Democratic backsliding is now happening in well-established democracies. Democracy in the U.S. is deteriorating at unprecedented speed, and media and journalists are increasingly targeted across the world. This, and more, is reported in the latest Democracy Report from the V-Dem Institute at the University of Gothenburg in Sweden.
Nearly a quarter of the world’s nations experienced democratic backsliding, or autocratization, in 2025, and six out of the ten new autocratizing countries identified in the 2026 Democracy Report are in Europe and North America. Among them are large and influential countries like Italy, the United Kingdom, and the U.S., according to the report authored by a team led by political scientist and V-Dem Director Staffan I Lindberg.
“The fact that many populous and economically powerful countries are autocratizing is especially worrying. Several of these countries have the economic and political weight to reshape international organizations, norms, and trade, effectively reshaping the global order. I think we are already seeing the effect of that,” Lindberg said.
Three Major Trends
The report finds three clear patterns in the current trend of democratic backsliding. The first one is the democratic backsliding in some traditionally stable democracies. The second is significant reversals and often breakdown of democracy in countries that successfully democratized during the late 20th and early 21st centuries. Thirdly, the deepening of autocracy is continuing in already autocratic states.
Freedom of expression, a core aspect of democracy, shows the most drastic global decline, and is the most common target among autocratizing leaders over the past 25 years.
“The second most common target are the liberal aspects of democracy, like rule of law, and checks and balances that prevent the abuse of powers, which are deteriorating in a worrying number of countries. For example, rule of law is deteriorating in 22 countries, including the U.S.,” Lindberg said.
U.S. Democracy Is Deteriorating at Unprecedented Scale and Speed
Democracy in the U.S. is currently in a much faster deterioration process than any other democracy in modern times. Within only one year, the nation’s score on the V-Dem Liberal Democracy index has declined by 24 percent, while its world rank dropped from 20th to 51st place out of 179 nations, placing the U.S. between Slovakia and Greece. (Slovakia has some of the most restricted LGBTQ+ rights within Europe.) This is happening primarily due to the rapid concentration of powers in the presidency, according to the report.
“The current U.S. administration has been undercutting institutionalized checks and balances, politicizing civil service and oversight bodies, and intimidating the judiciary, alongside attacks on the press, academia, civil liberties, and dissenting voices,” Lindberg explained.
He added, “The 2026 American midterm elections will be a critical test for the quality of elections, and democracy, in the United States. If election indicators also decline, the U.S. will fall even further.”
On a more positive note, the report shows that 18 nations worldwide (10 percent) are currently democratizing, with large countries such as Brazil and Poland continuing their democratization processes. In the majority of these countries, media freedom is improved. Botswana, Guatemala, and Mauritius are the three new democratizing countries identified in the 2025 data.
To download the report, and previous related reports, go to: https://bit.ly/4dIJJvI
Published on March 26, 2026
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