Countries With the Highest Electoral Democracy

Every country with a figure for electoral democracy, ranked from highest to lowest. The top three are Denmark (0.913), Norway (0.89) and Belgium (0.889). The middle country of the 175 has 0.498.

What this measures

Electoral democracy index (polyarchy), in index (0-1). Source: V-Dem Institute, University of Gothenburg. For this measure, higher is better.

Based on political scientist Robert Dahl's idea of "polyarchy": are leaders chosen in free and fair elections, with freedom of speech, freedom to form groups, and the vote for nearly all adults? It is the base index that most other V-Dem measures are built on.

The full ranking

Each country’s latest figure, from 2025–2025. The year beside each value says when it was measured.

More on electoral democracy

• Countries With the Lowest Electoral Democracy
• Electoral democracy by country: trend over time and what it goes with

Related rankings

• Countries With the Highest Corruption Perceptions Index
• Countries With the Highest Political Rights (FH)
• Countries With the Highest Civil Liberties (FH)
• Countries With the Highest Trust in Government
• Countries With the Highest Pre-trial Detainee Shares
• Countries With the Highest Refugees Originating
• Countries With the Highest Liberal Democracy
• Countries With the Highest Participatory Democracy

A ranking describes countries, not the people in them, and a high or low place does not by itself say why. All country rankings.