Data source: Varieties of Democracy (V-Dem) Project
Varieties of Democracy (V-Dem) is a novel approach to conceptualizing and measuring democracy. It provides a multidimensional and disaggregated dataset that reflects the complexity of the concept of democracy as a system of rule that goes beyond the simple presence of elections. The V-Dem project distinguishes between five high-level principles of democracy: electoral, liberal, participatory, deliberative, and egalitarian, and collects data to measure these principles.
Please note there have been some changes introduced to the methodology; please refer to the website of the original source to read said modifications in more detail.
When using this dataset, please cite as:
(Coppedge, Gerring, Knutsen,
Lindberg, Teorell, Altman, Bernhard, Cornell, Fish, Gastaldi, Gjerløw,
Glynn, God, et al., 2023)
(Pemstein et al.,
2023)
(Coppedge, Gerring, Knutsen,
Lindberg, Teorell, Altman, Bernhard, Cornell, Fish, Gastaldi, Gjerløw,
Glynn, Grahn, et al., 2023)
Browse variables and select them for download.
vdem_academ
Academic Freedom Index Question: To what extent is academic freedom respected? Clarification: Academic freedom is understood as the right of academics, without constriction by prescribed doctrine ...
vdem_corr
Political corruption index Question: How pervasive is political corruption? Clarification: The directionality of the V-Dem corruption index runs from less corrupt (0) to more corrupt (1) (unlike ...
vdem_delibdem
Deliberative democracy index Question: To what extent is the ideal of deliberative democracy achieved? Clarification: The deliberative principle of democracy focuses on the process by which decis ...
vdem_dl_delib
Deliberative component index Question: To what extent is the deliberative principle of democracy achieved? Clarification: The deliberative principle of democracy focuses on the process by which ...
vdem_edcomp_thick
Electoral component index Question: To what extent is the electoral principle of democracy achieved? Clarifications: The electoral principle of democracy seeks to achieve responsiveness and acco ...
vdem_egal
Egalitarian component index Question: To what extent is the egalitarian principle achieved? Clarifications: The egalitarian principle of democracy holds that material and immaterial inequalities ...
vdem_egaldem
Egalitarian democracy index Question: To what extent is the ideal of egalitarian democracy achieved? Clarifications: The egalitarian principle of democracy holds that material and immaterial ine ...
vdem_elvotbuy
Election vote buying Question: In this national election, was there evidence of vote and/or turnout buying? Clarification: Vote and turnout buying refers to the distribution of money or gifts to ...
vdem_exbribe
Executive bribery and corrupt exchanges Question: How routinely do members of the executive (the head of state, the head of government, and cabinet ministers), or their agents, grant favors in exchan ...
vdem_excrptps
Public sector corrupt exchanges Question: How routinely do public sector employees grant favors in exchange for bribes, kickbacks, or other material inducements? Clarification: When responding to ...
vdem_execorr
Executive corruption index Question: How routinely do members of the executive, or their agents grant favors in exchange for bribes, kickbacks, or other material inducements, and how often do they st ...
vdem_exembez
Executive embezzlement and theft Question: How often do members of the executive (the head of state, the head of government, and cabinet ministers), or their agents, steal, embezzle, or misappropria ...
vdem_exthftps
Public sector theft Question: How often do public sector employees steal, embezzle, or misappropriate public funds or other state resources for personal or family use? Clarification: When respon ...
vdem_gcrrpt
Legislature corrupt activities Question: Do members of the legislature abuse their position for financial gain? Clarification: This includes any of the following: (a) accepting bribes, (b) helpi ...
vdem_gender
Women political empowerment index Question: How politically empowered are women? Clarifications: Women’s political empowerment is defined as a process of increasing capacity for women, leading t ...
vdem_jucorrdc
Judicial corruption decision Question: How often do individuals or businesses make undocumented extra payments or bribes in order to speed up or delay the process or to obtain a favorable judicial de ...
vdem_libdem
Liberal democracy index Question: To what extent is the ideal of liberal democracy achieved? Clarification: The liberal principle of democracy emphasizes the importance of protecting individual a ...
vdem_liberal
Liberal component index Question: To what extent is the liberal principle of democracy achieved? Clarification: The liberal principle of democracy emphasizes the importance of protecting individ ...
vdem_mecorrpt
Media corrupt Question: Do journalists, publishers, or broadcasters accept payments in exchange for altering news coverage? Responses: 0: The media are so closely directed by the government that ...
vdem_partip
Participatory component index Question: To what extent is the participatory principle achieved? Clarification: The participatory principle of democracy emphasizes active participation by citizen ...
vdem_partipdem
Participatory democracy index Question: To what extent is the ideal of participatory democracy achieved? Clarification: The participatory principle of democracy emphasizes active participation b ...
vdem_polyarchy
Electoral democracy index Question: To what extent is the ideal of electoral democracy in its fullest sense achieved? Clarification: The electoral principle of democracy seeks to embody the core ...
vdem_pubcorr
Public sector corruption index Question: To what extent do public sector employees grant favors in exchange for bribes, kickbacks, or other material inducements, and how often do they steal, embezzl ...
vdem_regimeamb
Answer to the question: 'How can the political regime overall be classified considering the competitiveness of access to power (polyarchy) as well as liberal principles?' 0. Closed autocracy: No mu ...