Countries With the Lowest Independent Opposition

Every country with a figure for independent opposition, ranked from lowest to highest. The top three are Viet Nam (-3.37), Cuba (-3.19) and Afghanistan (-2.89). 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 Highest Independent Opposition
• Independent opposition 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 Legal System and Property Rights (Fraser)
• 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 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.