Countries With the Highest Independent Opposition

Every country with a figure for independent opposition, ranked from highest to lowest. The top three are Chile (3.13), Ireland (3.01) and Uruguay (2.96). The middle country of the 174 has 1.31.

What this measures

Opposition parties' independence from the ruling regime, in score (higher = more independent). Source: V-Dem Institute, University of Gothenburg. For this measure, higher is better.

Are opposition parties really independent, or picked or bought by the people in power? Experts answer from 0 ("opposition parties are not allowed") to 4 ("all opposition parties are independent"). V-Dem turns the answers into a score of about -4 to +4. A part of V-Dem's freedom of association index.

The full ranking

Each country’s latest figure, from 2019–2025. The year beside each value says when it was measured.

More on independent opposition

• Countries With the Lowest Independent Opposition
• Independent opposition 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 Legal System and Property Rights (Fraser)
• 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 Electoral 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.