index measures the strength of global democracy. Jul 19, 2022 · How democratic have countries been across the world? And how big are the differences between them? Feb 27, 2025 · Only 25 countries have been designated as full democracies in the report, out of 167 countries covered in the index. z3zjh iigz reex dpo1 ve90g esa paqf 1cm bqu s4nt