EIU Country Democracy Index
EIU Country Democracy Index
EIU Country Democracy Index
EIU Democracy Index for about 100 countries. Each row is one countryCode and year. The overall score is overallScore (EIU code DI80, 0–10). Five category scores (0–10) cover electoral process and pluralism, functioning of government, political participation, political culture, and civil liberties. Underlying questions are scored 0–1. globalRanking is the country rank and regimeType is the regime classification. Query by EIU geography code, for example /US or /US/2024. date is the first day of the year (YYYY-01-01).
Category:
Macro Economics
Type:
historical
Workspace:
EDGE
Dataset Id:
EIU_COUNTRY_DEMOCRACY_INDEX
Region:
Global
Records:
1,431
Newest Record:
01/01/2025
Oldest Record:
01/01/2016
Updated At:
09/02/2026
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Use Cases
- Political and governance risk screening — layer democracy/regime-type scores onto sovereign risk models alongside macro and business-environment data
- Country risk premium and discount rate inputs — use
overallScoreandregimeTypetrends as qualitative inputs to sovereign or country risk premiums in valuation models - ESG and governance factor investing — incorporate civil liberties, corruption, and rule-of-law sub-scores into governance ("G") scoring frameworks
- Frontier and emerging market allocation — screen or filter investable universes by regime stability and democratic trajectory before committing capital
- Political instability and event-risk monitoring — track deteriorating sub-scores (e.g., checks and balances, media freedom, civil liberties) as early warning signals ahead of election cycles or unrest
- Longitudinal and regime-transition analysis — track a country's score and regime classification over time to identify democratic backsliding or consolidation
- Peer and regional benchmarking — compare countries within a region or income bracket on specific sub-categories (e.g., electoral process vs. civil liberties) rather than a single blended score
- Academic, policy, and thematic research — combine with the EIU Business Environment Rankings dataset for integrated political-economy analysis of a given market
- Cross-dataset correlation studies — pair with macro and market data to test relationships between democratic quality and economic/market outcomes
Highlights
- Annual, wide-format dataset from the Economist Intelligence Unit covering roughly 100 countries and 68 indicators per country-year
- Keyed by
countryCodeandyear, with one row per country per year for time-series and cross-country comparison - Produces an
overallScore(0–10) plus aglobalRankingandregimeTypeclassification (e.g., full democracy, flawed democracy, hybrid regime, authoritarian regime) - Rolls up into 5 sub-category scores (0–10 scale): Electoral Process and Pluralism (
DI81), Functioning of Government (DI82), Political Participation (DI83), Political Culture (DI84), and Civil Liberties (DI86) - Underlying granular indicators (0–1 scale) cover election integrity (free/fair elections, universal suffrage, voter security), institutional checks (legislature, judiciary, military role, checks and balances), civic engagement (voter turnout, civic organizations, demonstrations, petitions), media and expression freedoms (print/electronic media, internet, free expression), human rights and personal freedom (torture, discrimination, basic security, private property), and public sentiment (confidence in government/parties, perceptions of democracy)
- Updated daily as new EIU vintages are published, with
publishedAttimestamps to track revision history - Updated daily as new EIU vintages are published, with
publishedAttimestamps to track revision history
Provider
Published ByEconomist Enterprise (EIU)
Methods
https://api.blueskyapi.com/v1/data/EDGE/EIU_COUNTRY_DEMOCRACY_INDEX/:countryCodehttps://api.blueskyapi.com/v1/data/EDGE/EIU_COUNTRY_DEMOCRACY_INDEX/:countryCode/:year- https://api.blueskyapi.com/v1/data/EDGE/EIU_COUNTRY_DEMOCRACY_INDEX/US
Example API Request URL
Time Series Query Parameters
You can use any time series query parameters with this dataset.
View the full documentation →
Response Attributes
| Key | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
| DI01 | number, null | Free elections (scored 0-1) |
| DI02 | number, null | Fair elections (scored 0-1) |
| DI03 | number, null | Municipal elections (scored 0-1) |
| DI04 | number, null | Universal suffrage (scored 0-1) |
| DI05 | number, null | Voters' security (scored 0-1) |
| DI06 | number, null | Campaigning (scored 0-1) |
| DI07 | number, null | Party finances (scored 0-1) |
| DI08 | number, null | Government transfers (scored 0-1) |
| DI09 | number, null | Free parties (scored 0-1) |
| DI10 | number, null | Opposition (scored 0-1) |
| DI11 | number, null | Access to office (scored 0-1) |
| DI12 | number, null | Civic organisations (scored 0-1) |
| DI13 | number, null | Representatives and government (scored 0-1) |
| DI14 | number, null | Legislature (scored 0-1) |
| DI15 | number, null | Checks and balances (scored 0-1) |
| DI16 | number, null | Military (scored 0-1) |
| DI17 | number, null | Foreign powers (scored 0-1) |
| DI18 | number, null | Interest groups (scored 0-1) |
| DI19 | number, null | Accountability (scored 0-1) |
| DI20 | number, null | Territory (scored 0-1) |
| DI21 | number, null | Transparency (scored 0-1) |
| DI22 | number, null | Corruption (scored 0-1) |
| DI23 | number, null | Civil service (scored 0-1) |
| DI24 | number, null | Citizens' control (scored 0-1) |
| DI25 | number, null | Confidence in government (scored 0-1) |
| DI26 | number, null | Confidence in political parties (scored 0-1) |
| DI27 | number, null | Voter turnout (scored 0-1) |
| DI28 | number, null | Minorities (scored 0-1) |
| DI29 | number, null | Women (scored 0-1) |
| DI30 | number, null | Membership (scored 0-1) |
| DI31 | number, null | Engagement (scored 0-1) |
| DI32 | number, null | Demonstrations (scored 0-1) |
| DI33 | number, null | Literacy (scored 0-1) |
| DI34 | number, null | Follow politics (scored 0-1) |
| DI35 | number, null | Promotion (scored 0-1) |
| DI36 | number, null | Social cohesion (scored 0-1) |
| DI37 | number, null | Role of leaders (scored 0-1) |
| DI38 | number, null | Military rule (scored 0-1) |
| DI39 | number, null | Experts rule (scored 0-1) |
| DI40 | number, null | Democracy and order (scored 0-1) |
| DI41 | number, null | Democracy and economy (scored 0-1) |
| DI42 | number, null | Perceptions of democracy (scored 0-1) |
| DI43 | number, null | Church and state (scored 0-1) |
| DI44 | number, null | Electronic media (scored 0-1) |
| DI45 | number, null | Print media (scored 0-1) |
| DI46 | number, null | Free expression (scored 0-1) |
| DI47 | number, null | Diversity (scored 0-1) |
| DI48 | number, null | Internet (scored 0-1) |
| DI49 | number, null | Trade unions (scored 0-1) |
| DI50 | number, null | Petitions (scored 0-1) |
| DI51 | number, null | Torture (scored 0-1) |
| DI52 | number, null | Judiciary (scored 0-1) |
| DI53 | number, null | Religion (scored 0-1) |
| DI54 | number, null | Equality law (scored 0-1) |
| DI55 | number, null | Basic security (scored 0-1) |
| DI56 | number, null | Private property (scored 0-1) |
| DI57 | number, null | Personal freedom (scored 0-1) |
| DI58 | number, null | Respect for human rights (scored 0-1) |
| DI59 | number, null | Discrimination (scored 0-1) |
| DI60 | number, null | New threats (scored 0-1) |
| DI81 | number, null | Electoral process and pluralism score (0-10) |
| DI82 | number, null | Functioning of government score (0-10) |
| DI83 | number, null | Political participation score (0-10) |
| DI84 | number, null | Political culture score (0-10) |
| DI86 | number, null | Civil liberties score (0-10) |
countryCode* key | string | EIU geography 2-letter country code identifying the country for this row. |
| countryName | string, null | Country name associated with the geography, when available. |
date* index | string | Calendar date of the democracy index snapshot (ISO 8601 date). |
| globalRanking | number, null | Rank |
| overallScore | number, null | Overall score (0-10) |
| publishedAt | string, null | EIU publication timestamp for this vintage, when available. |
| regimeType | string, null | Regime type |
| source | string, null | Source attribution for the indicator values. |
year* subkey | string | Reporting year for the indicator bundle, as a string. |
* required
Disclaimer
Whilst efforts have been taken to verify the accuracy of this information, neither The Economist Intelligence Unit Ltd. nor its affiliates can accept any responsibility or liability for reliance by any person on this information.
Attribution
Source: Economist Enterprise
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