Russia vs USSR: Democracy

Russia
1
in 2018
USSR
1
in 1991
Russia rank
98th
USSR rank
98th

Democracy over time

  • Russia
  • USSR
00.511.52180019092018

How they compare

Russia currently reports 1 against 1 in USSR, a difference of 0.

The two have swapped places 1 time across 70 shared years of data; in 1922 it was Russia ahead.

Russia ranks 98th and USSR ranks 98th of 168 countries.

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

Head to head by decade

Decade Russia USSR Difference Ahead
1920s 0.125 0 0.125 Russia
1930s 0 0 0
1940s 0 0 0
1950s 0 0 0
1960s 0 0 0
1970s 0 0 0
1980s 0.1 0.1 0
1990s 1 1 0

Averages of every year both report within each decade.

Frequently asked questions

Which has higher democracy, Russia or USSR?
Russia, at 1 against 1 in USSR as of 2018.
What is the difference in democracy between Russia and USSR?
0, with Russia ahead.
How many years of comparable data are there for Russia and USSR?
70 years are reported by both, from 1922 to 1991.
How do Russia and USSR rank globally for democracy?
Russia ranks 98th and USSR ranks 98th 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

Russia vs USSR: Democracy. Statizoid, drawing on Polity 5 (2020) – processed by Our World in Data. Retrieved 23 September 2026, from https://reference.statizoid.com/compare/political-regime-polity/russian-federation/ussr/

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/russian-federation/ussr/">Russia vs USSR: 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

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).