Canada vs United States: Democracy
Canada
7
in 2025
United States
7
in 2025
Canada rank
32nd
United States rank
32nd
Democracy over time
- Canada
- United States
How they compare
Canada currently reports 7 against 7 in United States, a difference of 0.
The two have swapped places 10 times across 185 shared years of data; in 1841 it was United States ahead.
Canada ranks 32nd and United States ranks 32nd of 176 countries.
Across the 19 decades both report, Canada averaged higher in 7 and United States in 6.
Head to head by decade
| Decade | Canada | United States | Difference | Ahead |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1840s | 0 | 3 | 3 | United States |
| 1850s | 0 | 3 | 3 | United States |
| 1860s | 0.9 | 3 | 2.1 | United States |
| 1870s | 3 | 3 | 0 | — |
| 1880s | 3 | 3 | 0 | — |
| 1890s | 3.4 | 3 | 0.4 | Canada |
| 1900s | 4 | 3 | 1 | Canada |
| 1910s | 3.8 | 3 | 0.8 | Canada |
| 1920s | 5.7 | 5 | 0.7 | Canada |
| 1930s | 6 | 5 | 1 | Canada |
| 1940s | 6 | 5.7 | 0.3 | Canada |
| 1950s | 6 | 6 | 0 | — |
| 1960s | 7 | 6.6 | 0.4 | Canada |
| 1970s | 7.4 | 9 | 1.6 | United States |
| 1980s | 8.7 | 9 | 0.3 | United States |
| 1990s | 9 | 9 | 0 | — |
| 2000s | 9 | 9 | 0 | — |
| 2010s | 8.9 | 8.9 | 0 | — |
| 2020s | 7 | 8.5 | 1.5 | United States |
Averages of every year both report within each decade.
Frequently asked questions
- Which has higher democracy, Canada or United States?
- Canada, at 7 against 7 in United States as of 2025.
- What is the difference in democracy between Canada and United States?
- 0, with Canada ahead.
- How many years of comparable data are there for Canada and United States?
- 185 years are reported by both, from 1841 to 2025.
- How do Canada and United States rank globally for democracy?
- Canada ranks 32nd and United States ranks 32nd of 176 countries.
- Where does this data come from?
- V-Dem (2026) – processed by Our World in Data, published as Democracy. Statizoid refreshes it automatically from the source and publishes the full history for both places.
Individual pages
About this data
Political regime of a country using the Regimes of the World classification by political scientists Anna Lührmann, Marcus Tannenberg and Staffan Lindberg, including ambiguous categories.