The United States experienced an unprecedented democratic decline in 2025 and is on track to transform under President Donald Trump’s leadership into an autocratic regime at a pace far exceeding that of repressive countries like Hungary or Turkey.
Published yesterday at 7:45 p.m.
This is indicated by the latest report from V-Dem, a respected Swedish institute studying the democratic evolution of countries based on hundreds of indicators that consider both the respect for the separation of powers and individual liberties, as well as the robustness of the electoral system.
The liberal democracy index compiled by the organization dropped by 24% in 2025 for the United States, moving them from the 20th to the 51st position out of 179 countries.
“This is the fastest and most dramatic decline in importance recorded for the United States in the period for which we have data going back to 1789,” said Staffan Lindberg, a professor at the University of Gothenburg who heads the institute.
In Turkey, it took President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s regime nearly 10 years to impose a similar regression to what the United States just experienced in one year. In Hungary, the government of Prime Minister Viktor Orbán took four years to achieve the same.
Based on V-Dem indicators, both of these countries are considered autocracies, unlike the United States, which is now teetering close to the threshold required to no longer be recognized as a democracy.
It is possible that this threshold will be crossed in 2026 since the 2025 index for the United States reflects the electoral system situation in 2024 and is at risk of further decline due to the pressures the Trump administration is exerting on the electoral system nearing the midterm elections.
Staffan Lindberg notes that there is no doubt that the American president wants to continue on his path and ultimately become an autocrat unaccountable to anyone.
“Trump himself recently said that only his morality can constrain his actions. He clearly sees himself as a legitimate dictator who must have the power to decide freely on the course of action,” Lindberg said.
The evolution of the United States finds echoes across the planet as V-Dem has identified dozens of cases of democratic regression, both in established democracies and in autocratic countries that are hardening their approach.
By the end of 2025, there were 92 autocracies and 87 democracies, including Canada, among the studied countries. Only 7% of the world’s population, about 600 million people, lived in full-fledged liberal democracies.
Lindberg points out that the rise of disinformation and its use by far-right extremist groups to fuel population divides play a significant role in this phenomenon.
Authoritarian countries like Russia and China, who viewed the democratic progress made in the 1990s unfavorably, have increased interventions beyond their borders to reverse the trend, the researcher adds, mentioning the role of Saudi Arabia and its active promotion of Salafism in various regions worldwide.
V-Dem’s report warns that several countries transitioning towards autocracy, including the United States, have the weight and influence to influence international institutions and alter the global order according to their priorities, which heightens the risks of drift.
