Germany vs United States: Democracy

Germany
7
in 2025
United States
7
in 2025
Germany rank
1st
United States rank
1st

Democracy over time

  • Germany
  • United States
02468178919072025

How they compare

Germany currently reports 7 against 7 in United States, a difference of 0.

The two have swapped places 2 times across 114 shared years of data; in 1867 it was United States ahead.

Germany ranks 1st and United States ranks 1st of 197 countries.

Across the 13 decades both report, Germany averaged higher in 1 and United States in 8.

Head to head by decade

Decade Germany United States Difference Ahead
1860s 2 4 2 United States
1870s 2 4 2 United States
1880s 2 4 2 United States
1890s 2 4 2 United States
1900s 2 4 2 United States
1910s 2.2 4 1.8 United States
1920s 6 4 2 Germany
1930s 1.9 4 2.1 United States
1940s 0 4 4 United States
1990s 7 7 0
2000s 7 7 0
2010s 7 7 0
2020s 7 7 0

Averages of every year both report within each decade.

Frequently asked questions

Which has higher democracy, Germany or United States?
Germany, at 7 against 7 in United States as of 2025.
What is the difference in democracy between Germany and United States?
0, with Germany ahead.
How many years of comparable data are there for Germany and United States?
114 years are reported by both, from 1867 to 2025.
How do Germany and United States rank globally for democracy?
Germany ranks 1st and United States 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).