Competitive elections by country

Whether the outcomes of elections are uncertain because their timing is not violated, voters are not systematically coerced, and election fraud is not consequential.

Countries reporting
193
Highest
1
Albania
Lowest
0
Vatican
Median
1
Years covered
237
1789–2025
Data points
32,485

What the numbers show

Competitive elections is currently reported for 193 countries. The highest value is 1 in Albania; the lowest is 0 in Vatican.

The median across all reporting countries is 1, and the mean is 0.5803.

Competitive elections: full country ranking

#Country LatestYear 10-year changeTrend
1 Albania 1 2025 unchanged volatile
1 Andorra 1 2025 unchanged volatile
1 Argentina 1 2025 unchanged volatile
1 Armenia 1 2025 volatile
1 Antigua and Barbuda 1 2025 unchanged volatile
1 Australia 1 2025 unchanged volatile
1 Austria 1 2025 unchanged volatile
1 Belgium 1 2025 unchanged rising
1 Bulgaria 1 2025 unchanged volatile
1 Bahamas 1 2025 unchanged volatile
1 Bosnia and Herzegovina 1 2025 unchanged volatile
1 Belize 1 2025 unchanged volatile
1 Bolivia 1 2025 unchanged volatile
1 Brazil 1 2025 unchanged volatile
1 Barbados 1 2025 unchanged volatile
1 Bhutan 1 2025 unchanged volatile
1 Botswana 1 2025 unchanged volatile
1 Canada 1 2025 unchanged rising
1 Switzerland 1 2025 unchanged volatile
1 Chile 1 2025 unchanged volatile
1 Colombia 1 2025 unchanged volatile
1 Cape Verde 1 2025 unchanged volatile
1 Costa Rica 1 2025 unchanged volatile
1 Cyprus 1 2025 unchanged volatile
1 Czechia 1 2025 unchanged volatile
1 Germany 1 2025 unchanged volatile
1 Dominica 1 2025 unchanged volatile
1 Denmark 1 2025 unchanged volatile
1 Dominican Republic 1 2025 unchanged volatile
1 Ecuador 1 2025 unchanged volatile
1 Spain 1 2025 unchanged volatile
1 Estonia 1 2025 unchanged volatile
1 Finland 1 2025 unchanged volatile
1 Fiji 1 2025 unchanged volatile
1 France 1 2025 unchanged volatile
1 Micronesia (country) 1 2025 unchanged volatile
1 United Kingdom 1 2025 unchanged rising
1 Ghana 1 2025 unchanged volatile
1 Gambia 1 2025 volatile
1 Greece 1 2025 unchanged volatile
1 Grenada 1 2025 unchanged volatile
1 Guatemala 1 2025 unchanged volatile
1 Guyana 1 2025 unchanged volatile
1 Honduras 1 2025 unchanged volatile
1 Croatia 1 2025 unchanged volatile
1 Hungary 1 2025 unchanged volatile
1 Indonesia 1 2025 unchanged volatile
1 India 1 2025 unchanged volatile
1 Iraq 1 2025 unchanged volatile
1 Iceland 1 2025 unchanged volatile
1 Israel 1 2025 unchanged rising
1 Italy 1 2025 unchanged volatile
1 Jamaica 1 2025 unchanged volatile
1 Japan 1 2025 unchanged volatile
1 Kenya 1 2025 unchanged volatile
1 Kiribati 1 2025 unchanged volatile
1 Saint Kitts and Nevis 1 2025 unchanged volatile
1 South Korea 1 2025 unchanged volatile
1 Lebanon 1 2025 unchanged volatile
1 Liberia 1 2025 unchanged volatile
1 Saint Lucia 1 2025 unchanged volatile
1 Sri Lanka 1 2025 unchanged volatile
1 Lesotho 1 2025 unchanged volatile
1 Lithuania 1 2025 unchanged volatile
1 Latvia 1 2025 unchanged volatile
1 Moldova 1 2025 unchanged volatile
1 Maldives 1 2025 volatile
1 Mexico 1 2025 unchanged volatile
1 Marshall Islands 1 2025 unchanged volatile
1 North Macedonia 1 2025 unchanged volatile
1 Montenegro 1 2025 unchanged volatile
1 Mongolia 1 2025 unchanged volatile
1 Mauritius 1 2025 unchanged volatile
1 Malawi 1 2025 unchanged volatile
1 Malaysia 1 2025 volatile
1 Namibia 1 2025 unchanged volatile
1 Netherlands 1 2025 unchanged volatile
1 Norway 1 2025 unchanged volatile
1 Nepal 1 2025 unchanged volatile
1 Nauru 1 2025 unchanged volatile
1 New Zealand 1 2025 unchanged rising
1 Panama 1 2025 unchanged volatile
1 Peru 1 2025 unchanged volatile
1 Philippines 1 2025 unchanged volatile
1 Palau 1 2025 unchanged volatile
1 Papua New Guinea 1 2025 unchanged volatile
1 Poland 1 2025 unchanged volatile
1 Portugal 1 2025 unchanged volatile
1 Paraguay 1 2025 unchanged volatile
1 Romania 1 2025 unchanged volatile
1 Senegal 1 2025 unchanged volatile
1 Solomon Islands 1 2025 unchanged volatile
1 San Marino 1 2025 unchanged volatile
1 Sao Tome and Principe 1 2025 unchanged volatile
1 Suriname 1 2025 unchanged volatile
1 Slovakia 1 2025 unchanged volatile
1 Slovenia 1 2025 unchanged volatile
1 Sweden 1 2025 unchanged volatile
1 Seychelles 1 2025 unchanged volatile
1 East Timor 1 2025 unchanged volatile
1 Tonga 1 2025 unchanged volatile
1 Trinidad and Tobago 1 2025 unchanged volatile
1 Tuvalu 1 2025 unchanged rising
1 Ukraine 1 2025 unchanged volatile
1 Uruguay 1 2025 unchanged volatile
1 United States 1 2025 unchanged flat
1 Saint Vincent and the Grenadines 1 2025 unchanged volatile
1 Vanuatu 1 2025 unchanged volatile
1 Samoa 1 2025 unchanged volatile
1 South Africa 1 2025 unchanged volatile
1 Zambia 1 2025 unchanged volatile
1 Taiwan 1 2025 unchanged volatile
116 Afghanistan 0 2025 flat
116 Angola 0 2025 flat
116 United Arab Emirates 0 2025 flat
116 Azerbaijan 0 2025 flat
116 Burundi 0 2025 volatile
116 Benin 0 2025 down 100.0% volatile
116 Burkina Faso 0 2025 down 100.0% volatile
116 Bangladesh 0 2025 volatile
116 Bahrain 0 2025 flat
116 Belarus 0 2025 flat
116 Brunei 0 2025 flat
116 Central African Republic 0 2025 volatile
116 China 0 2025 flat
116 Cote d'Ivoire 0 2025 down 100.0% volatile
116 Cameroon 0 2025 flat
116 Democratic Republic of Congo 0 2025 flat
116 Congo 0 2025 flat
116 Comoros 0 2025 down 100.0% volatile
116 Cuba 0 2025 volatile
116 Djibouti 0 2025 flat
116 Algeria 0 2025 flat
116 Egypt 0 2025 flat
116 Eritrea 0 2025 flat
116 Ethiopia 0 2025 flat
116 Gabon 0 2025 flat
116 Georgia 0 2025 down 100.0% volatile
116 Guinea 0 2025 flat
116 Guinea-Bissau 0 2025 down 100.0% volatile
116 Equatorial Guinea 0 2025 flat
116 Haiti 0 2025 volatile
116 Iran 0 2025 flat
116 Jordan 0 2025 flat
116 Kazakhstan 0 2025 flat
116 Kyrgyzstan 0 2025 flat
116 Cambodia 0 2025 flat
116 Kuwait 0 2025 flat
116 Laos 0 2025 volatile
116 Libya 0 2025 volatile
116 Morocco 0 2025 flat
116 Monaco 0 2025 flat
116 Madagascar 0 2025 down 100.0% volatile
116 Mali 0 2025 down 100.0% volatile
116 Myanmar 0 2025 down 100.0% volatile
116 Mozambique 0 2025 volatile
116 Mauritania 0 2025 flat
116 Niger 0 2025 down 100.0% volatile
116 Nigeria 0 2025 down 100.0% volatile
116 Nicaragua 0 2025 down 100.0% volatile
116 Oman 0 2025 flat
116 Pakistan 0 2025 down 100.0% volatile
116 North Korea 0 2025 flat
116 Palestine 0 1947 flat
116 Qatar 0 2025 flat
116 Russia 0 2025 volatile
116 Rwanda 0 2025 flat
116 Saudi Arabia 0 2025 flat
116 Sudan 0 2025 volatile
116 Singapore 0 2025 flat
116 Sierra Leone 0 2025 down 100.0% volatile
116 El Salvador 0 2025 down 100.0% volatile
116 Somalia 0 2025 volatile
116 Serbia 0 2025 down 100.0% volatile
116 South Sudan 0 2025 flat
116 Eswatini 0 2025 flat
116 Syria 0 2025 flat
116 Chad 0 2025 flat
116 Togo 0 2025 flat
116 Thailand 0 2025 volatile
116 Tajikistan 0 2025 flat
116 Turkmenistan 0 2025 flat
116 Tunisia 0 2025 down 100.0% volatile
116 Turkey 0 2025 down 100.0% volatile
116 Tanzania 0 2025 flat
116 Uganda 0 2025 volatile
116 Uzbekistan 0 2025 flat
116 Venezuela 0 2025 volatile
116 Vietnam 0 2025 flat
116 Yemen 0 2025 flat
116 Zimbabwe 0 2025 flat
116 Western Sahara 0 2025 flat
116 Vatican 0 1869 flat

Regions and income groups

Aggregates are excluded from the country ranking above so that a region can never outrank a country.

About this data

Indicator
Competitive elections
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

Whether the outcomes of elections are uncertain because their timing is not violated, voters are not systematically coerced, and election fraud is not consequential.