Democracy in USSR
USSR: Democracy was 3 in 1990. ▲ Rising
Democracy in USSR, 1922–1990
Source: Lexical Index (2026) – processed by Our World in Data.
Analysis
USSR recorded 3 for democracy in 1990. That is the highest value across all 69 years on record.
That represents a change of up 200.0% on the previous year and up 200.0% over ten years.
Over the whole period, democracy in USSR peaked at 3 in 1990 and was at its lowest, 1, in 1922.
USSR ranks 116th of 198 countries on this measure, in the middle of the range.
The long-run direction has been consistently rising across the 69 years of available data.
Democracy in USSR, year by year
| Year | Value | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 1922 | 1 | — |
| 1923 | 1 | +0.0% |
| 1924 | 1 | +0.0% |
| 1925 | 1 | +0.0% |
| 1926 | 1 | +0.0% |
| 1927 | 1 | +0.0% |
| 1928 | 1 | +0.0% |
| 1929 | 1 | +0.0% |
| 1930 | 1 | +0.0% |
| 1931 | 1 | +0.0% |
| 1932 | 1 | +0.0% |
| 1933 | 1 | +0.0% |
| 1934 | 1 | +0.0% |
| 1935 | 1 | +0.0% |
| 1936 | 1 | +0.0% |
| 1937 | 1 | +0.0% |
| 1938 | 1 | +0.0% |
| 1939 | 1 | +0.0% |
| 1940 | 1 | +0.0% |
| 1941 | 1 | +0.0% |
| 1942 | 1 | +0.0% |
| 1943 | 1 | +0.0% |
| 1944 | 1 | +0.0% |
| 1945 | 1 | +0.0% |
| 1946 | 1 | +0.0% |
| 1947 | 1 | +0.0% |
| 1948 | 1 | +0.0% |
| 1949 | 1 | +0.0% |
| 1950 | 1 | +0.0% |
| 1951 | 1 | +0.0% |
| 1952 | 1 | +0.0% |
| 1953 | 1 | +0.0% |
| 1954 | 1 | +0.0% |
| 1955 | 1 | +0.0% |
| 1956 | 1 | +0.0% |
| 1957 | 1 | +0.0% |
| 1958 | 1 | +0.0% |
| 1959 | 1 | +0.0% |
| 1960 | 1 | +0.0% |
| 1961 | 1 | +0.0% |
| 1962 | 1 | +0.0% |
| 1963 | 1 | +0.0% |
| 1964 | 1 | +0.0% |
| 1965 | 1 | +0.0% |
| 1966 | 1 | +0.0% |
| 1967 | 1 | +0.0% |
| 1968 | 1 | +0.0% |
| 1969 | 1 | +0.0% |
| 1970 | 1 | +0.0% |
| 1971 | 1 | +0.0% |
| 1972 | 1 | +0.0% |
| 1973 | 1 | +0.0% |
| 1974 | 1 | +0.0% |
| 1975 | 1 | +0.0% |
| 1976 | 1 | +0.0% |
| 1977 | 1 | +0.0% |
| 1978 | 1 | +0.0% |
| 1979 | 1 | +0.0% |
| 1980 | 1 | +0.0% |
| 1981 | 1 | +0.0% |
| 1982 | 1 | +0.0% |
| 1983 | 1 | +0.0% |
| 1984 | 1 | +0.0% |
| 1985 | 1 | +0.0% |
| 1986 | 1 | +0.0% |
| 1987 | 1 | +0.0% |
| 1988 | 1 | +0.0% |
| 1989 | 1 | +0.0% |
| 1990 | 3 | +200.0% |
Averages by decade
| Decade | Average | Lowest | Highest | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1920s | 1 | 1 | 1 | 8 |
| 1930s | 1 | 1 | 1 | 10 |
| 1940s | 1 | 1 | 1 | 10 |
| 1950s | 1 | 1 | 1 | 10 |
| 1960s | 1 | 1 | 1 | 10 |
| 1970s | 1 | 1 | 1 | 10 |
| 1980s | 1 | 1 | 1 | 10 |
| 1990s | 3 | 3 | 3 | 1 |
Countries ranked near USSR
- 116 Algeria 3 compare
- 116 Angola 3 compare
- 116 Azerbaijan 3 compare
- 116 Benin 3 compare
- 116 Burundi 3 compare
- 116 Cameroon 3 compare
- 116 Central African Republic 3 compare
- 116 Chad 3 compare
- 116 Comoros 3 compare
- 116 Congo 3 compare
- 116 Cote d'Ivoire 3 compare
- 116 Democratic Republic of Congo 3 compare
- 116 Djibouti 3 compare
- 116 Egypt 3 compare
- 116 El Salvador 3 compare
- 116 Equatorial Guinea 3 compare
- 116 Ethiopia 3 compare
- 116 Gabon 3 compare
- 116 Georgia 3 compare
- 116 Kazakhstan 3 compare
- 116 Kyrgyzstan 3 compare
- 116 Mauritania 3 compare
- 116 Mozambique 3 compare
- 116 Nigeria 3 compare
- 116 Pakistan 3 compare
- 116 Rwanda 3 compare
- 116 Serbia 3 compare
- 116 Sierra Leone 3 compare
- 116 Singapore 3 compare
- 116 Tajikistan 3 compare
- 116 Tanzania 3 compare
- 116 Thailand 3 compare
- 116 Togo 3 compare
- 116 Turkey 3 compare
- 116 Uganda 3 compare
- 116 Uzbekistan 3 compare
- 116 Zimbabwe 3 compare
More public sector data for USSR
- Democracy, annual growth rate 200 % change on previous year (1990)
- Men's universal right to vote, annual growth rate 0 % change on previous year (1990)
- Universal right to vote, annual growth rate 0 % change on previous year (1990)
- Universal right to vote in practice, annual growth rate 0 % change on previous year (1990)
- Elected parliament, annual growth rate 0 % change on previous year (1990)
- Chief executive of the government is elected, annual growth rate 0 % change on previous year (1990)
- Chief executive of the government is elected 1 (1990)
- Elected parliament 1 (1990)
- Men's universal right to vote 1 (1990)
- Competitive elections 0 (1990)
Frequently asked questions
- What is democracy in USSR?
- Democracy in USSR was 3 in 1990, according to Lexical Index (2026) – processed by Our World in Data.
- What is the highest democracy recorded in USSR?
- The highest recorded value was 3 in 1990.
- What is the lowest democracy recorded in USSR?
- The lowest recorded value was 1 in 1922.
- How does USSR rank for democracy?
- USSR ranks 116th out of 198 countries with data for 1990.
- Is democracy rising or falling in USSR?
- Over the last ten years it is up 200.0%. The long-run trend across the full record is rising.
- Where does this USSR data come from?
- The figures come from Lexical Index (2026) – processed by Our World in Data, published as part of Democracy. Statizoid updates them automatically from the source API.
Download this data
CSV · JSON — 69 observations, free to reuse under CC BY 4.0 (Our World in Data).
About this data
Identifies the political regime of a country. It distinguishes between non-electoral autocracies (score 0), one-party autocracies (score 1), multi-party autocracies without elected executive (score 2), multi-party autocracies (score 3), exclusive democracies (score 4), male democracies (score 5), electoral democracies (score 6), and full democracies (score 7).