Democracy in USSR
USSR: Democracy was 3 in 1990. ▲ Rising
Democracy in USSR, 1922–1990
Source: Lexical Index (2026) – processed by Our World in Data.
Analysis
USSR recorded 3 for democracy in 1990. That is the highest value across all 69 years on record.
That represents a change of up 200.0% on the previous year and up 200.0% over ten years.
Over the whole period, democracy in USSR peaked at 3 in 1990 and was at its lowest, 1, in 1922.
The long-run direction has been consistently rising across the 69 years of available data.
Averages by decade
| Decade | Average | Lowest | Highest | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1920s | 1 | 1 | 1 | 8 |
| 1930s | 1 | 1 | 1 | 10 |
| 1940s | 1 | 1 | 1 | 10 |
| 1950s | 1 | 1 | 1 | 10 |
| 1960s | 1 | 1 | 1 | 10 |
| 1970s | 1 | 1 | 1 | 10 |
| 1980s | 1 | 1 | 1 | 10 |
| 1990s | 3 | 3 | 3 | 1 |
Countries ranked near USSR
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- 1 Australia 7 compare
- 1 Austria 7 compare
- 1 Bahamas 7 compare
- 1 Barbados 7 compare
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- 1 Brazil 7 compare
- 1 Bulgaria 7 compare
- 1 Canada 7 compare
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- 1 Cyprus 7 compare
- 1 Czechia 7 compare
- 1 Denmark 7 compare
- 1 Dominica 7 compare
- 1 Dominican Republic 7 compare
- 1 Estonia 7 compare
- 1 Fiji 7 compare
- 1 Finland 7 compare
- 1 France 7 compare
- 1 Germany 7 compare
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- 1 Greece 7 compare
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- 1 Japan 7 compare
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- 1 Norway 7 compare
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More reference data data for USSR
- Universal right to vote in practice 2 (1990)
- Free country 1 (1990)
- Civil liberties rating 4 (1990)
- Men's universal right to vote 1 (1990)
- Elected parliament 1 (1990)
- Competitive elections 0 (1990)
- Universal right to vote 2 (1990)
- Chief executive of the government is elected 1 (1990)
- Milk production 101.33 million tonnes (1991)
- Calorie supply by food group 2,197 kilocalories per day per capita (1991)
Frequently asked questions
- What is democracy in USSR?
- Democracy in USSR was 3 in 1990, according to Lexical Index (2026) – processed by Our World in Data.
- What is the highest democracy recorded in USSR?
- The highest recorded value was 3 in 1990.
- What is the lowest democracy recorded in USSR?
- The lowest recorded value was 1 in 1922.
- How does USSR rank for democracy?
- USSR ranks 1st out of 1 groups with data for 1990.
- Is democracy rising or falling in USSR?
- Over the last ten years it is up 200.0%. The long-run trend across the full record is rising.
- Where does this USSR data come from?
- The figures come from Lexical 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 — 69 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 non-electoral autocracies (score 0), one-party autocracies (score 1), multi-party autocracies without elected executive (score 2), multi-party autocracies (score 3), exclusive democracies (score 4), male democracies (score 5), electoral democracies (score 6), and full democracies (score 7).