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Democracy in Europe

Democracy in Europe can be comparatively assessed[1] according to various definitions of democracy.[2] According to the V-Dem Democracy Indices, the European countries with the highest democracy scores in 2023 are Denmark, Norway and Sweden, meanwhile the European countries with lowest democracy scores in 2023 are Belarus, Russia and Turkey.[3]

Map of V-Dem Electoral Democracy Index for 2024 in Europe

Changes in democracy

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After the fall of Communism most countries in Central and Eastern Europe either democratized or re-democratized.[4] Some democratic backsliding can be observed in parts of Europe, including Hungary and Poland.[5][6] The V-Dem Democracy Report identified for the year 2023 Montenegro and Kosovo as cases of stand-alone democratization and North Macedonia as a case of U-Turn democratization, while Poland as a small but statistically insignificant uptick in liberal democracy index.[7] Some view European democracies have become more consensual and less majoritarian over time.[8] Increased importance of constitutionalism has been claimed.[9]

Measures of democracy

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The table below shows European countries scored on 2 high-level V-Dem Democracy indices and 4 mid-level Democracy Component indices evaluating the state of democracy in year 2024 which were published in 2025.[10][11][12]

V-Dem Democracy Indices (15th edition)
Country Democracy Indices Democracy Component Indices
Electoral Liberal Liberal Egalitarian Participatory Deliberative
  Denmark 0.916 0.883 0.976 0.97 0.713 0.965
  Estonia 0.895 0.85 0.961 0.901 0.634 0.868
  Ireland 0.895 0.83 0.932 0.87 0.633 0.905
  Switzerland 0.894 0.847 0.962 0.937 0.881 0.984
  Belgium 0.886 0.805 0.908 0.93 0.643 0.887
  Norway 0.884 0.839 0.962 0.959 0.656 0.986
  Sweden 0.881 0.845 0.978 0.907 0.653 0.908
  Czech Republic 0.87 0.817 0.952 0.91 0.59 0.873
  Luxembourg 0.867 0.783 0.903 0.937 0.568 0.971
  France 0.866 0.799 0.93 0.824 0.635 0.938
  Finland 0.847 0.802 0.966 0.865 0.645 0.922
  Iceland 0.844 0.759 0.907 0.908 0.662 0.902
  Austria 0.839 0.762 0.918 0.862 0.624 0.851
  Germany 0.839 0.792 0.963 0.931 0.653 0.98
  Latvia 0.838 0.765 0.922 0.866 0.661 0.822
  United Kingdom 0.833 0.752 0.91 0.784 0.637 0.867
  Portugal 0.831 0.751 0.91 0.799 0.609 0.891
  Spain 0.829 0.745 0.906 0.839 0.635 0.841
  Netherlands 0.822 0.761 0.944 0.893 0.62 0.893
  Italy 0.803 0.705 0.882 0.902 0.748 0.865
  Lithuania 0.799 0.734 0.936 0.877 0.679 0.809
  Malta 0.785 0.637 0.797 0.892 0.637 0.8
  Cyprus 0.774 0.651 0.839 0.902 0.566 0.831
  Slovakia 0.752 0.584 0.754 0.766 0.648 0.37
  Greece 0.75 0.576 0.741 0.875 0.638 0.83
  Poland 0.729 0.616 0.844 0.879 0.614 0.842
  Croatia 0.723 0.619 0.862 0.779 0.624 0.681
  Slovenia 0.716 0.619 0.869 0.886 0.746 0.861
  Kosovo 0.651 0.473 0.692 0.675 0.468 0.55
  Bulgaria 0.646 0.508 0.77 0.603 0.669 0.837
  Moldova 0.632 0.518 0.807 0.784 0.666 0.798
  Romania 0.629 0.445 0.67 0.679 0.621 0.32
  Armenia 0.623 0.414 0.61 0.802 0.411 0.688
  Montenegro 0.615 0.478 0.755 0.76 0.581 0.724
  North Macedonia 0.563 0.374 0.61 0.596 0.588 0.587
  Bosnia and Herzegovina 0.508 0.342 0.613 0.653 0.517 0.614
  Albania 0.507 0.396 0.742 0.673 0.537 0.418
  Georgia 0.48 0.328 0.615 0.726 0.507 0.751
  Hungary 0.436 0.318 0.654 0.635 0.534 0.309
  Ukraine 0.389 0.233 0.486 0.638 0.575 0.791
  Serbia 0.315 0.22 0.544 0.736 0.552 0.494
  Turkey 0.288 0.117 0.255 0.539 0.422 0.182
  Azerbaijan 0.175 0.054 0.133 0.34 0.102 0.093
  Russia 0.172 0.056 0.143 0.371 0.376 0.109
  Belarus 0.161 0.036 0.081 0.764 0.146 0.06

By country

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Further information: Democratic backsliding by country – Europe and Democratization § Democratization by country

Azerbaijan

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See also: Corruption in Azerbaijan

Ahead of the 2024 Azerbaijani presidential election, Amnesty International reported an increased crackdown on the right to freedom of expression, repression of peaceful dissent, a coordinated assault on civil society, and the targeting of critical voices by President Ilham Aliyev.[13]

Belarus

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See also: Belarusian opposition

Unfair elections were reported in Belarus.[14]

Georgia

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Electoral fraud was reported at the 2024 Georgian parliamentary election.[15]

Russia

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Unfair elections were reported in Russia due to political repression[16] and allegations of electoral fraud. Lack of freedom of the press resulted that most of Russians believe that the elections in Russia are mostly fair.[17]

Serbia

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At 2023 Serbian parliamentary election electoral fraud was reported.[18]

Turkey

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Limited political freedom of the press is reported in Turkey.[19]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ Geissel, Brigitte; Kneuer, Marianne; Lauth, Hans-Joachim (2016). "Measuring the quality of democracy: Introduction". International Political Science Review. 37 (5). Sage Publications: 571–579. doi:10.1177/0192512116669141. ISSN 0192-5121. JSTOR 26556872. S2CID 151808737. Retrieved 2023-04-03.
  2. ^ Greenwood, Shannon (2022-12-06). "Appendix A: Classifying democracies". Pew Research Center's Global Attitudes Project. Retrieved 2022-12-27.
  3. ^ Democracy Report 2023, Table 3, V-Dem Institute, 2023
  4. ^ Ágh, Attila (2020). "Rethinking the historical trajectory of ECE: From the "original sin" in democratization to redemocratization". Politics in Central Europe. 16 (2): 367–398. doi:10.2478/pce-2020-0017.
  5. ^ Sitter, Nick; Bakke, Elisabeth (2019). "Democratic Backsliding in the European Union". Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Politics. doi:10.1093/acrefore/9780190228637.013.1476. ISBN 978-0-19-022863-7.
  6. ^ Cianetti, Licia, James Dawson, and Seán Hanley. "Rethinking “democratic backsliding” in Central and Eastern Europe–looking beyond Hungary and Poland." Rethinking'Democratic Backsliding'in Central and Eastern Europe. Routledge, 2020. 1-14.
  7. ^ Democracy Report 2024, Varieties of Democracy
  8. ^ The Future of Democracy in Europe Technology and the Evolution of Representation, 2020, Chapham House
  9. ^ Bickerton, Christopher (2018). "Beyond the European void? Reflections on Peter Mair's legacy". European Law Journal. 24 (4–5): 268–280. doi:10.1111/eulj.12287.
  10. ^ "Democracy Report 2025, 25 Years of Autocratization – Democracy Trumped?" (PDF). Retrieved 14 March 2025.
  11. ^ "The V-Dem Dataset – V-Dem". V-Dem. V-Dem Institute. 2025. Retrieved 14 March 2025.
  12. ^ Coppedge, Michael; Gerring, John; Glynn, Adam; Knutsen, Carl Henrik; Lindberg, Staffan I.; Pemstein, Daniel; Seim, Brigitte; Skaaning, Svend-Erik; Teorell, Jan (2020). Varieties of Democracy: Measuring Two Centuries of Political Change (1 ed.). Cambridge University Press. doi:10.1017/9781108347860. ISBN 978-1-108-34786-0.
  13. ^ Azerbaijan: Repression escalating ahead of presidential elections
  14. ^ Batura, Alyena (2022). "How to Compete in Unfair Elections". Journal of Democracy. 33 (4): 47–61. doi:10.1353/jod.2022.0046. ISSN 1086-3214.
  15. ^ "IRI Releases Final Report on Georgia's Parliamentary Elections". International Republican Institute. 23 December 2024. Retrieved 19 January 2025.
  16. ^ SAUVAGE, Grégoire (15 March 2024). "Russia's presidential election: Three Putin challengers but little suspense". France 24. Retrieved 19 January 2025.
  17. ^ Wilson, Kenneth (2012). "How Russians View Electoral Fairness: A Qualitative Analysis". Europe-Asia Studies. 64 (1): 145–168. doi:10.1080/09668136.2012.635485. ISSN 0966-8136.
  18. ^ "Serbia's ruling populists claim sweeping victory in election amid vote-rigging accusations". the Guardian. Associated Press. 18 December 2023. Retrieved 19 January 2025.
  19. ^ Akser, Murat; Baybars, Banu (2 January 2023). "Repressed media and illiberal politics in Turkey: the persistence of fear". Southeast European and Black Sea Studies. 23 (1): 159–177. doi:10.1080/14683857.2022.2088647. ISSN 1468-3857.
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