DEMOCRACYS.ORG / COUNTRY BRIEF
Hong Kong
Institutions and political conditions · 2025
#142of 179 places
−23.1points since 2015
22.3–34.9source-bound score area*
What the score says
Hong Kong scores 29.6 on the Democracys Standard. Its score was 52.7 in 2015, a fall of 23.1 points. The lowest-scoring dimension in 2025 is public participation (13.1).
What drove the change?
The score for Hong Kong fell 23.1 points, from 52.7 to 29.6 between 2015 and 2025. 4 of the five areas declined; none improved at the published precision. Public reasoning contributed the largest downward push in the score calculation. The latest year moved in the opposite direction (+0.6), so the longer trend is not the whole story.
This explains movement within the formula, not the causal effect of political events.
2024 context · Freedom House assessment
A new security law increased pressure on expression
Authorities enacted a security law covering online and offline speech and made arrests under it. Freedom House links the change to greater self-censorship. The relevant democratic mechanism is the ability to criticize and discuss public affairs without fear, not only whether physical violence occurs at demonstrations.
Read the country report · Freedom in the World 2025AI-assisted source summary · not independently expert-reviewed
What this context does—and does not—explain
This is a selected development, not a complete political history. Its date may differ from the selected comparison period. It is not evidence that one event caused a particular number of points, and it may describe progress even when this index declines.
The scores use V-Dem. The narrative summarizes a separate assessment by Freedom House, whose definitions and coverage differ. Neither organization endorses this website. The summary is AI-assisted, source-linked, and has not received independent country-expert review. Source checked October 5, 2026.
Why democracy measures can disagree →Look beneath the headline
| Democracy test | 2025 | Since 2015 |
|---|---|---|
| Free and fair elections | 15.1 | −19.4 |
| Rights and checks on power | 47.0 | −28.1 |
| Public participation | 13.1 | −10.7 |
| Public reasoning | 16.4 | −51.6 |
| Political equality | 75.0 | 0.0 |
Dimension movements are not additive contributions to the overall score. The method also accounts for weak areas.
Three questions worth investigating
- Can people shape public life through civic groups, direct voting, and meaningful local and regional government?
- Which documented changes in laws, institutions, or their implementation occurred during the period?
- What evidence challenges your explanation, and whose experience is missing?
Use primary records and country expertise. A change in an estimate alone does not identify its cause.
Read with care
This is an independent educational beta, not a V-Dem endorsement. Scores are not percentages of democracy or judgments about a people. Small differences may be within uncertainty. *The score area is obtained from source bounds; it is not a formal confidence interval for this composite or its change.