By The Wire Staff
New Delhi: Autocracies outnumber democracies in the world today, the annual V-Dem report finds, offering a tally of 92 autocracies and 87 democracies at the end of 2025. India is among the most populous electoral autocracies in the world.
This democracy report is among the most cited across the world and is brought out by the V-Dem Institute of the University of Gothenburg. The 2026 report is titled ‘Democracy Report 2026: Unraveling The Democratic Era.’
Democracy is back to 1978 levels for the average global citizen. The gains of the “third wave of democratization”, starting 1974 in Portugal, are almost eradicated, the report notes.
For the first time in 50 years, the US is no longer a liberal democracy.
74% of the world population now live in autocracies.
At the end of 2025, four of the five world’s most populous countries are autocracies (India, China, Indonesia, and Pakistan). The USA, under Donald Trump, is rapidly autocratising, the report says.
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