The Varieties of Democracy (V-Dem) Institute released its 2026 democracy report, Unraveling the Democratic Era? (March 2026). The report is based on over 32 million data points for 202 countries and territories from 1789 to 2025. It involves more than 4,200 experts to measure over 600 different attributes of democracy.
Human Level’s Take:
- V-Dem’s latest data shows an alarming rise in autocratisation of former democracies, especially when compared to the forward progress made in democratisation 20 years ago.
- Global democracy has regressed to 1978 levels, with sharp declines in Western Europe and North America, where the U.S. is no longer classified as a liberal democracy.
- Most of the world’s population (74%) now lives under autocracy compared to 50% in 2005. Within this percentage, electoral autocracy is the most populous regime type in 2025, home to nearly half of the world population – 46% (3.8 billion). The share of people residing in closed autocracies increased to 28% (2.3 billion) in 2025. Only 26% reside in democracies.
- Autocratisation is accelerating globally, with 44 countries currently on this path (including new cases like the U.S., U.K., and Italy).
- Positively, 18 countries are democratising, although there were only three new democratisers in 2025: Botswana, Guatemala, and Mauritius. Success rates for democratisation are relatively high (70%) but fragile, as seen in Zambia’s partial return to electoral autocracy.Companies will need to consider the increased human rights risks of doing business in and sourcing from autocratising countries. The enabling environment plays a critical role in the likelihood of impacts arising - as well as their severity. Companies will also need to consider how they can use their influence to push governments back toward democracy.
Some key takeaways:
- The state of democracy in 2025: V-Dem measures democracy based on five core indices of democracy: electoral, liberal, egalitarian, participatory and deliberative. The data shows that global democracy has declined to 1978 levels on average, eliminating most gains from the post-1974 “third wave” of democratisation. Western Europe and North America are at their lowest democratic levels in over 50 years, largely due to autocratisation in the U.S., and the U.S. is no longer classified as a liberal democracy for the first time in over five decades. As of the end of 2025, the world has 92 autocracies and 87 democracies, and 74% of the world’s population lives in autocratic countries (compared to 50% in 2005) and 41% of the world’s population live in autocratising states (compared to 9% in 2005). Only 7% lives in liberal democracies, compared to 17% in 2005). The last decade shows declines in almost all aspects of democracy. Freedom of expression has especially weakened, declining in 44 countries. Meanwhile, 33 countries are increasing their use of torture to suppress political opposition and the quality of elections has declined in 22 countries.
- Many countries are in the process of autocratising: There are also 44 countries on the path towards autocratisation. This includes 24 “stand-alone” autocratisers (where autocracy follows a period of democracy) and 20 “Bell-turns” (re-autocratisation after a period of substantial democratic improvement). Ten new autocratising countries were identified in 2025: Croatia, Italy, Slovakia, Slovenia, the U.K., the U.S., Kuwait, Madagascar, Togo and Cambodia. The report notes that there have never been as many countries autocratising at the same time as during the last few years, and a record 41% of the world’s population lives in autocratising countries. The report focuses on the U.S.’s trajectory in particular. Democracy in the U.S. has fallen to the same levels as 1965 and is characterised by a swift, aggressive concentration of powers in the presidency. According to V-Dem, the speed of autocratisation in the U.S. is “unprecedented,” with the worst effects on legislative constraints and civil rights and equality before the law, although electoral components of democracy are stable for now.
- Some countries are making progress: Overall, 18 countries are democratising now — a reflection of 15 years of stagnation. Of these, 8 are stand-alone democratisers (where democratisation follows a period of relative stability) and 10 are U-turns (where an improvement follows and is related to a recent period of autocratisation). Among this group, only three new democratisers were identified in 2025: Botswana, Guatemala and Mauritius. While the success rate for democratisation is high (70%), progress can be fragile. For example, Zambia is returning to some electoral autocracy while still in the process of making a U-turn. In democratising countries, media freedom and deliberation are strengthening in over 60% of countries and the quality of elections is improving in around 50%. Freedom of expression is likewise improving, although more slowly than 20 years ago (it’s improving in 11 countries now compared to 25 in 2005).
