Democratic backsliding reaches Western democracies, with US decline 'unprecedented'

Nearly a quarter of the world's nations are going through 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 Professor Staffan I Lindberg at the V-Dem Institute, University of Gothenburg.

The report "Unraveling the Democratic Era?" is available for download from the V-Dem website.

"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," says Staffan I Lindberg.

Three major trends in democratic backsliding

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; and thirdly, the deepening of autocracy 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.," says Staffan I Lindberg.

Democracy in the U.S. deteriorating at unprecedented scale and speed

The U.S. democracy is currently in a much faster deterioration process than any other democracy in modern times. Within only one year, the U.S.'s score on the V-Dem Liberal Democracy index has declined by 24%, while its world rank dropped from 20th to 51st place out of 179 nations.

The liberal aspects of democracy show the largest decline in the U.S. President Donald Trump's second term can be summarized as a 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," says Staffan I Lindberg.

Since election specific indicators are only evaluated during national election years, there has not been a change in those indicators in 2025 for the U.S.

"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," says Staffan I Lindberg.

The democratizers

On a more positive note, the report shows that 18 nations worldwide (10%) 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.

More information:
Unraveling the Democratic Era? www.v-dem.net/documents/75/V-D … port_2026_lowres.pdf

Provided by University of Gothenburg