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Sources and provenance

Every number begins with a named source.

The score uses one quantitative dataset release. Other references shape definitions or interpretation and are labeled accordingly. Nothing is blended invisibly.

01

Score input

V-Dem Country-Year Core v16

Varieties of Democracy (V-Dem) Project

The only quantitative input to Democracys Score v1.0 beta. Five named indices, their bounds, country-year identifiers, and annual observations through 2025.

Open source
02

Conceptual reference

Global State of Democracy Indices v10

International IDEA

A cross-check for the concepts of popular control, political equality, representation, rights, rule of law, and participation. No IDEA data enter this score.

Open source
03

Normative reference

Universal Declaration of Human Rights

United Nations

Article 21 grounds equal access to public service, genuine elections, and the will of the people as the basis of government authority.

Open source
04

Normative reference

Universal Declaration on Democracy

Inter-Parliamentary Union

A reference for democratic principles, institutions, rights, pluralism, accountability, transparency, participation, and the rule of law.

Open source

SOURCE ARCHIVE FINGERPRINT

V-Dem Core v16 CSV ZIP

Published
March 2026
Data through
2025
Retrieved
September 3, 2026
SHA-256
9055455c4adacd1ad9e78f1a7f3ac0768bdf26992e7651c0602a43ca7bdd4506
License
CC BY-SA 4.0
DOI
10.23696/vdemds26

Included in the score

  • Electoral democracy
  • Liberal component
  • Participatory component
  • Deliberative component
  • Egalitarian component

Not included in the score

  • GDP or economic growth
  • Military or diplomatic alignment
  • Ideological policy outcomes
  • Freedom House or EIU data
  • Automated news sentiment

SUGGESTED SOURCE CITATION

Coppedge, Michael, et al. 2026. “V-Dem [Country-Year/Country-Date] Dataset v16.” Varieties of Democracy (V-Dem) Project. DOI: 10.23696/vdemds26.

One release at a time

V-Dem warns that absolute scores can change across releases as coders, historical ratings, coverage, and measurement-model outputs change. Democracys.org never splices versions. Adopting v17 would trigger a full historical recalculation, a new derivative archive, and a method/data changelog entry.