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Data for 1998

Political Polarization, 1998

1998, as V-Dem Institute’s 2026 release gives it · stored as published, never rewritten

Political Polarization, 1998 covers 173 countries. Somalia is highest, at 2.834; Ireland is lowest, at -3.813. The middle country reads -0.404. Against 1997, 30 values changed (15 up, 15 down), 1 country joined.

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Political Polarization · Data for 1998

HighestSomalia

2.834

LowestIreland

-3.813

Shaded by value in five groups of equal size, darkest at the lowest end. A higher value is the worse result.

01Position · derived

The table

Every country and every column of Political Polarization, 1998, as published. V-Dem Institute ranks nobody on this measure; the position is derived here by ordering the published values. “=” marks a shared position.

Showing 25 of 173 countries · select a heading to sort

Political Polarization, 1998: every country, as published by V-Dem Institute, University of Gothenburg.
derived
1SomaliaSOMEastern Africa2.834
2AfghanistanAFGSouthern Asia2.779
3MyanmarMMRSouth-eastern Asia2.487
4TogoTGOWestern Africa2.427
5Timor-LesteTLSSouth-eastern Asia2.392
6Bosnia and HerzegovinaBIHSouthern Europe2.386
7IraqIRQWestern Asia2.326
8Sierra LeoneSLEWestern Africa1.588
9AngolaAGOMiddle Africa1.584
10ChadTCDMiddle Africa1.458
11EthiopiaETHEastern Africa1.440
12BelarusBLREastern Europe1.331
13EswatiniSWZSouthern Africa1.328
14MalaysiaMYSSouth-eastern Asia1.303
15BurundiBDIEastern Africa1.169
16DR CongoCODMiddle Africa1.165
17BahrainBHRWestern Asia1.127
18SyriaSYRWestern Asia1.100
19GuyanaGUYSouth America1.048
20MontenegroMNESouthern Europe1.037
21RwandaRWAEastern Africa1.005
=22El SalvadorSLVCentral America0.991
=22NepalNPLSouthern Asia0.991
24MaltaMLTSouthern Europe0.985
25MauritiusMUSEastern Africa0.953

02In 1998

At either end

The 5 countries at each end of the headline.

Highest

  1. 1Somalia2.834
  2. 2Afghanistan2.779
  3. 3Myanmar2.487
  4. 4Togo2.427
  5. 5Timor-Leste2.392

Lowest

  1. 173Ireland-3.813
  2. 172Barbados-3.543
  3. 171Bhutan-3.071
  4. 170Uruguay-3.055
  5. 169Turkmenistan-2.717

A higher value is the worse result. The middle country reads -0.404. “Shared” marks a value another country also holds.

031997 → 1998

Since 1997

What changed between 1997 and this one: who joined or left, and how far the headline moved.

  • +1 / −0countries joined / left
  • 30values changed, of 172 in both
  • 15 · 15rose · fell
  • 142unchanged

Rose most

Fell most

+ Montenegro

Both years come from the same release, so a difference here is a change in the data, not a revision of it. Every country’s full history is charted on the statistic page.

04Caveats

Read before you use

What this edition’s numbers are and are not, worked out from the file itself.

The site’s method

  • One year of the 2026 release

    Every year in this series comes from V-Dem Institute’s 2026 release, recalculated on one method. It can differ from what was first published for 1998.

  • 169 distinct values among 173

    Values are stored exactly as published, to 3 decimals. 2 countries share 0.991. Countries sharing a value share a position too.

  • The position is ours

    V-Dem Institute publishes values only. The order here sorts the published values, and the page says so wherever it prints one.

  • Which end is better

    A higher value is the worse result.

  • Nothing missing

    Every one of the 173 countries has every column.

05The files

Download and cite

The table as a file, digit for digit, what this site changed, and a citation for this edition.

Licence in full

What this site changed: Reshaped into one row per country: regional and income-group totals are left out, only the columns listed are kept, each row gets its ISO 3166 code, and some country names are brought to one spelling. No value is recalculated, rescaled or rounded.

Licence: CC BY-SA 4.0. Share, adapt and use commercially with credit — and anything you publish that adapts it must carry the same licence.

Cite this edition

V-Dem Institute, University of Gothenburg (1998). Political Polarization, 1998 [data set], describing 1998. As held by Nations Inquiry, https://nationsinquiry.com/datasets/political-polarization/1998

0636 held

Other years

07Questions

Political Polarization, 1998: questions and answers

Which country has the highest political polarization in Political Polarization, 1998?

Somalia, at 2.834, of the 173 countries in the file.

What year does Political Polarization, 1998 describe?

1998.

How many countries does Political Polarization, 1998 cover?

173.

Where can I download Political Polarization, 1998?

On this page, as a CSV file holding every value exactly as published, or from the publisher’s own site, linked below.

Is Political Polarization, 1998 the newest?

No. The newest held here is Political Polarization, 2025.

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