Historical evolution of humanity living in democracy or dictatorship| ��ƽ��

Evolution of the distribution of the population living under democratic and authoritarian regimes worldwide between 1800 and 2021

Characteristic	Liberal democracies	Electoral Democracies	Closed autocracies	Electoral autocracies	Data-free plans
1800	0	0	2.23	81.83	15.94
1801	0	0	2.26	81.99	15.75
1802	0	0	2.28	81.99	15.73
1803	0	0	2.31	81.99	15.7
1804	0	0	2.33	81.83	15.84
1805	0	0	2.36	81.83	15.82
1806	0	0	2.38	81.83	15.79
1807	0	0	2.41	81.92	15.68
1808	0	0	2.43	81.91	15.65
1809	0	0	2.46	82.77	14.78
1810	0	0	2.52	82.83	14.65
1811	0	0	2.58	82.88	14.54
1812	0	0	2.66	82.85	14.49
1813	0	0	2.75	82.89	14.36
1814	0	0	2.85	83.05	14.1
1815	0	0	2.95	84.69	12.36
1816	0	0	3.05	84.63	12.32
1817	0	0	3.16	84.72	12.12
1818	0	0	3.27	84.66	12.07
1819	0	0	3.37	84.53	12.1
1820	0	0	3.45	84.35	12.2
1821	0	0	3.64	84.85	11.51
1822	0	0	3.7	84.81	11.49
1823	0	0	4.97	83.57	11.45
1824	0	0	3.89	84.22	11.89
1825	0	0	3.93	84.27	11.8
1826	0	0	3.97	84.65	11.38
1827	0	0	4.01	84.6	11.38
1828	0	0	4.05	84.55	11.4
1829	0	0	4.09	84.49	11.41
1830	0	0	4.07	84.56	11.36
1831	0	0	4.64	84.62	10.74
1832	0	0	5.01	84.22	10.77
1833	0	0	4.93	84.27	10.8
1834	0	0	4.98	84.36	10.66
1835	0	0	5.14	84.17	10.7
1836	0	0	6.41	82.85	10.73
1837	0	0	6.63	82.6	10.77
1838	0	0	6.58	82.66	10.76
1839	0	0	6.66	83.73	9.6
1840	0	0	5.07	85.22	9.71
1841	0	0	5	85.45	9.55
1842	0	0	5.63	84.77	9.59
1843	0	0	5.66	84.71	9.64
1844	0	0	5.69	84.64	9.67
1845	0	0	5.73	84.55	9.72
1846	0	0	5.17	85.07	9.76
1847	0	0	5.76	84.4	9.84
1848	0	0	9.13	81.02	9.85
1849	0.19	0	8.87	80.98	9.97
1850	0.19	0	8.91	80.82	10.08
1851	0.19	0	6.26	83.49	10.07
1852	0.19	0	6.33	83.44	10.05
1853	0.19	0	6.39	83.33	10.09
1854	0.19	0	6.48	83.19	10.14
1855	0.19	0	6.56	83.05	10.19
1856	0.19	0	6.78	82.79	10.24
1857	0.19	0	6.87	82.65	10.29
1858	0.28	0	6.1	83.28	10.34
1859	0.29	0	6.22	83.1	10.39
1860	0.29	0	6.39	82.79	10.52
1861	0.3	0	6.15	83.06	10.49
1862	0.3	0	6.34	82.82	10.54
1863	0.3	0	6.54	82.69	10.46
1864	0.31	0	6.56	82.62	10.51
1865	0.31	0	9.17	79.96	10.56
1866	0.31	0	8.81	80.26	10.61
1867	0.32	0	8.98	80.04	10.66
1868	0.32	0	10.46	77.34	11.88
1869	0.32	0	10.91	76.83	11.94
1870	0.33	0	13.99	73.61	12.07
1871	0.33	0	13.86	73.79	12.03
1872	0.33	0	14.22	73.39	12.06
1873	0.34	0	14.02	73.57	12.08
1874	0.34	2.79	10.27	74.5	12.1
1875	0.34	2.78	10.52	74.23	12.13
1876	0.34	2.77	10.66	74.14	12.09
1877	0.34	2.76	10.5	74.29	12.11
1878	0.35	2.74	10.82	73.96	12.13
1879	0.35	2.73	10.7	73.98	12.24
1880	0.35	2.72	11.11	73.47	12.35
1881	0.36	2.71	11.23	73.44	12.27
1882	0.36	2.69	11.64	73.03	12.27
1883	0.36	2.68	11.5	73.18	12.27
1884	0.37	2.66	11.78	72.91	12.27
1885	0.37	2.65	11.36	72.91	12.71
1886	0.37	2.63	11.86	72.25	12.88
1887	0.38	2.66	11.52	72.56	12.88
1888	0.38	2.65	11.6	72.49	12.88
1889	0.39	2.63	11.69	72.42	12.87
1890	0.39	2.62	11.68	72.36	12.95
1891	0.39	2.6	11.81	72.34	12.85
1892	0.4	2.59	12.21	72.19	12.62
1893	0.4	2.58	12.05	72.29	12.68
1894	0.4	2.56	13.26	71.11	12.66
1895	0.41	2.55	13.25	70.98	12.81
1896	0.41	2.54	12.31	71.95	12.79
1897	0.82	2.52	12.15	71.73	12.78
1898	0.42	2.51	13.89	70.42	12.76
1899	0.42	2.5	13.8	70.54	12.75
1900	0.83	2.48	13.5	75.94	7.25
1901	0.84	2.46	13.76	75.81	7.13
1902	1	2.45	13.76	75.81	6.98
1903	1	2.43	13.89	75.73	6.95
1904	1	2.42	13.99	75.71	6.87
1905	1.01	2.4	14.15	75.51	6.93
1906	1.15	2.39	13.9	75.65	6.92
1907	1.15	2.37	13.96	75.58	6.95
1908	1.15	2.35	13.94	75.57	6.98
1909	1.16	2.34	14.14	75.37	7
1910	1.16	2.31	14.56	74.89	7.08
1911	1.16	2.29	15.08	74.35	7.12
1912	1.16	2.27	15.3	74.38	6.9
1913	1.22	2.18	15.45	74.28	6.87
1914	0.82	2.15	15.58	75.88	5.57
1915	0.82	2.12	15.91	75.84	5.3
1916	0.57	2.36	15.61	76.4	5.07
1917	0.57	2.34	21.54	70.53	5.04
1918	1.18	2.65	16.34	75.85	3.97
1919	3.65	5.9	14.51	72.24	3.69
1920	3.65	7.92	14.28	70.56	3.59
1921	4.03	14.55	7.72	70.23	3.47
1922	4.31	14.78	7.92	69.73	3.26
1923	4.29	14.98	6.93	70.54	3.25
1924	4.27	15.02	5.14	72.33	3.25
1925	4.42	14.88	5.14	72.33	3.24
1926	4.39	13.65	5.49	73.25	3.23
1927	4.36	13.56	4.96	73.9	3.23
1928	4.32	13.59	4.92	73.94	3.22
1929	4.3	13.61	4.86	74.03	3.21
1930	4.26	13.04	3.23	76.15	3.32
1931	4.24	13.02	4.83	74.7	3.2
1932	4.22	14.09	4.36	73.53	3.79
1933	4.2	10.51	7.99	73.5	3.79
1934	4.18	10.33	4.54	77.21	3.74
1935	4.16	10.28	5.22	77.03	3.3
1936	4.14	10.23	5.45	76.87	3.3
1937	4.12	9.07	6.58	76.92	3.3
1938	4.11	9.02	6.88	76.69	3.3
1939	4.25	8.3	4.73	77.72	5
1940	3.2	6.7	4.89	80.19	5.01
1941	3.19	6.73	4.95	80.38	4.74
1942	3.19	6.76	4.89	80.4	4.77
1943	3.18	6.64	4.54	80.87	4.77
1944	3.18	6.68	4.36	82.15	3.63
1945	3.18	7	8.29	76.67	4.85
1946	4.16	6.77	27.36	58.36	3.35
1947	5.91	9.26	24.88	56.79	3.16
1948	5.89	9.31	10.06	71.65	3.09
1949	8.66	9.38	9.77	71.89	0.3
1950	8.58	9.42	12.07	69.46	0.46
1951	8.47	9.37	27.13	54.62	0.41
1952	11.63	24.11	11.38	52.48	0.41
1953	11.52	24.08	10.57	53.43	0.4
1954	11.42	24.06	10.8	53.31	0.4
1955	11.56	23.86	13.67	50.51	0.4
1956	11.45	26.66	11.51	49.98	0.4
1957	11.33	26.67	13.04	48.55	0.4
1958	11.22	23.83	17.21	47.34	0.4
1959	11.11	24.09	17.19	47.21	0.4
1960	11.01	24.08	17.4	47.1	0.41
1961	10.91	24.07	14.43	50.36	0.23
1962	10.81	24.08	12.63	52.25	0.23
1963	10.71	24.35	14.66	50.05	0.24
1964	10.61	24.98	14.01	50.17	0.24
1965	10.5	24.93	13.25	51.09	0.24
1966	10.46	25.05	12.56	51.69	0.24
1967	10.34	25	12.37	52.06	0.23
1968	10.22	24.94	12.58	52.02	0.23
1969	15.83	19.14	12.31	52.49	0.23
1970	17.09	17.71	11.89	53.07	0.24
1971	16.89	17.75	14.93	50.2	0.22
1972	16.7	17.8	14.43	50.85	0.22
1973	16.5	17.6	16.84	48.84	0.22
1974	16.31	18.3	16.49	48.67	0.22
1975	16.12	3.34	32.9	47.42	0.22
1976	16.74	2.13	32.27	48.64	0.22
1977	16.77	17.29	17.54	48.18	0.22
1978	16.58	18.24	16.69	48.27	0.22
1979	16.39	18.33	19.12	45.94	0.22
1980	16.2	17.86	21.49	44.23	0.22
1981	16.02	18.09	19.37	46.31	0.22
1982	15.83	17.85	17.94	48.17	0.22
1983	16.46	17.25	17.86	48.22	0.22
1984	16.26	18.14	17.21	48.17	0.22
1985	16.06	18.28	18.22	47.22	0.22
1986	15.92	18.42	22.78	42.66	0.22
1987	15.72	21.12	19.91	43.03	0.22
1988	15.53	24.16	17.39	42.7	0.22
1989	15.41	24.17	18.53	41.67	0.22
1990	16.25	25.05	18.77	39.71	0.22
1991	16.31	26.49	20.94	36.04	0.22
1992	16.16	30.97	17.71	34.94	0.22
1993	16.79	27.95	19.47	35.58	0.22
1994	16.65	29.42	20.39	33.32	0.22
1995	16.52	30.71	20.48	32.07	0.22
1996	17.39	32.24	19.19	30.96	0.22
1997	17.26	32.42	19.83	30.27	0.22
1998	17.14	32.74	19.74	30.17	0.22
1999	17.05	36.6	16.52	29.62	0.22
2000	17.29	36.2	16.6	29.68	0.22
2001	17.18	36.65	16.31	29.65	0.22
2002	17.07	34.36	20.91	27.44	0.22
2003	17.29	34.2	20.99	27.29	0.22
2004	17.21	33.02	22.6	26.95	0.22
2005	17.13	32.76	23.58	26.31	0.22
2006	17.04	32.55	25.03	25.16	0.22
2007	16.95	32.42	22.28	28.13	0.22
2008	16.85	32.75	25.55	24.62	0.22
2009	16.79	32.71	25.5	24.77	0.22
2010	16.63	33.63	25.1	24.42	0.22
2011	16.54	33.87	25.94	23.43	0.22
2012	16.44	36.75	24.55	22.04	0.22
2013	15.63	35.38	25.31	23.46	0.22
2014	15.55	36.43	24.59	23.21	0.22
2015	14.94	37.07	24.69	23.08	0.22
2016	14.26	38.27	22.67	24.58	0.22
2017	14.56	37.3	23.47	24.46	0.21
2018	14.33	35.91	25.21	24.34	0.21
2019	13.99	17.66	43.64	24.5	0.21
2020	13.87	18.17	43.25	24.5	0.21

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Release date

March 2022

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Region

Worldwide

Survey time period

1800-2021

Supplementary notes

* The classification between democracies and authoritarian regimes is based on the classification work of the Varieties of Democracy project (v12) by Lührmann. (2018).
Closed autocracies: No de facto multiparty system, nor free and fair elections, or Dahl's institutional prerequisites are not minimally met. No elections between multiple political parties to elect the executive and legislative branches.
Electoral autocracies: No de facto multiparty system, nor free and fair elections, or Dahl's institutional prerequisites are not minimally met. But de jure multiparty elections to elect the executive and legislative branches.
Electoral democracies: De facto multiparty elections, free and fair, and Dahl's institutional prerequisites minimally met. The rule of law or liberal principles are not satisfied.
Liberal democracies: De facto multiparty elections, free and fair, and Dahl's institutional prerequisites minimally met. The rule of law or liberal principles are satisfied

Citation formats

The distribution of the world population living under democratic or authoritarian regimes has changed significantly since the beginning of the 19th century. In 1800, only a few countries had established an electoral system to decide the executive and/or legislative power, the main one being the United States, representing 2 percent of the world population at the time. The first democracies appeared starting in the 1870s, a period during which countries like France, the United States, Australia, and New Zealand adopted the first true electoral democracies with de facto multiparty elections that were free and fair. The first democratic boom occurred following World War I. This was followed by a decline in democratic regimes until World War II. The emergence of totalitarian regimes in Europe caused the democratic momentum to fall worldwide. Following decolonization from the 1950s to the 1970s, many countries in Asia and Africa were able to access democracy. It was only around the year 2000 that, for the first time in history, there were more democratic regimes than authoritarian regimes. In 2017, India was downgraded to an electoral autocracy, causing the share of the world population living under democratic regimes to drop from 52 percent to 32 percent.