Finland vs USSR: Democracy

Finland
7
in 2025
USSR
3
in 1990
Finland rank
1st
USSR rank
1st

Democracy over time

  • Finland
  • USSR
02468180919172025

How they compare

Finland currently reports 7 against 3 in USSR, a difference of 4.

That makes Finland's figure about 2.3 times USSR's.

Across all 69 years both countries report, Finland has been ahead every year.

Finland ranks 1st and USSR ranks 1st of 197 countries.

Finland has averaged higher in every one of the 8 decades both report.

Head to head by decade

Decade Finland USSR Difference Ahead
1920s 6 1 5 Finland
1930s 6 1 5 Finland
1940s 6 1 5 Finland
1950s 7 1 6 Finland
1960s 7 1 6 Finland
1970s 7 1 6 Finland
1980s 7 1 6 Finland
1990s 7 3 4 Finland

Averages of every year both report within each decade.

Frequently asked questions

Which has higher democracy, Finland or USSR?
Finland, at 7 against 3 in USSR as of 2025.
What is the difference in democracy between Finland and USSR?
4, with Finland ahead.
How many years of comparable data are there for Finland and USSR?
69 years are reported by both, from 1922 to 1990.
How do Finland and USSR rank globally for democracy?
Finland ranks 1st and USSR ranks 1st of 197 countries.
Where does this data come from?
Lexical Index (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

Indicator
Democracy
Source
Lexical Index (2026) – processed by Our World in Data
Licence
CC BY 4.0 (Our World in Data)
Coverage
198 places, 32,485 data points, 1789–2025
Last refreshed

Identifies the political regime of a country. It distinguishes between non-electoral autocracies (score 0), one-party autocracies (score 1), multi-party autocracies without elected executive (score 2), multi-party autocracies (score 3), exclusive democracies (score 4), male democracies (score 5), electoral democracies (score 6), and full democracies (score 7).