Democracy is on a Steady Decline; Autocracy Is On the Ascendant in the World

Global autocratization trends

The V-Dem Democracy Report 2025 on 25 years of autocratization is the data backbone here, with a note that U.S. politics may deepen the pattern.

Why it matters: cross-national indices show democracy losing ground as a global project, not only as a local scandal.

Download the V-Dem PDF for charts and definitions. Readers should treat autocratization as a measured trend with compounding effects on rights and policy quality.