A stacked area chart showing the global share of countries classified as different types of democracies and autocracies from 1789 to 2025.

Stacked area chart illustrating the historical distribution of political regimes worldwide, from closed autocracies to liberal democracies.

Countries that are democracies and autocracies, World Classification by Lührmann et al. (2018) based on expert estimates by V-Dem. Our World in Data 100% Closed autocracies 80% Electoral autocracies 60% 40% Electoral democracies 20% Liberal democracies 0% 1789 1850 1900 1950 2000 2025 Data source: V-Dem (2026) OurWorldInData.org/democracy | CC BY Note: The share of closed autocracies increases a lot in 1900 because V-Dem covers many more countries since then, often colonies.