DEMOCRACYS.ORG / COUNTRY BRIEF
Philippines
Institutions and political conditions · 2025
#111of 179 places
−15.5points since 2015
40.0–56.2source-bound score area*
What the score says
Philippines scores 48.0 on the Democracys Standard. Its score was 63.5 in 2015, a fall of 15.5 points. The lowest-scoring dimension in 2025 is political equality (30.8).
What drove the change?
The score for Philippines fell 15.5 points, from 63.5 to 48.0 between 2015 and 2025. All five areas declined. Public reasoning 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
Investigations put past state violence under scrutiny
Congressional hearings and criminal investigations examined alleged abuses during the former administration’s drug campaign. Witness allegations are not convictions, but the ability to investigate security officials and political leaders is itself important. The democratic mechanism is accountability for coercive power, with outcomes still requiring case-by-case evidence.
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 | 39.2 | −13.0 |
| Rights and checks on power | 64.3 | −11.0 |
| Public participation | 56.3 | −7.8 |
| Public reasoning | 53.5 | −35.6 |
| Political equality | 30.8 | −11.4 |
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.