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Governance · Africa ranking

Electoral Democracy Index by African country

0.76Seychelles leads · 2025

Seychelles has the highest electoral democracy score (V-Dem) of any African country, at 0.76, ahead of Cabo Verde and South Africa.

V-Dem electoral democracy (polyarchy) index on a 0-1 scale (higher is more democratic). 54 of 54 countries, ranked · OWID GOVERNANCE, 2025.

1Seychelles0.762Cabo Verde0.7453South Africa0.743
#1 vs #5411×Seychelles vs Eritrea
Median0.293Central African Republic
Lowest0.069Eritrea

By region

regional average
Southern Africa0.514
7 countries · led by South Africa
West Africa0.427
16 countries · led by Cabo Verde
East Africa0.339
16 countries · led by Seychelles
Central Africa0.31
9 countries · led by Sao Tome and Principe
North Africa0.238
6 countries · led by Tunisia

Full ranking

54 of 54 countries
#CountryElectoral Democracy IndexPeriod
1Seychelles
0.762025
2Cabo Verde
0.7452025
3South Africa
0.7432025
4Mauritius
0.7382025
5Ghana
0.7112025
6Botswana
0.6652025
7Lesotho
0.6612025
8Gambia
0.6412025
9Namibia
0.6332025
10Senegal
0.6332025
11Sao Tome and Principe
0.6322025
12Liberia
0.5972025
13Kenya
0.5632025
14Malawi
0.5572025
15Nigeria
0.5052025
16Zambia
0.4972025
17Benin
0.4932025
18Sierra Leone
0.4712025
19Tunisia
0.3952025
20Cote d'Ivoire
0.3942025
21Tanzania
0.3652025
22Madagascar
0.3612025
23Togo
0.3512025
24Angola
0.3442025
25Mauritania
0.3282025
26Democratic Republic of the Congo
0.3062025
27Gabon
0.3022025
28Central African Republic
0.2932025
29Comoros
0.2932025
30Mozambique
0.2792025
31Zimbabwe
0.2682025
32Algeria
0.2652025
33Cameroon
0.262025
34Morocco
0.2592025
35Ethiopia
0.2572025
36Uganda
0.2532025
37Guinea-Bissau
0.2522025
38Djibouti
0.252025
39Republic of the Congo
0.2432025
40Chad
0.2422025
41Niger
0.2272025
42Libya
0.1932025
43Rwanda
0.1932025
44Egypt
0.1872025
45Guinea
0.1872025
46Burundi
0.1852025
47Equatorial Guinea
0.1722025
48Somalia
0.1652025
49Mali
0.1642025
50Burkina Faso
0.1342025
51South Sudan
0.1332025
52Sudan
0.132025
53Eswatini
0.1282025
54Eritrea
0.0692025

Get this ranking via API

GET /v1/data

One call to /v1/data returns the latest Electoral Democracy Index figure for every country you pass — JSON, with source metadata on each observation.

curl "https://api.africa-api.com/v1/data?metric_key=electoral_democracy_index&latest=true&country_codes=NG,KE,ZA,EG" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $AFRICA_API_KEY"
Get a free API key

Cite or republish this ranking

Data: Africa API — OWID GOVERNANCE, 2025. Free to republish with a link to this page. Pull the live figures via the API above so your version never goes stale.

Embed this ranking

free · auto-updating

Drop this chart into your article or site — it stays live as the data updates. Paste the snippet anywhere HTML is allowed (a citation link is included).

<iframe src="https://africa-api.com/embed/electoral-democracy" width="100%" height="560" loading="lazy" style="border:1px solid #e3e3e3;border-radius:10px;max-width:640px" title="Electoral Democracy Index by African country — Africa API"></iframe>
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Frequently asked questions

Which African country has the highest electoral democracy score (V-Dem)?

Seychelles has the highest electoral democracy score (V-Dem) in Africa at 0.76 (2025), followed by Cabo Verde and South Africa.

Which African country has the lowest electoral democracy score (V-Dem)?

Eritrea has the lowest electoral democracy score (V-Dem) of the 54 African countries with data, at 0.069 (2025).

How many African countries report Electoral Democracy Index data?

54 of 54 African countries have a recent Electoral Democracy Index figure in the Africa API. Each value links to the country's full series with source and history.

How do I get this ranking via API?

Call GET /v1/data?metric_key=electoral_democracy_index&latest=true with the country codes you need and a free Africa API key — the response returns the latest value per country as JSON.

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