Map of 2023 V-Dem Electoral Democracy Index for Asia

Democracy in Asia can be comparatively assessed[1] according to various definitions of democracy.[2] According to the V-Dem Democracy indices, the Asian countries with the highest democracy scores in 2023 are Japan, Taiwan, South Korea, Cyprus and Israel, meanwhile the Asian countries with lowest democracy scores in 2023 are Saudi Arabia, China and Afghanistan.[3] Democratic backsliding can be observed in parts of Asia.[4] The V-Dem Democracy Report identified for the year 2023 East Timor as a case of stand-alone democratization and Thailand and Maldives as cases of U-Turn Democratization.[5]

Measures of democracy

The table below shows Asian countries scored on V-Dem Democracy indices in 2024.[5][3][6]

V-Dem Democracy Indices (14th edition)
Country Democracy Indices Democracy Component Indices
Electoral Liberal Liberal Egalitarian Participatory Deliberative
 Taiwan 0.823 0.722 0.878 0.913 0.751 0.897
 Japan 0.818 0.731 0.901 0.927 0.565 0.9
 Israel 0.723 0.634 0.889 0.762 0.603 0.759
 South Korea 0.703 0.604 0.863 0.863 0.61 0.844
 East Timor 0.698 0.507 0.692 0.555 0.554 0.72
 Nepal 0.681 0.523 0.742 0.592 0.614 0.555
 Armenia 0.634 0.422 0.611 0.811 0.442 0.69
 Georgia 0.604 0.473 0.761 0.784 0.542 0.803
 Maldives 0.599 0.453 0.728 0.61 0.49 0.782
 Sri Lanka 0.58 0.421 0.688 0.625 0.549 0.61
 Indonesia 0.541 0.36 0.604 0.445 0.595 0.816
 Bhutan 0.527 0.445 0.819 0.831 0.558 0.921
 Mongolia 0.527 0.405 0.732 0.607 0.398 0.769
 Malaysia 0.506 0.359 0.655 0.726 0.533 0.662
 Papua New Guinea 0.475 0.383 0.761 0.493 0.527 0.524
 Philippines 0.43 0.287 0.581 0.334 0.567 0.749
 Singapore 0.403 0.331 0.735 0.81 0.134 0.738
 India 0.377 0.275 0.621 0.429 0.507 0.612
 Iraq 0.367 0.21 0.452 0.449 0.462 0.589
 Lebanon 0.364 0.237 0.529 0.503 0.472 0.667
 Kyrgyzstan 0.358 0.199 0.432 0.582 0.392 0.367
 Pakistan 0.344 0.212 0.484 0.243 0.545 0.531
 Kuwait 0.333 0.313 0.8 0.58 0.186 0.66
 Thailand 0.288 0.228 0.598 0.472 0.388 0.341
 Turkey 0.287 0.113 0.245 0.53 0.416 0.195
 Kazakhstan 0.284 0.144 0.345 0.597 0.299 0.446
 Jordan 0.256 0.253 0.729 0.566 0.284 0.692
 Palestine (West Bank) 0.254 0.138 0.359 0.623 0.422 0.388
 Bangladesh 0.253 0.096 0.219 0.243 0.303 0.298
 Uzbekistan 0.215 0.081 0.2 0.449 0.173 0.445
 Cambodia 0.198 0.057 0.13 0.219 0.371 0.187
 Russia 0.19 0.062 0.151 0.396 0.379 0.2
 Azerbaijan 0.188 0.064 0.162 0.37 0.119 0.123
 Oman 0.17 0.137 0.436 0.58 0.388 0.203
 Tajikistan 0.168 0.041 0.091 0.198 0.157 0.149
 Iran 0.156 0.082 0.246 0.5 0.079 0.186
 Hong Kong 0.154 0.124 0.401 0.721 0.131 0.17
 Turkmenistan 0.15 0.036 0.083 0.288 0.065 0.043
 Vietnam 0.149 0.114 0.372 0.662 0.563 0.613
 Syria 0.146 0.054 0.153 0.167 0.137 0.056
 Palestine (Gaza Strip) 0.136 0.07 0.219 0.582 0.357 0.202
 Laos 0.132 0.095 0.313 0.44 0.393 0.181
 Yemen 0.13 0.048 0.14 0.108 0.217 0.181
 Bahrain 0.129 0.054 0.165 0.391 0.122 0.209
 United Arab Emirates 0.102 0.078 0.27 0.486 0.095 0.285
 Qatar 0.087 0.085 0.306 0.382 0.041 0.389
 North Korea 0.084 0.015 0.036 0.317 0.153 0.036
 Myanmar 0.081 0.016 0.044 0.207 0.314 0.221
 Afghanistan 0.075 0.03 0.101 0.112 0.03 0.093
 China 0.074 0.037 0.129 0.315 0.124 0.382
 Saudi Arabia 0.015 0.046 0.184 0.446 0.087 0.249

See also

References

  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. ^ a b V-Dem Institute (2023). "The V-Dem Dataset". Retrieved 14 October 2023.
  4. ^ Croissant, Aurel, and Jeffrey Haynes. "Democratic regression in Asia: introduction." Democratization 28.1 (2021): 1-21.
  5. ^ a b Nord, Marina; Lundstedt, Martin; Altman, David; Angiolillo, Fabio; et al. (2024). Lindberg, Staffan I. (ed.). Democracy Report 2024: Democracy Winning and Losing at the Ballot (PDF) (Report). University of Gothenburg: V-Dem Institute.
  6. ^ Coppedge, Michael; Gerring, John; Glynn, Adam; Knutsen, Carl Henrik; Lindberg, Staffan I.; et al. (January 2020). Varieties of Democracy: Measuring Two Centuries of Political Change. Cambridge University Press. doi:10.1017/9781108347860. ISBN 9781108347860.
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