DEMOCRACYS.ORG / COUNTRY BRIEF
Indonesia
Institutions and political conditions · 2025
#92of 179 places
−15.3points since 2015
47.8–63.1source-bound score area*
What the score says
Indonesia scores 55.2 on the Democracys Standard. Its score was 70.5 in 2015, a fall of 15.3 points. The lowest-scoring dimension in 2025 is political equality (45.0).
What drove the change?
The score for Indonesia fell 15.3 points, from 70.5 to 55.2 between 2015 and 2025. All five areas declined. Elections contributed the largest downward push in the score calculation.
This explains movement within the formula, not the causal effect of political events.
2024 context · Freedom House assessment
More regional contests offered no opposing candidate
Freedom House reports a sharp increase in unopposed candidates in regional elections. An election may be administratively orderly while offering little effective choice. This development therefore concerns the competitiveness of access to office, rather than simply turnout or whether polling stations opened.
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 | 46.2 | −19.2 |
| Rights and checks on power | 56.2 | −20.5 |
| Public participation | 56.9 | −5.8 |
| Public reasoning | 73.8 | −14.2 |
| Political equality | 45.0 | −16.4 |
Dimension movements are not additive contributions to the overall score. The method also accounts for weak areas.
Three questions worth investigating
- Do different social groups have equal rights, access, resources, and a real chance to influence political power?
- 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.