Democracy in Syria
Syria: Democracy was 1 in 2025. ▼ Falling
Democracy in Syria, 1918–2025
Source: Episodes of Regime Transformation (2026) – processed by Our World in Data.
Analysis
The most recent figure for democracy in Syria is 1, measured in 2025.
The figure is unchanged over ten years.
Over the whole period, democracy in Syria peaked at 2 in 1943 and was at its lowest, 0, in 1949.
Syria ranks 90th of 175 countries on this measure, in the middle of the range.
The long-run direction has been consistently falling across the 106 years of available data.
Democracy in Syria, year by year
| Year | Value | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 1918 | 1 | — |
| 1919 | 1 | +0.0% |
| 1922 | 1 | +0.0% |
| 1923 | 1 | +0.0% |
| 1924 | 1 | +0.0% |
| 1925 | 1 | +0.0% |
| 1926 | 1 | +0.0% |
| 1927 | 1 | +0.0% |
| 1928 | 1 | +0.0% |
| 1929 | 1 | +0.0% |
| 1930 | 1 | +0.0% |
| 1931 | 1 | +0.0% |
| 1932 | 1 | +0.0% |
| 1933 | 1 | +0.0% |
| 1934 | 1 | +0.0% |
| 1935 | 1 | +0.0% |
| 1936 | 1 | +0.0% |
| 1937 | 1 | +0.0% |
| 1938 | 1 | +0.0% |
| 1939 | 1 | +0.0% |
| 1940 | 1 | +0.0% |
| 1941 | 1 | +0.0% |
| 1942 | 1 | +0.0% |
| 1943 | 2 | +100.0% |
| 1944 | 2 | +0.0% |
| 1945 | 2 | +0.0% |
| 1946 | 2 | +0.0% |
| 1947 | 2 | +0.0% |
| 1948 | 2 | +0.0% |
| 1949 | 0 | -100.0% |
| 1950 | 0 | — |
| 1951 | 0 | — |
| 1952 | 0 | — |
| 1953 | 2 | — |
| 1954 | 2 | +0.0% |
| 1955 | 2 | +0.0% |
| 1956 | 1 | -50.0% |
| 1957 | 1 | +0.0% |
| 1958 | 0 | -100.0% |
| 1959 | 0 | — |
| 1960 | 1 | — |
| 1961 | 2 | +100.0% |
| 1962 | 2 | +0.0% |
| 1963 | 0 | -100.0% |
| 1964 | 0 | — |
| 1965 | 0 | — |
| 1966 | 0 | — |
| 1967 | 0 | — |
| 1968 | 0 | — |
| 1969 | 0 | — |
| 1970 | 0 | — |
| 1971 | 1 | — |
| 1972 | 1 | +0.0% |
| 1973 | 1 | +0.0% |
| 1974 | 1 | +0.0% |
| 1975 | 1 | +0.0% |
| 1976 | 1 | +0.0% |
| 1977 | 1 | +0.0% |
| 1978 | 1 | +0.0% |
| 1979 | 1 | +0.0% |
| 1980 | 1 | +0.0% |
| 1981 | 1 | +0.0% |
| 1982 | 1 | +0.0% |
| 1983 | 1 | +0.0% |
| 1984 | 1 | +0.0% |
| 1985 | 1 | +0.0% |
| 1986 | 1 | +0.0% |
| 1987 | 1 | +0.0% |
| 1988 | 1 | +0.0% |
| 1989 | 1 | +0.0% |
| 1990 | 1 | +0.0% |
| 1991 | 1 | +0.0% |
| 1992 | 1 | +0.0% |
| 1993 | 1 | +0.0% |
| 1994 | 1 | +0.0% |
| 1995 | 1 | +0.0% |
| 1996 | 1 | +0.0% |
| 1997 | 1 | +0.0% |
| 1998 | 1 | +0.0% |
| 1999 | 1 | +0.0% |
| 2000 | 1 | +0.0% |
| 2001 | 1 | +0.0% |
| 2002 | 1 | +0.0% |
| 2003 | 1 | +0.0% |
| 2004 | 1 | +0.0% |
| 2005 | 1 | +0.0% |
| 2006 | 1 | +0.0% |
| 2007 | 1 | +0.0% |
| 2008 | 1 | +0.0% |
| 2009 | 1 | +0.0% |
| 2010 | 1 | +0.0% |
| 2011 | 1 | +0.0% |
| 2012 | 1 | +0.0% |
| 2013 | 1 | +0.0% |
| 2014 | 1 | +0.0% |
| 2015 | 1 | +0.0% |
| 2016 | 1 | +0.0% |
| 2017 | 1 | +0.0% |
| 2018 | 1 | +0.0% |
| 2019 | 1 | +0.0% |
| 2020 | 1 | +0.0% |
| 2021 | 1 | +0.0% |
| 2022 | 1 | +0.0% |
| 2023 | 1 | +0.0% |
| 2024 | 1 | +0.0% |
| 2025 | 1 | +0.0% |
Syria compared with similar countries
- Syria's 1 is above the median for low income countries, which is 1, 1.0× the median. (25 countries reporting)
- Syria's 1 is above the median for Middle East, North Africa, Afghanistan & Pakistan, which is 1, 1.0× the median. (23 countries reporting)
Averages by decade
| Decade | Average | Lowest | Highest | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1910s | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| 1920s | 1 | 1 | 1 | 8 |
| 1930s | 1 | 1 | 1 | 10 |
| 1940s | 1.5 | 0 | 2 | 10 |
| 1950s | 0.8 | 0 | 2 | 10 |
| 1960s | 0.5 | 0 | 2 | 10 |
| 1970s | 0.9 | 0 | 1 | 10 |
| 1980s | 1 | 1 | 1 | 10 |
| 1990s | 1 | 1 | 1 | 10 |
| 2000s | 1 | 1 | 1 | 10 |
| 2010s | 1 | 1 | 1 | 10 |
| 2020s | 1 | 1 | 1 | 6 |
Countries ranked near Syria
- 90 Albania 1 compare
- 90 Algeria 1 compare
- 90 Angola 1 compare
- 90 Azerbaijan 1 compare
- 90 Bahrain 1 compare
- 90 Bangladesh 1 compare
- 90 Burundi 1 compare
- 90 Cameroon 1 compare
- 90 Chad 1 compare
- 90 China 1 compare
- 90 Comoros 1 compare
- 90 Congo 1 compare
- 90 Cuba 1 compare
- 90 Democratic Republic of Congo 1 compare
- 90 Djibouti 1 compare
- 90 Egypt 1 compare
- 90 Equatorial Guinea 1 compare
- 90 Eritrea 1 compare
- 90 Eswatini 1 compare
- 90 Ethiopia 1 compare
- 90 Gabon 1 compare
- 90 Iran 1 compare
- 90 Iraq 1 compare
- 90 Jordan 1 compare
- 90 Kazakhstan 1 compare
- 90 Laos 1 compare
- 90 Lebanon 1 compare
- 90 Malaysia 1 compare
- 90 Mongolia 1 compare
- 90 Morocco 1 compare
- 90 Nigeria 1 compare
- 90 North Korea 1 compare
- 90 Oman 1 compare
- 90 Palestine 1 compare
- 90 Papua New Guinea 1 compare
- 90 Qatar 1 compare
- 90 Russia 1 compare
- 90 Rwanda 1 compare
- 90 Saudi Arabia 1 compare
- 90 Sierra Leone 1 compare
- 90 Singapore 1 compare
- 90 Somalia 1 compare
- 90 South Sudan 1 compare
- 90 Sudan 1 compare
- 90 Tajikistan 1 compare
- 90 Tanzania 1 compare
- 90 Turkey 1 compare
- 90 Turkmenistan 1 compare
- 90 Uganda 1 compare
- 90 United Arab Emirates 1 compare
- 90 Uzbekistan 1 compare
- 90 Venezuela 1 compare
- 90 Vietnam 1 compare
- 90 Yemen 1 compare
- 90 Zimbabwe 1 compare
More reference data data for Syria
- Emission Totals - Indirect emissions (N2O) - Manure applied to Soils 0.1191 (2050)
- Emission Totals - Indirect emissions (N2O) - Manure left on Pasture 4.23 (2050)
- Emission Totals - Indirect emissions (N2O) - IPCC Agriculture 7.23 (2050)
- Emission Totals - Indirect emissions (N2O) - Crop Residues 0.5377 (2050)
- Emission Totals - Indirect emissions (N2O) - Agricultural Soils 7.23 (2050)
- Emission Totals - Emissions (N2O) - Manure applied to Soils 0.3995 (2050)
- Emission Totals - Emissions (N2O) - Manure Management 0.1542 (2050)
- Emission Totals - Emissions (N2O) - Manure left on Pasture 16.14 (2050)
- Emission Totals - Emissions (N2O) - IPCC Agriculture 29.26 (2050)
- Emission Totals - Emissions (N2O) - Crop Residues 2.93 (2050)
Frequently asked questions
- What is democracy in Syria?
- Democracy in Syria was 1 in 2025, according to Episodes of Regime Transformation (2026) – processed by Our World in Data.
- What is the highest democracy recorded in Syria?
- The highest recorded value was 2 in 1943.
- What is the lowest democracy recorded in Syria?
- The lowest recorded value was 0 in 1949.
- How does Syria rank for democracy?
- Syria ranks 90th out of 175 countries with data for 2025.
- Is democracy rising or falling in Syria?
- Over the last ten years it is unchanged. The long-run trend across the full record is falling.
- Where does this Syria data come from?
- The figures come from Episodes of Regime Transformation (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 — 106 observations, free to reuse under CC BY 4.0 (Our World in Data).
About this data
Political regime of a country using the classification by the Episodes of Regime Transformation-project. It distinguishes between hardening autocracies (score 0), stable autocracies (score 1), liberalizing autocracies (score 2), eroding democracies (score 3), stable democracies (score 4), and deepening democracies (score 5).