Democracy in Iceland
Iceland: Democracy was 9 in 2025. ▲ Rising
Democracy in Iceland, 1900–2025
Source: V-Dem (2026) – processed by Our World in Data.
Analysis
Iceland recorded 9 for democracy in 2025. That is the highest value across all 126 years on record.
The figure is unchanged over ten years.
Over the whole period, democracy in Iceland peaked at 9 in 1995 and was at its lowest, 0, in 1900.
Iceland ranks 1st of 176 countries on this measure, in the top 10%.
The long-run direction has been consistently rising across the 126 years of available data.
Averages by decade
| Decade | Average | Lowest | Highest | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1900s | 4 | 0 | 7 | 10 |
| 1910s | 7 | 7 | 7 | 10 |
| 1920s | 8 | 8 | 8 | 10 |
| 1930s | 7 | 7 | 7 | 10 |
| 1940s | 7.6 | 7 | 8 | 10 |
| 1950s | 8 | 8 | 8 | 10 |
| 1960s | 8 | 8 | 8 | 10 |
| 1970s | 8 | 8 | 8 | 10 |
| 1980s | 8 | 8 | 8 | 10 |
| 1990s | 8.5 | 8 | 9 | 10 |
| 2000s | 9 | 9 | 9 | 10 |
| 2010s | 9 | 9 | 9 | 10 |
| 2020s | 9 | 9 | 9 | 6 |
Countries ranked near Iceland
- 1 Australia 9 compare
- 1 Belgium 9 compare
- 1 Costa Rica 9 compare
- 1 Czechia 9 compare
- 1 Denmark 9 compare
- 1 Estonia 9 compare
- 1 Finland 9 compare
- 1 Germany 9 compare
- 1 Japan 9 compare
- 1 Latvia 9 compare
- 1 Netherlands 9 compare
- 1 New Zealand 9 compare
- 1 Norway 9 compare
- 1 Seychelles 9 compare
- 1 South Korea 9 compare
- 1 Spain 9 compare
- 1 Sweden 9 compare
- 1 Switzerland 9 compare
- 1 Taiwan 9 compare
More reference data data for Iceland
- Spring temperature anomalies -0.5453 °C (2026)
- Summer temperature anomalies 0.1076 °C (2026)
- Temperature anomalies by month -0.09 °C (2026)
- Universal right to vote in practice 2 (2025)
- Autumn temperature anomalies 0.653 °C (2025)
- Winter temperature anomalies 3.5 °C (2025)
- Consumer price index 179.82 2010 = 100 (2025)
- Universal right to vote 2 (2025)
- Competitive elections 1 (2025)
- Men's universal right to vote 1 (2025)
Frequently asked questions
- What is democracy in Iceland?
- Democracy in Iceland was 9 in 2025, according to V-Dem (2026) – processed by Our World in Data.
- What is the highest democracy recorded in Iceland?
- The highest recorded value was 9 in 1995.
- What is the lowest democracy recorded in Iceland?
- The lowest recorded value was 0 in 1900.
- How does Iceland rank for democracy?
- Iceland ranks 1st out of 176 countries with data for 2025.
- Is democracy rising or falling in Iceland?
- Over the last ten years it is unchanged. The long-run trend across the full record is rising.
- Where does this Iceland data come from?
- The figures come from V-Dem (2026) – processed by Our World in Data, published as part of Democracy. Statizoid updates them automatically from the source API.
Download this data
CSV · JSON — 126 observations, free to reuse under CC BY 4.0 (Our World in Data).
About this data
Political regime of a country using the Regimes of the World classification by political scientists Anna Lührmann, Marcus Tannenberg and Staffan Lindberg, including ambiguous categories.