Countries With the Lowest Electoral Democracy

Every country with a figure for electoral democracy, ranked from lowest to highest. The top three are Saudi Arabia (0.016), Qatar (0.034) and Afghanistan (0.069). 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 Highest Electoral Democracy
• Electoral democracy by country: trend over time and what it goes with

Related rankings

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