V-Dem Democracy Indices

This dataset is published on an annual basis and is publicly available and free. In particular, the V-Dem dataset is popular among political scientists and describes the characteristics of political regimes worldwide. In total, 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. An R package automatically bundles new data.

The V-Dem Institute's measures of democracy are the most elaborate and granular among several democracy indexes (such as the Polity data series and Freedom House's Freedom in the World). 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". Each indicator is coded independently by at least five country experts. V-Dem uses methodological tools to deal with rating reliability and confidence intervals in the expert ratings. Political scientist Daniel Hegedus describes V-Dem as "the most important provider of quantitative democracy data for scholarly research".

As of 2022, the V-Dem Institute publishes 483 bespoke indicators and republishes 59 other indicators. 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.

The Electoral Democracy Index
This index measures the principle of electoral or representative democracy, including whether elections were free and fair, as well as the prevalence of a free and independent media. This index is part of all the other indices as a central component of democracy.
Liberal Democracy Index
This index incorporates measures of rule of law, checks and balances, and civil liberties along with the concepts measured in the electoral democracy index.
Participatory Democracy Index
This index measures the degree to which citizens participate in their own government through local democratic institutions, civil society organizations, direct democracy, and the concepts measured in the electoral democracy index.
Deliberative Democracy Index
This index measures the degree to which decisions are made in the best interest of the people as opposed to due to coercion or narrow interest groups, in addition to the basic electoral democracy index.
Egalitarian Democracy Index
This index measures the level of equal access to resources, power, and freedoms across various groups within a society, in addition to the level of electoral democracy.

The table below shows for V-Dem Democracy Indices published in 2024 with 2 high-level V-Dem Democracy indices and 4 mid-level Democracy Component indices evaluating the state of democracy in year 2023.

V-Dem Democracy Indices (14th edition)

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 of America	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. USAID's Journey to Self Reliance Country Roadmap uses V-Dem's data to inform three of its indicators: Liberal Democracy (from V-Dem's Liberal Democracy Index), Social Group Equality (from V-Dem's Social Group Equality in Respect for Civil Liberties) and Civil Society and Media Effectiveness (from V-Dem's Diagonal Accountability Index). 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). The Democracy Report is annually created by V-Dem Institute from the V-Dem Democracy indices.

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. Specifically, the Digital Society Project measures a range of questions related to internet censorship, misinformation online, and internet shutdowns. 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. It has been updated each year starting in 2019, with data covering from 2000–2021. 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.

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.

The V-Dem dataset does not cover some countries such as 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.

• Academic Freedom Index