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Governance · Africa ranking

Liberal Democracy Index by African country

0.68Seychelles leads · 2025

Seychelles has the highest liberal democracy score (V-Dem) of any African country, at 0.68, ahead of Mauritius and South Africa.

V-Dem liberal democracy index — electoral democracy plus liberal checks and protections — on a 0-1 scale. 54 of 54 countries, ranked · OWID GOVERNANCE, 2025.

1Seychelles0.682Mauritius0.6393South Africa0.633
#1 vs #5476×Seychelles vs Eritrea
Median0.163Angola
Lowest0.009Eritrea

By region

regional average
Southern Africa0.4
7 countries · led by South Africa
West Africa0.298
16 countries · led by Cabo Verde
East Africa0.235
16 countries · led by Seychelles
Central Africa0.157
9 countries · led by Sao Tome and Principe
North Africa0.148
6 countries · led by Tunisia

Full ranking

54 of 54 countries
#CountryLiberal Democracy IndexPeriod
1Seychelles
0.682025
2Mauritius
0.6392025
3South Africa
0.6332025
4Cabo Verde
0.6312025
5Ghana
0.6062025
6Gambia
0.5222025
7Botswana
0.522025
8Namibia
0.5192025
9Sao Tome and Principe
0.5192025
10Lesotho
0.5122025
11Senegal
0.4842025
12Malawi
0.4622025
13Kenya
0.4462025
14Liberia
0.4172025
15Zambia
0.3752025
16Sierra Leone
0.3482025
17Benin
0.3232025
18Nigeria
0.3112025
19Tanzania
0.2972025
20Tunisia
0.2652025
21Morocco
0.2512025
22Cote d'Ivoire
0.2282025
23Madagascar
0.1872025
24Gabon
0.1782025
25Niger
0.1772025
26Mozambique
0.1752025
27Uganda
0.1652025
28Angola
0.1632025
29Togo
0.1572025
30Mali
0.152025
31Zimbabwe
0.1472025
32Comoros
0.1322025
33Somalia
0.1282025
34Mauritania
0.1272025
35Algeria
0.1262025
36Djibouti
0.1182025
37Democratic Republic of the Congo
0.1152025
38Egypt
0.1152025
39Republic of the Congo
0.1152025
40Cameroon
0.1142025
41Burkina Faso
0.1032025
42Central African Republic
0.1022025
43Ethiopia
0.12025
44Libya
0.0982025
45Eswatini
0.0972025
46Guinea
0.0952025
47Guinea-Bissau
0.0952025
48Rwanda
0.092025
49South Sudan
0.0642025
50Chad
0.0622025
51Burundi
0.062025
52Equatorial Guinea
0.0472025
53Sudan
0.0342025
54Eritrea
0.0092025

Get this ranking via API

GET /v1/data

One call to /v1/data returns the latest Liberal 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=liberal_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.

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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/liberal-democracy" width="100%" height="560" loading="lazy" style="border:1px solid #e3e3e3;border-radius:10px;max-width:640px" title="Liberal Democracy Index by African country — Africa API"></iframe>
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Frequently asked questions

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

Seychelles has the highest liberal democracy score (V-Dem) in Africa at 0.68 (2025), followed by Mauritius and South Africa.

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

Eritrea has the lowest liberal democracy score (V-Dem) of the 54 African countries with data, at 0.009 (2025).

How many African countries report Liberal Democracy Index data?

54 of 54 African countries have a recent Liberal 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=liberal_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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