V-Dem: Global Standards, Local Knowledge

Varieties of Democracy (V-Dem) is a new approach to conceptualizing and measuring democracy. We provide a multidimensional and disaggregated dataset that reflects the complexity of the concept of democracy as a system of rule that goes beyond the simple presence of elections. The V-Dem project distinguishes between five high-level principles of democracy: electoral, liberal, participatory, deliberative, and egalitarian, and collects data to measure these principles. 

We are a team of over 50 social scientists on six continents. We work with more than 3,000 country experts and a truly global International Advisory Board. Read more about the work we do here.

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Main findings of the Report 2018:

  • Autocratization is now manifesting in a number of large countries including Brazil, India, Russia, Turkey, and the United States. It affects one third of the world’s population - some 2.5 billion people. 
  • Exclusion due to socio-economic status has continuously become more severe since the 1970s. Intensified political exclusion now affect poorer groups in countries home to one-quarter of the world’s population, or almost 2 billion people. Despite gradual advances, inclusion remains an illusion.