Key indicators of democracy in the US have fallen to their lowest levels in ۵۰ years, with the global rule of law significantly undermined by the Trump administration’s “threats and actions”, data from a leading thinktank shows.
Around the world, judicial independence, credible elections and freedom of expression, press freedom and access to justice are all at their lowest levels for at least ۳۰ years, according to the Stockholm-based International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (International Idea).
The intergovernmental organisation’s annual Global State of Democracy report is considered the most comprehensive of its kind, covering ۱۷۴ countries and measuring democratic performance since ۱۹۷۵.
International Idea said the decline in the US was particularly marked, but part of a global trend, with ۲۰۲۵ the ۱۱th consecutive year in which more countries declined than improved democratically – the longest continuous downturn since the thinktank’s records began.
“In ۲۰۲۵, the global challenges to democracy and the difficulty in stemming its erosion were both exemplified and compounded by political developments in the United States,” the report’s authors said.
“President Donald Trump quickly amassed power in the executive branch and wielded it to further a narrow set of personal goals and pursue retaliation against perceived enemies … The results have been far-reaching, undermining the rule of law domestically and internationally and testing longstanding alliances and multilateral cooperation.”
Kevin Casas-Zamora, International Idea’s secretary general, warned that the risk of conflict rose as democracies deteriorated.
“The key message from our research is that investing in democracy should be at the heart of any country’s security strategy,” he said. “The connection between the erosion of the quality of democracy and increasing conflict is not being made either in policymaking or in the public debate.”
The separate Uppsala Conflict Data Program, based at Uppsala University in Sweden, shows that ۲۰۲۵ had the most violent conflicts – including the most interstate conflicts – of any year in its dataset, which goes back to ۱۹۴۶.
The International Idea report did highlight some positive developments, including in Australia – where civil society groups were consulted on an anti-racism strategy and children’s online privacy among other issues – and in Syria, where the repressive dictatorship of Bashar al-Assad was overthrown.
In Bangladesh, Nepal and Sri Lanka, youth-led popular protests unseated long-serving leaders, but, the report noted, “it has proven difficult to create far-reaching, meaningful reform in a short period of time”.
Casas-Zamora said it was clear that events in the US influenced other countries. International Idea added the US to its list of “backsliding” democracies for the first time in ۲۰۲۱, pointing to a “visible deterioration” it said began in ۲۰۱۹.
The thinktank bases its assessments on ۵۰ years of democratic indicators, assigning countries to one of three categories: democracies, “hybrid” governments and authoritarian regimes.
Globally, it found rule of law was the weakest area of democracy in ۲۰۲۵, with ۷۱ countries – ۴۱% of those assessed – ranked as low-performing. It was also found to be deteriorating quickly, with ۲۹ countries registering downturns.
“Whatever happens in the US goes global. There is now an epidemic of election denialism, of which the patient zero is the current occupant of the White House,” Casas-Zamor said.
“I am not willing to say the deterioration of the quality of democracy is inevitable or permanent. It can be reversed,” he added. “We live in a volatile world and that means things can happen which create very positive political openings.”
Yet, despite the positive signs in Nepal, Bangladesh and elsewhere, the report paints a bleak picture overall.
“While people continue to push back against democratic deterioration, civic space is narrowing,” its authors wrote. “Civil society and civic engagement have suffered, due in part to the widespread use of strategic lawsuits against public participation, foreign agent laws, and the criminalisation of peaceful protests.”
