Democracy Report 2025

🗳️ Major Highlights of the Democracy Report 2025

Rise in Closed Autocracies:
• The 2020s have seen a reversal of the long-term decline in closed autocracies observed since the 1980s.
• The sharpest increase has occurred in West Asia, North Africa, and South Asia.
Decline of Liberal Democracies:
• Liberal democracies are now the least common regime type globally.
• In Europe and Central Asia, they are rapidly shrinking, with electoral democracies on the rise.
Sub-Saharan Africa:
• The region is experiencing both democratic erosion and autocratic consolidation simultaneously.

Countries are categorized into four regime types based on their LDI scores:

Liberal Democracy
• Strong separation of powers
• Robust civil liberties and rule of law
Electoral Democracy
• Regular elections and moderate civil liberties
• Lacks full institutional checks and balances
Electoral Autocracy
• Multiparty elections exist
• Core freedoms like speech and expression are not adequately protected
Closed Autocracy
• No multiparty elections
• Severe restrictions on basic freedoms and civil liberties

India has been classified as an Electoral Autocracy since 2017.
India accounts for 18% of the world’s population, but represents half of the population living in autocratising countries.

Widespread Democratic Backsliding:
• Almost all core components of democracy are deteriorating across the majority of countries.
• The decline is especially notable in autocratising countries.

Freedom of Expression
- Most severely impacted democratic indicator.
- Factors:
  • Government censorship of media
  • Restrictions on academic and cultural expression
  • Harassment of journalists
- India ranks 159 out of 180 in the World Press Freedom Index 2024.
Clean Elections
- Increasing government interference and manipulation during electoral processes.
- Rising instances of state bias against opposition and independent candidates.
Freedom of Association & Civil Society
- Crackdowns on civil society organisations, NGOs, and peaceful protestors.
- Restrictions on funding and operations, especially in autocratising nations.

Freedom of expression, media freedom, and civil society space have narrowed significantly.
Disinformation campaigns and political polarisation have risen sharply.
Notable increase in government intimidation of opposition parties, especially around election periods.
Support for representative democracy is declining among citizens — a trend also seen in India.

Published by: Varieties of Democracy (V-Dem) Institute
Scope:
• Based on 31 million data points
• Covers 202 countries (from 1789 to 2023)
• Data collected by a global network of scholars from 180 countries
Definition of a Liberal Democracy (according to V-Dem):
A regime that includes:
• Independent judiciary
• Effective checks on executive power
• Protection of civil liberties
• Equality before the law
• Free, fair, and regular elections