Democracy in Ethiopia
Ethiopia: Democracy was 1 in 2025. ▼ Falling
Democracy in Ethiopia, 2005–2025
Source: Bertelsmann Transformation Index (2026) – processed by Our World in Data.
Analysis
Ethiopia recorded 1 for democracy in 2025. That is the lowest value across all 11 years on record.
That represents a change of unchanged over ten years.
Over the whole period, democracy in Ethiopia peaked at 2 in 2005 and was at its lowest, 1, in 2009.
That places Ethiopia 80th out of 128 countries with data for 2025, putting it in the middle of the range.
The long-run direction has been consistently falling across the 11 years of available data.
Democracy in Ethiopia, year by year
| Year | Value | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 2005 | 2 | — |
| 2007 | 2 | +0.0% |
| 2009 | 1 | -50.0% |
| 2011 | 1 | +0.0% |
| 2013 | 1 | +0.0% |
| 2015 | 1 | +0.0% |
| 2017 | 1 | +0.0% |
| 2019 | 2 | +100.0% |
| 2021 | 1 | -50.0% |
| 2023 | 1 | +0.0% |
| 2025 | 1 | +0.0% |
Ethiopia compared with similar countries
- Ethiopia's 1 is above the median for low income countries, which is 1, 1.0× the median. (23 countries reporting)
- Ethiopia's 1 is below the median for Sub-Saharan Africa, which is 2, 50% of the median. (39 countries reporting)
Averages by decade
| Decade | Average | Lowest | Highest | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2000s | 1.67 | 1 | 2 | 3 |
| 2010s | 1.2 | 1 | 2 | 5 |
| 2020s | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 |
Countries ranked near Ethiopia
- 80 Afghanistan 1 compare
- 80 Azerbaijan 1 compare
- 80 Bahrain 1 compare
- 80 Belarus 1 compare
- 80 Burkina Faso 1 compare
- 80 Burundi 1 compare
- 80 Cambodia 1 compare
- 80 Cameroon 1 compare
- 80 Central African Republic 1 compare
- 80 Chad 1 compare
- 80 China 1 compare
- 80 Congo 1 compare
- 80 Cuba 1 compare
- 80 Democratic Republic of Congo 1 compare
- 80 Egypt 1 compare
- 80 Eritrea 1 compare
- 80 Guinea 1 compare
- 80 Haiti 1 compare
- 80 Iran 1 compare
- 80 Kazakhstan 1 compare
- 80 Kuwait 1 compare
- 80 Laos 1 compare
- 80 Libya 1 compare
- 80 Mali 1 compare
- 80 Morocco 1 compare
- 80 Mozambique 1 compare
- 80 Myanmar 1 compare
- 80 Nicaragua 1 compare
- 80 Niger 1 compare
- 80 North Korea 1 compare
- 80 Oman 1 compare
- 80 Pakistan 1 compare
- 80 Qatar 1 compare
- 80 Russia 1 compare
- 80 Rwanda 1 compare
- 80 Saudi Arabia 1 compare
- 80 Somalia 1 compare
- 80 South Sudan 1 compare
- 80 Sudan 1 compare
- 80 Syria 1 compare
- 80 Tajikistan 1 compare
- 80 Thailand 1 compare
- 80 Turkmenistan 1 compare
- 80 Uzbekistan 1 compare
- 80 Venezuela 1 compare
- 80 Vietnam 1 compare
- 80 Yemen 1 compare
- 80 Zimbabwe 1 compare
More reference data data for Ethiopia
- Emission Totals - Indirect emissions (N2O) - Manure applied to Soils 0.6564 (2050)
- Emission Totals - Indirect emissions (N2O) - Manure left on Pasture 20.69 (2050)
- Emission Totals - Indirect emissions (N2O) - IPCC Agriculture 25.11 (2050)
- Emission Totals - Indirect emissions (N2O) - Crop Residues 1.37 (2050)
- Emission Totals - Indirect emissions (N2O) - Agricultural Soils 25.11 (2050)
- Emission Totals - Emissions (N2O) - Manure applied to Soils 2.2 (2050)
- Emission Totals - Emissions (N2O) - Manure Management 1.1 (2050)
- Emission Totals - Emissions (N2O) - Manure left on Pasture 100.94 (2050)
- Emission Totals - Emissions (N2O) - IPCC Agriculture 121.79 (2050)
- Emission Totals - Emissions (N2O) - Crop Residues 7.47 (2050)
Frequently asked questions
- What is democracy in Ethiopia?
- Democracy in Ethiopia was 1 in 2025, according to Bertelsmann Transformation Index (2026) – processed by Our World in Data.
- What is the highest democracy recorded in Ethiopia?
- The highest recorded value was 2 in 2005.
- What is the lowest democracy recorded in Ethiopia?
- The lowest recorded value was 1 in 2009.
- How does Ethiopia rank for democracy?
- Ethiopia ranks 80th out of 128 countries with data for 2025.
- Is democracy rising or falling in Ethiopia?
- Over the last ten years it is unchanged. The long-run trend across the full record is falling.
- Where does this Ethiopia data come from?
- The figures come from Bertelsmann Transformation Index (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 — 11 observations, free to reuse under CC BY 4.0 (Our World in Data).
About this data
Identifies the political regime of a country. It distinguishes between hard-line autocracies (score 1), moderate autocracies (score 2), highly defective democracies (score 3), defective democracies (score 4), and consolidating democracies (score 5).