US democracy indicators fall to a 50-year low — International IDEA
Key indicators of democracy in the United States have fallen to their lowest level in the past 50 years, according to the annual report of the intergovernmental organization International IDEA. Its authors believe that the actions and threats of President Donald Trump’s administration have weakened the rule of law both in the United States and internationally.
As The Guardian World reports, International IDEA first added the United States to its list of democracies experiencing backsliding in 2021. The organization noted that a noticeable deterioration in democratic indicators in the US began in 2019.
Global deterioration in indicators
The Global State of Democracy report covers 174 countries and assesses democratic development since 1975. According to International IDEA, in 2025, the number of states where democratic indicators deteriorated exceeded the number of countries showing positive dynamics for the eleventh consecutive year. This is the longest uninterrupted decline since the organization began its observations.
Globally, judicial independence, election integrity, freedom of expression, press freedom and access to justice are at their lowest levels in at least 30 years. The rule of law became the weakest component of democracy in 2025: 71 countries, or 41% of the states assessed, were classified as having low scores. Deterioration under this criterion was recorded in 29 countries.
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Democracy and the risk of conflicts
International IDEA Secretary-General Kevin Casas-Zamora said that the deterioration in the quality of democracy is linked to an increased risk of conflicts. According to the Uppsala University Conflict Data Program, 2025 was the year with the highest number of violent conflicts, including interstate ones, in its dataset, which has been maintained since 1946.
The report also notes individual positive changes. In Australia, civil society organizations were involved in consultations on an anti-racism strategy and children’s online privacy. In Syria, the repressive dictatorship of Bashar al-Assad was overthrown. In Bangladesh, Nepal and Sri Lanka, youth protests removed from power leaders who had governed the countries for a long time, although the report’s authors stressed the difficulties of rapidly carrying out large-scale reforms.
At the same time, the report’s authors said that civic space is narrowing. In their view, civil society and people’s participation in public life are affected by strategic lawsuits against public participation, foreign agent laws and the criminalization of peaceful protests.
