Which has higher democracy, Denmark or New Zealand?

Denmark, at 2 against 2 in New Zealand as of 2018.

How many years of comparable data are there for Denmark and New Zealand?

157 years are reported by both, from 1857 to 2018.

Where does this data come from?

Polity 5 (2020) – processed by Our World in Data, published as Democracy. Statizoid refreshes it automatically from the source and publishes the full history for both places.

Denmark vs New Zealand: Democracy

Denmark

in 2018

New Zealand

in 2018

Denmark rank

1st

New Zealand rank

1st

Democracy over time

Denmark
New Zealand

How they compare

Denmark currently reports 2 against 2 in New Zealand, a difference of 0.

Across all 157 years both countries report, New Zealand has been ahead every year.

Denmark ranks 1st and New Zealand ranks 1st of 168 countries.

New Zealand has averaged higher in every one of the 17 decades both report.

Head to head by decade

Decade	Denmark	New Zealand	Difference	Ahead
1850s	1	2	1	New Zealand
1860s	1	2	1	New Zealand
1870s	1	1.9	0.9	New Zealand
1880s	1	2	1	New Zealand
1890s	1	2	1	New Zealand
1900s	1	2	1	New Zealand
1910s	1.9	2	0.1	New Zealand
1920s	2	2	0	—
1930s	2	2	0	—
1940s	2	2	0	—
1950s	2	2	0	—
1960s	2	2	0	—
1970s	2	2	0	—
1980s	2	2	0	—
1990s	2	2	0	—
2000s	2	2	0	—
2010s	2	2	0	—

Averages of every year both report within each decade.

Frequently asked questions

Which has higher democracy, Denmark or New Zealand?: Denmark, at 2 against 2 in New Zealand as of 2018.
What is the difference in democracy between Denmark and New Zealand?: 0, with Denmark ahead.
How many years of comparable data are there for Denmark and New Zealand?: 157 years are reported by both, from 1857 to 2018.
How do Denmark and New Zealand rank globally for democracy?: Denmark ranks 1st and New Zealand ranks 1st of 168 countries.
Where does this data come from?: Polity 5 (2020) – 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

Share, cite or embed this page

Cite this page

Denmark vs New Zealand: Democracy. Statizoid, drawing on Polity 5 (2020) – processed by Our World in Data. Retrieved 29 September 2026, from https://reference.statizoid.com/compare/political-regime-polity/denmark/new-zealand/

Embed or link this data

Paste this into a page to link back to these figures. The data itself is free to reuse under CC BY 4.0 (Our World in Data); please keep the attribution.

<a href="https://reference.statizoid.com/compare/political-regime-polity/denmark/new-zealand/">Denmark vs New Zealand: Democracy</a> — Statizoid

About this data

Indicator: Democracy
Source: Polity 5 (2020) – processed by Our World in Data
Licence: CC BY 4.0 (Our World in Data)
Coverage: 168 places, 18,392 data points, 1776–2020
Last refreshed: 18 September 2026

Identifies the political regime of a country using the Polity 5 data by the Center for Systemic Peace. It distinguishes between autocracies (score 0), anocracies (score 1), and democracies (score 2).