North Korea vs Laos: Democracy
North Korea
1
in 2025
Laos
1
in 2025
North Korea rank
90th
Laos rank
90th
Democracy over time
- North Korea
- Laos
How they compare
North Korea currently reports 1 against 1 in Laos, a difference of 0.
The two have swapped places 4 times across 81 shared years of data; in 1945 it was Laos ahead.
North Korea ranks 90th and Laos ranks 90th of 175 countries.
Across the 9 decades both report, North Korea averaged higher in 2 and Laos in 2.
Head to head by decade
| Decade | North Korea | Laos | Difference | Ahead |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1940s | 1 | 1.8 | 0.8 | Laos |
| 1950s | 1 | 1.7 | 0.7 | Laos |
| 1960s | 1 | 0.4 | 0.6 | North Korea |
| 1970s | 1 | 0.8 | 0.2 | North Korea |
| 1980s | 1 | 1 | 0 | — |
| 1990s | 1 | 1 | 0 | — |
| 2000s | 1 | 1 | 0 | — |
| 2010s | 1 | 1 | 0 | — |
| 2020s | 1 | 1 | 0 | — |
Averages of every year both report within each decade.
Frequently asked questions
- Which has higher democracy, North Korea or Laos?
- North Korea, at 1 against 1 in Laos as of 2025.
- What is the difference in democracy between North Korea and Laos?
- 0, with North Korea ahead.
- How many years of comparable data are there for North Korea and Laos?
- 81 years are reported by both, from 1945 to 2025.
- How do North Korea and Laos rank globally for democracy?
- North Korea ranks 90th and Laos ranks 90th of 175 countries.
- Where does this data come from?
- Episodes of Regime Transformation (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 classification by the Episodes of Regime Transformation-project. It distinguishes between hardening autocracies (score 0), stable autocracies (score 1), liberalizing autocracies (score 2), eroding democracies (score 3), stable democracies (score 4), and deepening democracies (score 5).