{"chart":{"title":"GDP per capita vs. Electoral Democracy Index","subtitle":"GDP per capita is adjusted for inflation and differences in living costs between countries. The electoral democracy index is by V-Dem, based on expert estimates, and ranges from 0 to 1 (most democratic).","note":"GDP per capita is expressed in international-$ at 2011 prices.","citation":"Bolt and van Zanden – Maddison Project Database 2023; V-Dem (2026)","originalChartUrl":"https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/gdp-per-capita-vs-electoral-democracy-index","selection":[]},"columns":{"GDP per capita":{"titleShort":"GDP per capita","titleLong":"GDP per capita - Maddison Project Database – Long-run data in constant international-$","descriptionShort":"Average economic output per person in a country or region per year. This data is adjusted for inflation and differences in living costs between countries.","descriptionKey":"- GDP per capita is a comprehensive measure of people's average income. It helps compare income levels across countries and track how they change over time. It is especially useful for understanding trends in economic growth and living standards.\n- GDP per capita is calculated as the value of all final goods and services produced each year in a country (the gross domestic product), divided by the population. It represents the average economic output per person.\n- This indicator shows the large inequality between people in different countries. In the poorest countries, average incomes are below $1,000 per year; in rich countries, they are more than 50 times higher.\n- This data comes from the [Maddison Project Database](https://www.rug.nl/ggdc/historicaldevelopment/maddison/releases/maddison-project-database-2023), which provides GDP per capita estimates for the _very long run_. Some country series extend as far back as 1 CE, and regional estimates start in 1820.\n- This work builds on the efforts of many researchers who have carefully reconstructed historical data on economic growth and population for individual countries. You can find the full list of sources in [the original dataset](https://dataverse.nl/api/access/datafile/421302).\n- This data is expressed in constant international dollars at 2011 prices to adjust for inflation and differences in living costs between countries. Read more in our article, [What are international dollars?](https://ourworldindata.org/international-dollars)\n- This dataset combines multiple purchasing power parity (PPP) benchmarks to ensure historical consistency and comparability over time. 1990 PPPs are used up to 1990, and 2011 PPPs are used from 2011 onward. For the years in between, they adjust the series to smoothly connect the two benchmarks. This approach preserves consistency with the original long-run estimates calculated by Angus Maddison.\n- Time series for former countries and territories are calculated forward by estimating values based on their last official borders.\n- For more frequently updated estimates since 1990, explore our chart of GDP per capita from the [World Bank](https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/gdp-per-capita-worldbank).","shortUnit":"$","unit":"international-$ in 2011 prices","timespan":"1-2022","type":"Numeric","owidVariableId":900793,"shortName":"gdp_per_capita","lastUpdated":"2024-04-26","nextUpdate":"2027-04-22","citationShort":"Bolt and van Zanden – Maddison Project Database 2023 – with minor processing by Our World in Data","citationLong":"Bolt and van Zanden – Maddison Project Database 2023 – with minor processing by Our World in Data. “GDP per capita – Maddison Project Database – Long-run data in constant international-$” [dataset]. Bolt and van Zanden, “Maddison Project Database 2023” [original data].","fullMetadata":"https://api.ourworldindata.org/v1/indicators/900793.metadata.json"},"Electoral democracy index (central estimate)":{"titleShort":"Electoral democracy index","titleLong":"Electoral democracy index - V-Dem","descriptionShort":"Central estimate of the extent to which political leaders are elected under comprehensive suffrage in free and fair elections, and freedoms of association and expression are guaranteed.","descriptionKey":"- This index, produced by Varieties of Democracy (V-Dem), is useful if you are interested in big and small differences in democracy, want scores for almost all countries, and prefer a narrow understanding of democracy. For data that focuses on big differences in political systems or has a broad understanding of democracy, other sources will be more useful. You can explore these alternatives in our [Key Democracy Charts](https://ourworldindata.org/democracy#all-charts) and [Democracy Data Explorer](https://ourworldindata.org/explorers/democracy?Dataset=Varieties+of+Democracy&Metric=Electoral+democracy&Sub-metric=Main+index&country=ARG~AUS~BWA~CHN~OWID_WRL).\n- It takes a narrow view of democracy by focusing on electoral political institutions: broad voting rights and free, fair, and meaningful elections.\n- The index is based mainly on assessments by V-Dem's country experts. It also uses some factual information coded by its own researchers.\n- It is made up of five sub-indices: [elected officials](https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/elected-political-leaders-index), [free and fair elections](https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/free-and-fair-elections-index), [freedom of expression](https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/freedom-of-expression-index), [freedom of association](https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/freedom-of-association-index), and the [share of adult citizens who have the right to vote](https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/suffrage).\n- V-Dem covers many more countries since 1900, which affects regional averages.\n- We provide two kinds of regional averages: **country averages** and **population-weighted averages**. Country averages weigh each country equally and give a sense of how the typical country is doing. Population-weighted averages weigh countries with larger populations more and therefore better reflect the average person's experience.","descriptionProcessing":"### Region aggregates\nThe default regional aggregates (including values for the World) have been estimated by averaging the country values. These are only estimated when data for most countries and populations is available (i.e. 70% for most continents). We have used the list of countries in 1900 as a reference.\n\nIn addition, regional aggregates with names like \"Region (population-weighted)\" (including values for World) have been estimated by averaging the country values weighted by population. The population values are from the UN WPP 2024 revision dataset. These are only estimated when 70% of people in region have data for the given year.\n\n### Data imputation\nWe expand the years covered by V-Dem further: To expand the time coverage of today's countries and include more of the period when they were still non-sovereign territories, we identified the historical entity they were a part of and used that regime's data whenever available\n\nFor example, V-Dem only provides regime data since Bangladesh's independence in 1971. There is, however, regime data for Pakistan and the colony of India, both of which the current territory of Bangladesh was a part. We, therefore, use the regime data of Pakistan for Bangladesh from 1947 to 1970, and the regime data of India from 1789 to 1946. We did so for all countries with a past or current population of more than one million.\n\nFor more details on the imputation methodology and which countries are affected, refer to [this file](https://github.com/owid/etl/blob/master/etl/steps/data/garden/democracy/2026-03-17/vdem/vdem.countries_impute.yml).","unit":"","timespan":"1789-2025","type":"Numeric","owidVariableId":1209753,"shortName":"electdem_vdem__estimate_best","lastUpdated":"2026-03-17","nextUpdate":"2027-03-17","citationShort":"V-Dem (2026) – processed by Our World in Data","citationLong":"V-Dem (2026) – processed by Our World in Data. “Electoral democracy index – V-Dem” [dataset]. V-Dem, “Democracy report v16” [original data].","fullMetadata":"https://api.ourworldindata.org/v1/indicators/1209753.metadata.json"},"World region according to OWID":{"titleShort":"World region according to OWID","titleLong":"World region according to OWID","descriptionShort":"Regions defined by Our World in Data, which are used in OWID charts and maps.","unit":"","timespan":"2023-2023","type":"Continent","owidVariableId":900801,"shortName":"owid_region","lastUpdated":"2023-01-01","citationShort":"Our World in Data","citationLong":"Our World in Data. “World region according to OWID” [dataset]. Our World in Data, “Regions” [original data].","fullMetadata":"https://api.ourworldindata.org/v1/indicators/900801.metadata.json"},"900793-annotations":{"titleShort":"900793-annotations","titleLong":"900793-annotations","type":"SeriesAnnotation","citationShort":" – processed by Our World in Data","citationLong":" – processed by Our World in Data. “900793-annotations” [dataset].","fullMetadata":"https://api.ourworldindata.org/v1/indicators/undefined.metadata.json"}},"dateDownloaded":"2026-10-31"}