Contents

• Introduction
• Democracy Indices and Source Notes
• Bertelsmann Transformation Index (BTI)
• Economist Intelligence Unit's (EIU)'s Democracy Index
• Freedom House's Freedom in the World
• Varieties of Democracy Institute (V-Dem)'s Liberal Democracy Index
• Compilation of Democracy Indicators
• Selected Resources

Summary

This report provides a regional snapshot of the state of democracy in Latin America and the Caribbean, based on selected nongovernmental indices that measure democracy worldwide. Using tables and graphs to illustrate regional trends, this report provides a snapshot of democracy indicators from the following sources: (1) Bertelsmann Stiftung's 20242026 Bertelsmann Transformation Index (BTI); (2) the Economist Intelligence Unit's (EIU's) Democracy Index 20245; (3) Freedom House's Freedom in the World 20256; and (4) the Varieties of Democracy Institute's (V-Dem's) Liberal Democracy Index in its Democracy Report 20256. Additional resources appear at the end of the report.

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Introduction

For decades, U.S. policy has broadly reflected the view that the spread of democracy around the world is favorable to U.S. interests. The current trajectory of democracy around the world is an issue of interest for Congress, which has generally supported U.S. democracy promotion efforts. This report provides a regional snapshot of the state of democracy in Latin America and the Caribbean based on selected nongovernmental organizations' (NGOs') indices that measure democracy worldwide.

For additional information on democracy in the global context, see the following products:

• CRS Report R47890, Democracy and Human Rights in U.S. Foreign Policy: Evolution, Tools, and Considerations for Congress, by Michael A. Weber.
• CRS In Focus IF10795, Global Human Rights: The Department of State's Country Reports on Human Rights Practices, by Michael A. Weber.
• [Archived] CRS Report R45344, Global Trends in Democracy: Background, U.S. Policy, and Issues for Congress, by Michael A. Weber.

For related information about democracy in Latin American and the Caribbean, see the following products:

• CRS Report R48266, U.S. Foreign Assistance to Latin America and the Caribbean: FY2025 AppropriationsR48960, U.S. Foreign Policy in the Western Hemisphere: Issues for Congress, coordinated by Peter J. Meyer, Joshua Klein, and Kyla H. Kitamura. CRS In Focus IF12876, Western Hemisphere: Issues for the 119th Congress, by Peter J. Meyer.
• CRS Report 98-684, Latin America and the Caribbean: Fact Sheet on Leaders and Elections, by Carla Y. Davis-Castro.

CRS also publishes reports on specific Latin American and Caribbean countries.

Democracy Indices and Source Notes

This report compiles information from the U.S. Department of StateInter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) and data from the most recent findings of four NGOs' democracy indices, which are each discussed briefly below. Findings from these indices cover developments during calendar year 20242025 or earlier and do not reflect more recent events. CRS does not endorse the methodology or accuracy of any particular democracy index. Findings and scores for particular countries may vary across indices for a variety of reasons, including differing coverage periods, methodologies, and subjective expert assessments. (For a discussion about definitions of democracy and critiques of democracy indices, see [archived] CRS Report R45344, Global Trends in Democracy: Background, U.S. Policy, and Issues for Congress, by Michael A. Weber.)

The following indices are discussed below: (1) Bertelsmann Stiftung's 20242026 Bertelsmann Transformation Index (BTI); (2) the Economist Intelligence Unit's (EIU's) Democracy Index 20245; (3) Freedom House's Freedom in the World 20256; and (4) the Varieties of Democracy Institute's (V-DEMDem's) Liberal Democracy Index in its Democracy Report 20256.

Bertelsmann Transformation Index (BTI)

Bertelsmann Stiftung, a private foundation based in Germany, has published the Bertelsmann Transformation Index (BTI) biannually since 2006. BTI 2024, which reviews2026 reviewed the period of February 20212023 through January 2023, includes2025 with global, regional, and country reports that evaluateevaluated the state of democracy, the economy, and governance in 137 developing and transition countries. The BTI ranks thesecountries. (It excluded countries that were members of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development by the year 1989, considered to be "long-consolidated democratic systems and in which economic development can be regarded as well-advanced.")¹ The BTI ranked countries' political transformation using five criteria: (1) stateness, (2) political participation, (3) rule of law, (4) stability of democratic institutions, and (5) political and social integration.¹2 The political transformation criteria also determine each country's classification: democracy in consolidation, defective democracy, , highly defective democracy, , moderate autocracy, or hardline autocracy.²3 BTI evaluates all Central and South American nations except for Belize, Guyana, and Suriname. Among Caribbean nations, BTI evaluates Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Haiti, Trinidad and Tobago, and JamaicaJamaica, and Trinidad and Tobago.

In its 2024 regional report, BTI finds that "the ongoing political unrest in parts of Latin America and the Caribbean is reflected in the continuing downward drift in the quality of democracy."⁴ The report adds that despite the measured progress of Honduras and the Dominican Republic, "the BTI 2024 observation period proved to be the most autocratic in the region to date," naming El Salvador as the most "significant autocratization."⁵ In its global report, BTI highlights harsher political climates in the region, with "many countries employing a more confrontational style" as well as "creeping state dysfunctionality drawn out over many years" in Mexico and Peru.⁶ On the other hand, the regional report also notes that Latin America and the Caribbean are still home to 16 democracies.⁷2026

"Overall, progress toward democratic consolidation faces substantial barriers. While levels of democratization vary widely across the region, most countries remain stuck in the category of defective democracy, reflecting enduring weaknesses in the rule of law, party systems and political integration."⁴

In its 2026 regional report, BTI found that "democratic and economic transformation, as well as the quality of governance … showed no pronounced trend during the review period [February 2023 through January 2025].… [O]verall, developments since February 2023 point to either stagnation or continuity, depending on perspective."⁵ The report added that "no country experienced a regime shift toward democracy or autocracy during the review period, though Guatemala's trajectory improved" from a hardline autocracy to a moderate autocracy.⁶ Meanwhile, "the steepest democratic decline occurred in the moderate autocracy of El Salvador."⁷ In its global report, BTI highlighted that, of all the states under review "today, 56% are governed autocratically," and "two-thirds of the countries assessed since 2006 are now less democratic than they were 20 years ago."⁸ At the same time, the same global report noted "improvements in strategic prioritization, implementation and policy learning are particularly visible in countries such as Brazil … and Guatemala."⁹

Figure 1 shows the global rank and classification of all Central and South American and Caribbean countries according to the Political Transformation Rank, a component of the 20242026 Bertelsmann Stiftung Transformation Index (BTI).

Figure 1. BTI's 20242026 Political Transformation Global Ranking of Latin American and Caribbean Countries

Source: Created by CRS using Bertelsmann Stiftung's 20242026 Transformation Index.

Economist Intelligence Unit's (EIU)'s Democracy Index

The Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), based in London and New York, has produced a democracy index since 2006.⁸10 The most recent report providesprovided an annual snapshot of the state of democracy for 165 independent states and two territories.⁹11 The EIU classifiesclassified countries as full democracies, flawed democracies, hybrid regimes, or authoritarian regimes based on an aggregate score of 60 indicators in five categories: (1) electoral process and pluralism, (2) civil liberties, (3) the functioning of government, (4) political participation, and (5) political culture.¹⁰12 EIU evaluatesevaluated Mexico and all Central and South American nations. With respect to the Caribbean, EIU lookslooked at Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Guyana, Haiti, Jamaica, Suriname, and Trinidad and Tobago.

According to the EIU's Democracy Index 20245 summary report, covering calendar year 20242025, the Latin America and Caribbean region's overall score declined from 5.68 in 2023 (on a 0 to 10 scale) to 5.61 in 2024, described as the "ninth consecutive year of democratic backsliding in the region."¹² According to EIU, of the 24 countries evaluated, "17 registered a decline in their score in 2024, five improved their scores and two countries recorded no change."¹³ EIU reports that Jamaica, Colombia, and Brazil "experienced the biggest reversals this year, while the Dominican Republic and Mexico made the biggest improvement."¹⁴ In 2024, two countries in the region were classified as full democracies (Costa Rica and Uruguay), while four countries in the region were identified as authoritarian regimes (Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Venezuela).¹⁵ The report notes one classification changes with Paraguay downgraded from "flawed democracy" to "hybrid regime."¹⁶average score rose to 5.71 from 5.61 after nine years of declining scores.¹⁴ Specifically, EIU found that 13 out of 24 countries recorded score improvements.¹⁵ EIU reported that the "most important positive regional development in 2025" occurred in Bolivia, putting it in the top five countries worldwide with the biggest score improvements from 2024 to 2025 along with Argentina.¹⁶ On the other hand, Colombia registered "the steepest score decline in 2025."¹⁷

Figure 2 shows the global rank and classification of Central and South American and Caribbean countries according to the EIU's full report on the Democracy Index 20245.

Figure 2. EIU's Democracy Index 20245 Global Ranking for Latin American and Caribbean Countries

Source: Created by CRS using EIU's Democracy Index 20245 (full report).

Freedom House's Freedom in the World

Freedom House is a U.S.-based NGO that conducts research on democracy, political freedom, and human rights worldwide. It has published a global report on political rights and civil liberties, now called Freedom in the World, annually since 1972.¹⁷18 The 20252026 report, which coverscovered calendar year 2024, measures2025, measured 195 countries and 13 territories, including all Latin American and Caribbean countries.¹⁸19 Freedom House assignsassigned each country 0 to 4 points on 25 different indicators—10 indicators for political rights and 15 indicators for civil liberties—for a total of up to 100 points. The calculation equally weights a country's aggregate political rights and civil liberties scores to determine whether the country has an overall status of free,, partly free, or not free.¹⁹20 The report's analysis iswas based on data that are detailed in full on the Freedom House's website.²⁰ The website also listsnot available online but can be requested from Freedom House.²¹ The Freedom House website also listed the current freedom scores with a detailed profile for each assessed country.²¹

22

Freedom House classified 22 out of 35 countries in the region as "free" in 2024.²³ The report section titled "Americas" covers all countries in the Western Hemisphere and highlighted that "[12] out of 35 countries recorded overall score declines, while only 7 registered improvements."²⁴ According to the report, Haiti and El Salvador tied for the year's largest score declines in the region and ranked among the top four largest score declines in the world.²⁵ On the other hand, Freedom House determined that Guatemala "experienced the region's largest score improvement2026

"Major threats to freedom in the Americas during 2025 included criminal violence and mounting restrictions on civic space."²³

In 2025, Freedom House classified 23 out of 35 countries in the Americas as "free," a region that includes North America, Central America, South America, and the Caribbean. The report highlighted that "only six countries earned score improvements for the year, while 12 registered score declines."²⁴ According to the report, "El Salvador recorded the region's largest decline in score for the second consecutive year."²⁵ On the other hand, Freedom House determined that Bolivia's rating improved "from Partly Free to Free status, which it last held in 2002."²⁶ Figure 3 shows the aggregate scores of all Central and South American and Caribbean countries according to the relevant Freedom House country web pages for Freedom in the World 2025.6. The political rights scores and the civil liberties scores, which comprise the aggregate scores, can be found under the Freedom House heading for each country in Table 1, Table 2, and Table 3.

Figure 3. Freedom House's Freedom in the World 20256 Aggregate Scores for Latin American and Caribbean Countries

Source: Created by CRS using Freedom House's Freedom in the World 20256.

Varieties of Democracy Institute (V-Dem)'s Liberal Democracy Index

The Varieties of Democracy Institute (V-Dem), headquartered at the University of Gothenburg in Sweden, collects democracy data through its research team in collaboration with country experts. In 2017, V-Dem published its first global report measuring the status of democracy. V-Dem's Democracy Report 20256 includes the Liberal Democracy Index (LDI), which is based on 71 indicators that capture liberal and electoral aspects of democracy.²⁷ V-Dem evaluates Mexico and all Central and South American nations. V-Dem evaluates, which is composed of two parts using formulas that are detailed in the 2026 codebook: the Electoral Democracy Index (46 indicators that examine freedom of expression, freedom of association, percentage of the population with voting rights, elections practices, and selection practices for elected officials) and the Liberal Component Index (20 indicators that examine the structure of the legislature, equality before the law, and individual liberties as well as judicial and legislative constraints on the executive branch).²⁷ V-Dem evaluated Mexico and all Central and South American nations. V-Dem evaluated a subset of Caribbean nations: Barbados, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Guyana, Haiti, Jamaica, Suriname, and Trinidad and Tobago.

The V-Dem 2025second most democratic region in the world by 2025. Peaking on both democracy measures in the early 2000s, it is in decline since then."²⁸ The V-Dem 2026 report, covering calendar year 20242025, grouped 179 countries into four categories according to its Regimes of the World measure: liberal democracy, electoral democracy, electoral autocracy, and closed autocracy.²⁹ The report stated that "most of the population in Latin America and The Caribbean – 64% – live in electoral democracies," with 4% of the population residing in liberal democracies, 6% in electoral autocracies, and 3% in closed autocracies.³⁰ The report described Bolivia, Brazil, Ecuador, Dominican Republic, and Honduras as "democratizing countries" and noted that the first three are "successfully reversing autocratization processes of the previous years."³¹ On the other hand, the report counts seven countries as "currently regressing: Argentina, El Salvador, Guyana, Haiti, Mexico, Nicaragua, and Peru."³² On Mexico, the report stated that it "ranks as 'grey zone' electoral democracy (ED-) meaning that its status as a democracy is uncertain by the end of 2024."³³

In describing the Latin American and the Caribbean population, the report stated that 71% lived in democracies, "making it the second most democratic region," with autocracies accounting for the remaining 29%.³⁰ On the one hand, V-Dem found "four democratizing countries (or 16% of the region): the Dominican Republic, Bolivia, Brazil, and Guatemala," characterizing the last three as "U-turn democratizers—countries that are reversing autocratization."³¹ On the other hand, the report determined that "autocratization continues in six countries (or 24% of the region): Argentina, El Salvador, Haiti, Mexico, Nicaragua, and Peru."³²

Figure 4 shows the liberal democracy index rank and classification of all Central and South American and Caribbean countries according to the Varieties of Democracy Institute'sV-Dem's Democracy Report 20256.

Figure 4. V-Dem's Democracy Report 20256's Liberal Democracy Index Rank for Latin American and Caribbean Countries

Source: Created by CRS using the Varieties of Democracy Institute's Democracy Report 20256.

Compilation of Democracy Indicators

Table 1, below, looks at Caribbean countries' global democracy rankings according to Bertelsmann Stiftung's 20242026 Transformation Index, EIU's Democracy Index 20245 (full report), Freedom House's Freedom in the World 20256, and V-Dem's Democracy Report 2025.6. Table 2 compares the same reports for Mexico and Central America, as does Table 3 for South America. In each table, the country name is followed by parentheses with the nature of the country's political system, as described in the U.S. State Department's 2022 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices (the 2023 updated report does not include descriptions of country political systems).³⁴

by the IPU data tools, which categorize political systems.³³ Each report evaluates a different set of countries, leaving inconsistent rankings across the sources in the tables below. Countries are listed alphabetically in each table.

Each index is based on a unique methodology, and the rankings are not necessarily comparable. For more details on the methodologies, see "Democracy Indices and Source Notes" above. For term definitions of each index, see footnote 23 for BTI, footnote 1012 for EIU, footnote 1920 for Freedom House, and footnote 29 for V-Dem, or consult the full reports. Each report evaluates a different number of countries, so there are missing rankings for some countries. Countries are listed alphabetically in each table.

Selected Resources

Table 4 provides selected resources for further information about democracy indicators for Latin American and Caribbean nations, although many resources cover other geographic areas as well. The sources are organized alphabetically by authoring organization followed by the titles organized chronologically and then alphabetically. This is not an exhaustive list.

Summer intern Emi Marrujo assisted with the update of this report.

Footnotes

2. 10. EIU, Democracy Index Report: World, 2025 (full report), pp. 65-66. EIU defines terms as: full democracies are countries where the "functioning of government is satisfactory. Media are independent and diverse.... … effective system of checks and balances ...… judiciary is independent and judicial decisions are enforced ...… only limited problems." Flawed democracies have "free and fair elections ...… basic civil liberties are respected. However, there are significant weaknesses in other aspects of democracy, including problems in governance, an underdeveloped political culture and low levels of political participation." Hybrid regimes have "substantial election irregularities ...… government pressure on opposition parties and candidates ...… corruption tends to be widespread and the rule of law is weak. Civil society is weak ...… and the judiciary is not independent." In authoritarian regimes, "state political pluralism is absent or heavily circumscribed ...… some formal institutions of democracy may exist, but these have little substance ... elections ...… elections … are not free and fair.... … disregard for abuses and infringements of civil liberties ...… repression of criticism of the government and pervasive censorship. There is no independent judiciary."

18. Michael Coppedge et al., "V-Dem Codebook v16," Varieties of Democracy Project, 2026, pp. 452-453, https://www.v-dem.net/documents/70/codebook_v16.pdf. Although not officially endorsed by the V-Dem Steering Committee, V-Dem data is used to sort countries into regime types based on Anna Lührmann et al., "Regimes of the World (RoW): Opening New Avenues for the Comparative Study of Political Regimes," Politics & Governance, vol. 6, no. 1 (2018), pp. 60-77. This article states "that Dahl's theory of polyarchy (1971, 1998) provides the most comprehensive and most widely accepted theory of what distinguishes a democracy based on six … institutional guarantees (elected officials, free and fair elections, freedom of expression, alternative sources of information, associational autonomy, and inclusive citizenship)." The article defines democracies as having "de-facto multiparty, free and fair elections, and Dahl's institutional prerequisites minimally fulfilled." An electoral democracy is one in which "the rule of law or liberal principles [are] not satisfied" and a liberal democracy is one in which "the rule of law and liberal principles [are] satisfied." Autocracies have "no de facto multiparty, or free and fair elections, or Dahl's institutional prerequisites not minimally fulfilled." An electoral autocracy has "de jure multiparty elections for the chief executive and the legislature" and a closed autocracy has "no multiparty elections for the chief executive or the legislature."

Inter-Parliamentary Union, "Compare Data on Parliaments: Political Systems," 2026, https://data.ipu.org/compare/?field=political_systems&region=americas&chart=map&year_to=#.

1 Footnotes
1.	Bertelsmann Stiftung, "Methodology," accessed June 29, 2026, https://bti-project.org/en/methodology.
Bertelsmann Stiftung, "Methodology," accessed March 25, 2025, atMay 20, 2026, https://bti-project.org/en/methodology. For political transformation criteria, (1) stateness examines the monopoly on the use of force, state identity, interference of religious dogmas, and basic administration; (2) political participation examines free and fair elections, effective power to govern, association and assembly rights, and freedom of expression; (3) rule of law examines separation of powers, independent judiciary, prosecution of office abuse, and civil rights; (4) stability of democratic institutions examines performance of democratic institutions and commitment of democratic institutions; and (5) political and social integration examines the party system, interest groups, approval of democracy, and social capital.
23.	Bertelsmann Stiftung, "Methodology," accessed March 25, 2025, atMay 20, 2026, https://www.bti-project.org/en/methodology.html. BTI uses seven threshold values to mark minimum requirements for a democracy: (1) free and fair elections, (2) effective power to govern, (3) association/assembly rights, (4) freedom of expression, (5) separation of powers, (6) civil rights, and (7) monopoly on the use of force and basic administration. BTI classifies a country as an autocracy if any one of seven political transformation indicators falls short of the relevant threshold. BTI considers failing states autocracies. See also Bertelsmann Stiftung, "Regional Dashboard: Latin America and the Caribbean," accessed January 17, 2025, https://bti-project.org/en/reports/regional-dashboard/LAC?&cb=00000.
34.	Ariam Macias-Weller and Peter Thiery, Lost in transformation?—Thomas Kestler, Enduring Weaknesses and Emerging Challenges—BTI Regional Report Latin America and the Caribbean, Bertelsmann Stiftung, 2024, p. 4.
4.	Ibid., p. 6.
5.	Ibid.
6.	Sabine Donner and Hauke Hartmann, Global findings BTI 2024: Less Democratic, Less Successful, Bertelsmann Stiftung, p. 26 and 12.
7.	Ariam Macias-Weller and Peter Thiery, Lost in transformation?—BTI Regional Report Latin America and the Caribbean, Bertelsmann Stiftung, 2024, p. 7.
82026, p. 9, https://bti-project.org/fileadmin/api/content/en/downloads/reports/global/BTI_2026_Regional_Report_LAC.pdf.
5.	Macias-Weller and Kestler, BTI Regional Report, p. 4.
6.	Macias-Weller and Kestler, BTI Regional Report, p. 9.
7.	Macias-Weller and Kestler, BTI Regional Report, p. 6.
8.	Sabine Donner et al., Repression Meets Resistance: BTI 2026 Global Findings, Bertelsmann Stiftung, 2026, p. 4, https://bti-project.org/fileadmin/api/content/en/downloads/reports/global/BTI_2026_Global_Findings_EN.pdf.
9.	Donner et al., Repression Meets Resistance, p. 5.
The Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) did not produce a democracy index report covering 2007 or 2009.
911.	EIU, Democracy Index 2024: What's wrong with representative democracy? 2025.
10.	Ibid., pp. 87-882025: Democracy Stabilises After Eight Years of Decline, 2026, summary report, https://www.eiu.com/n/campaigns/democracy-index-2025/.	12.
1113.	Ibid., p. 52.
12EIU, Democracy Index 2025 (summary), p. 23. 14.	Ibid., p. 52 and 13.
13EIU, Democracy Index 2025 (summary), pp. 10, 23. 15.	Ibid., p. 52.
14EIU, Democracy Index 2025 (summary), p. 23. 16.	Ibid.
15EIU, Democracy Index 2025 (summary), pp. 23, 11.
17.	EIU, Democracy Index 2025 (summary), p. 23.
Ibid.
16.	Ibid.
17.	Until 1978, the annual report was titled The Comparative Study of Freedom.
1819.	Yana Gorokhovskaia and Cathryn Gothraet al., Freedom in the World 2025: The Uphill Battle to Safeguard Rights,2026: The Growing Shadow of Autocracy, Freedom House, February 2025, p. 23.
19March 2026, p. 2, https://freedomhouse.org/sites/default/files/2026-03/FIW2026_final_digital%20%281%29.pdf. 20.	The methodology is derived from the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. "The political rights questions are grouped into three subcategories: Electoral Process (3 questions), Political Pluralism and Participation (4), and Functioning of Government (3). The civil liberties questions are grouped into four subcategories: Freedom of Expression and Belief (4 questions), Associational and Organizational Rights (3), Rule of Law (4), and Personal Autonomy and Individual Rights (4)." The methodology questions and table for calculating country status are listed online at Freedom House, "Freedom in the World Research Methodology," accessed March 25, 2025, at May 21, 2026, https://freedomhouse.org/reports/freedom-world/freedom-world-research-methodology.
2021.	Freedom House, "Freedom in the World: About the reportReport," accessed March 25, 2025, atMay 21, 2026, https://freedomhouse.org/report/freedom-world.
2122.	Freedom House, "Countries and Territories," accessed March 25, 2025, at May 21, 2026, https://freedomhouse.org/countries/freedom-world/scores.
2223.	Yana Gorokhovskaia and Cathryn Gothraet al., Freedom in the World 2025: The Uphill Battle to Safeguard Rights, Freedom House, February 20252026, p. 27.
23.	Ibid. Note that this number includes the United States and Canada as they are part of the "Americas" region as defined by Freedom House.
24.	Ibid.
25.	Ibid., p. 27 and p. 1.
26.	Ibid., p. 27.
27.	Marina Nord, David Altman, Fabio Angiolillo, Tiago Fernandes, Ana Good God, and Staffan I. Lindberg, Democracy Report 2025: 25 Years of Autocratization – Democracy Trumped?, March 2025, University of Gothenburg, V-Dem Institute, p. 57.
28.	Ibid., p. 11.
29.	Using its data, V-Dem sorts countries into regime types based on Anna Lührmann, Marcus Tannenberg, and Staffan I. Lindberg24.	Gorokhovskaia et al., Freedom in the World 2026, p. 27.
25.	Gorokhovskaia et al., Freedom in the World 2026, p. 27.
26.	Gorokhovskaia et al., Freedom in the World 2026, p. 27.
27.
28.	Marina Nord et al., Democracy Report 2026: Unraveling the Democratic Era?, V-Dem Institute, 2026, p. 57, https://www.v-dem.net/documents/75/V-Dem_Institute_Democracy_Report_2026_lowres.pdf.
29.
30.	Marina Nord, David Altman, Fabio Angiolillo, Tiago Fernandes, Ana Good God, and Staffan I. Lindberg, Democracy Report 2025: 25 Years of Autocratization – Democracy Trumped?, March 2025, University of Gothenburg, V-Dem Institute, p. 16.
31.	Ibid., p. 21. Further discussion on Bolivia, Brazil, and Ecuador can be found on p. 34.
32.	Ibid.
33.	Ibid., p. 25. This page also provided further discussion on Peru and, on the following page, Nicaragua.
34.	U.S. Department of State, 2022 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices, March 20, 2023 See Nord et al., Democracy Report 2026, p. 25, and Coppedge et al., "V-Dem Codebook v16," p. 317.
30.	Nord et al., Democracy Report 2026, pp. 11-12.
31.	Nord et al., Democracy Report 2026, p. 20.
32.	Nord et al., Democracy Report 2026, p. 20.
33.