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STOCKHOLM – Democracy around the world has weakened, with most countries declining in their performance while freedom of the press suffered its most far-reaching fall in 50 years, according to a report by the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (International IDEA).
The deterioration is part of a global trend of democracy under threat, with 54 per cent of countries falling in at least one key indicator of democratic performance in 2024 compared to five years before, based on measures ranging from Credible Elections to Freedom of Expression (Figure 1), the Stockholm-based intergovernmental organization said.
Source: International IDEA, The Global State of Democracy Indices, 1975–2024, version 9, [n.d.],
The categories of Rights, Rule of Law, and Representation—which include core aspects of democracy such as freedom of the press, judicial independence and credible elections—all suffered broad declines in this five-year period.
Reduced international support for democracy, including cutbacks in US development assistance, may further challenge efforts to strengthen democracy institutions worldwide.
Last year was marked by the global elections super-cycle when around 1.6 billion people cast ballots. But this unprecedented exercise in voting unfolded amid global deterioration in the key category of Representation. The indicator for Credible Elections fell to its worst level in 30 years, with declines impacting a fifth of all surveyed countries.
The year 2024 was the ninth consecutive year with more countries showing a net decline rather than improvement in overall democratic performance, the longest consecutive fall since International IDEA’s records began in 1975, according to the report, The Global State of Democracy 2025: Democracy on the Move.
With some 304 million people—double the number in 1990—currently living outside their country of birth, the report says democracies must rethink voter participation and more carefully consider out-of-country voting to better ensure democratic resilience.
‘Democracy faces a perfect storm of autocratic resurgence and acute uncertainty, due to massive social and economic changes’, International IDEA Secretary-General Kevin Casas-Zamora said. ‘To fight back, democracies need to protect key elements of democracy, like elections and the rule of law, but also profoundly reform government so that it delivers fairness, inclusion and shared prosperity. As the Global State of Democracy 2025 report highlights, improving rights of voters living abroad can also reap democratic dividends in both home and host countries.’
The report also highlights positive developments. Africa recorded a large share of the global advances, accounting for 24 per cent of the countries making progress—most notably Botswana and South Africa with improvements in Credible Elections. Despite setbacks across West Asia, Jordan stood out by holding parliamentary elections in 2024 that were praised for increased fairness. Fiji and the Maldives showed improvements across multiple measures. Chile recorded major improvements in Freedom of Expression. Brazil improved in Effective Parliament and Judicial Independence. Poland saw improvements in terms of Rights, Rule of Law and Representation in 2024.
Key findings
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Representing 54 per cent of all countries assessed, 94 countries suffered a decline in at least one factor of democratic performance, compared with their own performance five years earlier.
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Freedom of the Press declined in a quarter of the 173 countries covered, marking the most far-reaching decline since the beginning of the International IDEA dataset as of 1975. The Freedom of Expression, Economic Equality, Credible Elections and Access to Justice indicators also declined.
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The deterioration of Freedom of the Press was found in all regions, impacting 15 African and 15 European countries, as well as 6 countries each in the Americas and Asia and the Pacific.
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Credible Elections and Effective Parliament suffered broad declines, impacting 35 countries (20 per cent) and 32 countries (19 per cent), respectively.
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While Representation remains the strongest-performing category in terms of the number of high-scoring countries, its overall global performance in 2024 was the lowest since 2001. Declines in this category were recorded in 21 countries, outnumbering advances by a ratio of 7 to 1.
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The weakest-performing category is Rule of Law, with 71 countries (41 per cent) falling into the low-performance band. The Rule of Law category also experienced the highest number of declines of all democratic performance categories. Comparing 2019 to 2024, 32 countries (19 per cent of those assessed) registered downturns in this category.
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Approximately one in five countries also saw declines in Freedom of Expression (22 per cent of countries), Economic Equality (21 per cent) and Access to Justice 20 per cent). Africa and Europe accounted for the largest shares of declines.
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Progress was also observed in other areas of democratic performance worldwide, particularly in Absence of Corruption, the 15th consecutive year of advances outnumbering decliners. Around a third of the advances have occurred in the Americas.
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In a rapidly changing world of high migration, the potential for out-of-country voting to support democratic resilience should be a focus for policymakers.
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Most people who migrate internationally stay in the continent of their birth. For example, nearly 60 per cent of African migrants settled within the continent.
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Out-of-country voting offers benefits for countries of origin and host countries, contributing a greater sense of belonging and spreading democratic norms across borders. The importance of out-of-country voting is especially clear with Ukraine, where political participation of a large diaspora may prove crucial for the legitimacy of any post-war election.
- In-person voting is the most common form of out-of-country voting, with 74 countries using the method, while postal voting is less common, available in 21 countries.
- The global diaspora voter turnout rate in elections is relatively low at around 55 per cent in 29 elections of 2024 compared to an average in-country turnout of 60 per cent.
Background
The Global State of Democracy 2025 Report ranks countries in four major categories of democratic performance rather than one overall classification. These four categories are:
Representation —such as credible elections and effective parliamentary oversight.
Rule of Law—such as judicial independence and the degree to which people are free from political violence.
Rights—such as freedom of expression, freedom of press and freedom of assembly.
Participation—such as how involved citizens are in democratic expression during and between elections.
Regions
Africa – Many countries have declined, with 23 (35 per cent of countries in Africa) deteriorating in at least one of the measures of Credible Elections, Effective Parliament and Elected Government. This trend was especially pronounced in West Africa. In Burkina Faso, Guinea, Mali and Niger, transitional authorities have delayed promised elections and complicated transitions. Freedom of the Press has declined in more than a quarter of the countries in the region. In Sudan, civil war continues to engulf the country as the belligerent armed actors establish parallel administrations.
But the trend is not universal. Botswana and South Africa have consistently advanced over the last five years in Credible Elections. In South Africa, the long-governing African National Congress lost its absolute majority, leading to the country’s first national coalition government. Botswana witnessed its first transition of power between parties since independence in 1966.
West Asia – The region remains largely non-democratic. However, Jordan has seen an advance in Effective Parliament comparing 2019 to 2024. A large part of this advance occurred in 2024, when legislative elections resulted in political parties (as opposed to independent candidates) significantly increasing their share of seats in the country’s parliament.
Europe – Democracy worsened over the last five years, especially in Civil Liberties and Credible Elections. Eastern Europe accounted for nearly half of the 63 declines in indicators, with the majority driven by crackdowns on civil society and political opposition in Belarus, Georgia and Russia.
One in three countries declined in Freedom of the Press from 2019 to 2024, including Italy, whose intelligence agencies used spyware against migrant rights activists and journalists, and Slovakia, where the 2024 closure of the public broadcaster was decried as political interference in independent media. As the Russian war of aggression in Ukraine continues, democratic performance has worsened in Russia, especially in Civil Liberties. Still, Europe remains the highest-performing region in the Global State of Democracy Indices. An overwhelming majority of all 45 European countries remain high or mid-performing in democratic performance.
The Americas – More countries in the Americas experienced a decline in at least one factor of democratic performance than saw an advance over the last five years. A plurality of the 45 declines occurred in the category of Representation. The largest declines in these measures occurred in cases of democratic backsliding and state collapse: El Salvador, Haiti and Nicaragua. El Salvador and Nicaragua also account for two of the region’s three largest declines in Freedom of the Press. Peru also saw a decline in this measure, in part due to persistent violence against and intimidation of journalists.
Still, most countries continue to perform in the mid-range in democratic performance.
Asia and The Pacific – Most countries have seen small declines or remained stable over the past five years. Most five-year declines were seen in Credible Elections and Access to Justice, with the latter falling in Afghanistan, Bhutan, Cambodia, India, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Myanmar, South Korea and Tajikistan. Only Fiji has seen far-reaching improvements. The downward trend was not limited to low-performing states like Afghanistan and Myanmar. Several mid-range performing countries, such as Kyrgyzstan, are also experiencing net declines in several indicators. Still, much of the Oceania and the Pacific remain high or mid-performing democracies.
LAUNCH QUICK LINKS
Key hashtag to follow on social media: #GSoD2025
MEDIA ENQUIRIES
International IDEA Secretary-General, Kevin Casas-Zamora, is available for text and visual interviews. Our regional experts are also available to talk to media.
For media enquiries, please contact: Alistair Scrutton, Head of Communications and Publications, at a.scrutton@idea.int , Tel: 0046 707 21 10 98
