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The Global State of Democracy Initiative

International IDEA launched the Global State of Democracy (GSoD) Initiative in 2016. This Initiative provides evidence-based, balanced analysis and data on the state and quality of democracy for 173 countries across the world. It aims to contribute to the public debate on democracy and inform policy interventions to strengthen democracy. The Initiative’s primary knowledge products are the Democracy Tracker, the Global State of Democracy (GSoD) Indices, and the Global State of Democracy (GSoD) Reports. The Initiative also includes regional partnership networks and research and advocacy related to Sustainable Development Goal 16.

Democracy Tracker

A monthly-updated qualitative dataset that monitors the most important democracy and human rights-related developments in 173 countries.

The Democracy Tracker provides event-centric, monthly information on democracy and human rights developments in 173 countries. Event reports describe a change to the status-quo of the state of democracy at the country level. They include a description of the event, indications of the specific aspects of democracy that have been impacted, the magnitude of the impact, links to original sources and keywords to enable further research. Past event reports are available as a searchable and downloadable archive.

Country profile pages offer detailed, context-setting socio-political narratives; basic background information on the country’s political system; an overview of the extent to which the country has ratified core human rights treaties; our latest quantitative scores of democratic performance; and monthly event reports that are organized by the four categories in the Global State of Democracy framework, signaling the specific aspects of democracy most impacted by particular events.

Global State of Democracy Indices

An annually-updated quantitative dataset that measures the quality of democracy in 173 countries around the world.
GSoD Indices

The Global State of Democracy Indices (GSoD Indices) measure performance across a broad range of indicators of democracy, covering 173 countries from 1975 to the present. The GSoD Indices aggregate specific measures of aspects of democratic performance into a hierarchical framework with four high-level categories: Representation, Rights, Rule of Law, and Participation. These categories are considered individually and are not combined into a single score for democracy.

The GSoD Indices are composite measures that are built indicators collected by other organizations using different types of sources, including expert surveys, standards-based coding by research groups and analysts, and observational data.

Global State of Democracy Reports

The Global State of Democracy 2024: Strengthening the Legitimacy of Elections in a Time of Radical Uncertainty

International IDEA’s Global State of Democracy 2024 provides an overview of global trends related to democracy and human rights, along with an in-depth analysis of the drivers of public perceptions of electoral integrity. It includes a set of policy recommendations to address the issues that contribute to public mistrust in electoral integrity around the world.

Annual reports
In Focus reports
Democracy notes and commentary

Donors

The Global State of Democracy Initiative is also supported by contributions of International IDEA Member States

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