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Data for 2008

Political Polarization, 2008

2008, as V-Dem Institute’s 2026 release gives it · stored as published, never rewritten

Political Polarization, 2008 covers 175 countries. Somalia is highest, at 2.792; Barbados is lowest, at -3.543. The middle country reads -0.393. Against 2007, 48 values changed (27 up, 21 down), the same countries are covered.

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Political Polarization · Data for 2008

HighestSomalia

2.792

LowestBarbados

-3.543

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, 2008, 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 175 countries · select a heading to sort

Political Polarization, 2008: every country, as published by V-Dem Institute, University of Gothenburg.
derived
1SomaliaSOMEastern Africa2.792
2ThailandTHASouth-eastern Asia2.737
3ZimbabweZWEEastern Africa2.431
4ArmeniaARMWestern Asia2.185
5VenezuelaVENSouth America1.941
6MyanmarMMRSouth-eastern Asia1.933
7LebanonLBNWestern Asia1.755
8ChadTCDMiddle Africa1.630
9IraqIRQWestern Asia1.608
10EritreaERIEastern Africa1.524
11BoliviaBOLSouth America1.407
12Bosnia and HerzegovinaBIHSouthern Europe1.347
13EswatiniSWZSouthern Africa1.328
14SyriaSYRWestern Asia1.279
15TogoTGOWestern Africa1.234
16TürkiyeTURWestern Asia1.217
17MalaysiaMYSSouth-eastern Asia1.205
18GuyanaGUYSouth America1.155
19EcuadorECUSouth America1.151
20Côte d’IvoireCIVWestern Africa1.097
21GeorgiaGEOWestern Asia1.059
22BelarusBLREastern Europe1.014
23MaltaMLTSouthern Europe0.985
24MongoliaMNGEastern Asia0.957
25IranIRNSouthern Asia0.953

02In 2008

At either end

The 5 countries at each end of the headline.

Highest

  1. 1Somalia2.792
  2. 2Thailand2.737
  3. 3Zimbabwe2.431
  4. 4Armenia2.185
  5. 5Venezuela1.941

Lowest

  1. 175Barbados-3.543
  2. 174Ireland-3.364
  3. 173Uruguay-3.352
  4. 172Lithuania-3.052
  5. 171Norway-2.645

A higher value is the worse result. The middle country reads -0.393. “Shared” marks a value another country also holds.

032007 → 2008

Since 2007

What changed between 2007 and this one: who joined or left, and how far the headline moved.

  • +0 / −0countries joined / left
  • 48values changed, of 175 in both
  • 27 · 21rose · fell
  • 127unchanged

Rose most

Fell most

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 2008.

  • 172 distinct values among 175

    Values are stored exactly as published, to 3 decimals. 2 countries share 0.843. 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 175 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 (2008). Political Polarization, 2008 [data set], describing 2008. As held by Nations Inquiry, https://nationsinquiry.com/datasets/political-polarization/2008

0636 held

Other years

07Questions

Political Polarization, 2008: questions and answers

Which country has the highest political polarization in Political Polarization, 2008?

Somalia, at 2.792, of the 175 countries in the file.

What year does Political Polarization, 2008 describe?

2008.

How many countries does Political Polarization, 2008 cover?

175.

Where can I download Political Polarization, 2008?

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, 2008 the newest?

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

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