Democracy in Asia can be comparatively assessed[1] according to various definitions of democracy.[2] According to the V-Dem Democracy indices, the Asian countries with the highest democracy scores in 2023 are Japan, Taiwan, South Korea and Israel, meanwhile the Asian countries with lowest democracy scores in 2023 are Saudi Arabia, China and Afghanistan.[3] Democratic backsliding can be observed in parts of Asia.[4]
The table below shows Asian countries scored on the 5 high-level V-Dem Democracy indices in 2023.[3][5]
Country | Electoral Democracy | Liberal Democracy | Participatory Democracy | Deliberative Democracy | Egalitarian Democracy |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Japan | 0.833 | 0.736 | 0.537 | 0.744 | 0.761 |
Taiwan | 0.831 | 0.725 | 0.66 | 0.734 | 0.745 |
South Korea | 0.812 | 0.732 | 0.539 | 0.682 | 0.698 |
Israel | 0.723 | 0.65 | 0.473 | 0.612 | 0.591 |
Timor-Leste | 0.695 | 0.504 | 0.432 | 0.497 | 0.434 |
Georgia | 0.647 | 0.504 | 0.408 | 0.532 | 0.515 |
Nepal | 0.646 | 0.501 | 0.427 | 0.394 | 0.419 |
Armenia | 0.645 | 0.445 | 0.401 | 0.502 | 0.54 |
Maldives | 0.583 | 0.44 | 0.323 | 0.43 | 0.402 |
Sri Lanka | 0.575 | 0.412 | 0.343 | 0.328 | 0.369 |
Indonesia | 0.574 | 0.422 | 0.385 | 0.487 | 0.316 |
Mongolia | 0.566 | 0.431 | 0.293 | 0.434 | 0.38 |
Bhutan | 0.535 | 0.434 | 0.328 | 0.495 | 0.446 |
Papua New Guinea | 0.458 | 0.366 | 0.275 | 0.273 | 0.268 |
Malaysia | 0.438 | 0.304 | 0.255 | 0.323 | 0.339 |
Philippines | 0.431 | 0.283 | 0.287 | 0.36 | 0.193 |
Lebanon | 0.426 | 0.258 | 0.248 | 0.319 | 0.26 |
Singapore | 0.425 | 0.339 | 0.121 | 0.356 | 0.361 |
India | 0.399 | 0.306 | 0.262 | 0.295 | 0.235 |
Pakistan | 0.388 | 0.26 | 0.256 | 0.32 | 0.156 |
Kyrgyzstan | 0.382 | 0.228 | 0.204 | 0.284 | 0.232 |
Iraq | 0.362 | 0.197 | 0.195 | 0.222 | 0.187 |
Kuwait | 0.317 | 0.301 | 0.101 | 0.267 | 0.236 |
Kazakhstan | 0.277 | 0.14 | 0.114 | 0.178 | 0.224 |
Turkey | 0.276 | 0.118 | 0.164 | 0.084 | 0.209 |
Bangladesh | 0.274 | 0.109 | 0.127 | 0.121 | 0.114 |
Palestine (West Bank) | 0.26 | 0.139 | 0.173 | 0.148 | 0.211 |
Jordan | 0.259 | 0.249 | 0.12 | 0.22 | 0.203 |
Uzbekistan | 0.221 | 0.081 | 0.064 | 0.16 | 0.16 |
Russia | 0.209 | 0.071 | 0.142 | 0.073 | 0.15 |
Thailand | 0.206 | 0.179 | 0.109 | 0.073 | 0.16 |
Cambodia | 0.206 | 0.063 | 0.117 | 0.067 | 0.092 |
Azerbaijan | 0.188 | 0.063 | 0.059 | 0.048 | 0.098 |
Iran | 0.182 | 0.105 | 0.047 | 0.093 | 0.171 |
Tajikistan | 0.175 | 0.048 | 0.054 | 0.055 | 0.07 |
Oman | 0.17 | 0.137 | 0.121 | 0.062 | 0.185 |
Vietnam | 0.157 | 0.115 | 0.159 | 0.174 | 0.194 |
Hong Kong | 0.154 | 0.126 | 0.056 | 0.048 | 0.191 |
Turkmenistan | 0.149 | 0.035 | 0.032 | 0.025 | 0.088 |
Palestine (Gaza) | 0.138 | 0.081 | 0.122 | 0.071 | 0.165 |
Syria | 0.138 | 0.033 | 0.051 | 0.034 | 0.054 |
Laos | 0.134 | 0.108 | 0.115 | 0.057 | 0.129 |
Yemen | 0.123 | 0.045 | 0.069 | 0.03 | 0.026 |
Bahrain | 0.122 | 0.055 | 0.036 | 0.068 | 0.113 |
United Arab Emirates | 0.101 | 0.086 | 0.032 | 0.086 | 0.136 |
Myanmar | 0.093 | 0.046 | 0.093 | 0.062 | 0.067 |
Qatar | 0.088 | 0.083 | 0.022 | 0.104 | 0.099 |
North Korea | 0.087 | 0.01 | 0.045 | 0.011 | 0.084 |
Afghanistan | 0.082 | 0.028 | 0.019 | 0.025 | 0.019 |
China | 0.075 | 0.04 | 0.042 | 0.079 | 0.088 |
Saudi Arabia | 0.016 | 0.043 | 0.026 | 0.06 | 0.109 |