According to the democracy report from the research institute V-Dem from 2022, the absolute number of democracies has increased significantly since the late 1940s - but this trend has reversed in recent years. At its peak in 2009, 44 countries were considered liberal democracies. In 2022, the value reached its lowest level in 27 years: only 32 nations, in which only 13 percent of the world's population live, are considered liberal democracies. At the same time, the number of autocracies is increasing and includes around 72 percent of the world's population - 5.7 billion people.
It is possible that elections this year will cause setbacks in global democratic progress - for example, if anti-democratic forces in the USA or Germany triumph and autocratic governments like those in India can continue their work. After all: 2024 started with a glimmer of hope thanks to the election results in Taiwan.
Open Methodology section
The information on the
number of countries
in which elections are taking place is based on our own research.
Population figures
come
from the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs. These numbers refer to estimates from 2022. The population figures for the German federal states come from the Federal Statistical Office and describe the population level on December 31, 2022.
The “Varieties of Democracy” (V-Dem) institute publishes country-specific evaluations on the topic of democracy, which are based on the assessments of around 3,500 country experts and the project’s own researchers. The
“Clean elections index”
contains estimates of the freedom and fairness of democratic elections. Factors include the extent to which there is electoral fraud, systematic irregularities, opposition intimidation, vote buying and electoral violence. Furthermore, how autonomous the electoral commission is and whether it has sufficient staff and resources. The scale ranges from 0 to 1 (freest and fairest).