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Data for 2021

Political Polarization, 2021

2021, as V-Dem Institute’s 2026 release gives it · stored as published, never rewritten

Political Polarization, 2021 covers 176 countries. Türkiye is highest, at 3.467; Oman is lowest, at -2.988. The middle country reads 0.288. Against 2020, 119 values changed (73 up, 46 down), the same countries are covered.

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Political Polarization · Data for 2021

HighestTürkiye

3.467

LowestOman

-2.988

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, 2021, 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 176 countries · select a heading to sort

Political Polarization, 2021: every country, as published by V-Dem Institute, University of Gothenburg.
derived
1TürkiyeTURWestern Asia3.467
2Hong KongHKGEastern Asia3.404
3PolandPOLEastern Europe3.355
4BelarusBLREastern Europe3.183
5NicaraguaNICCentral America3.141
6SyriaSYRWestern Asia3.100
7LibyaLBYNorthern Africa2.893
8YemenYEMWestern Asia2.850
9SloveniaSVNSouthern Europe2.635
10TunisiaTUNNorthern Africa2.522
11ThailandTHASouth-eastern Asia2.468
12MyanmarMMRSouth-eastern Asia2.437
13HungaryHUNEastern Europe2.431
14GuineaGINWestern Africa2.429
15BrazilBRASouth America2.417
16BoliviaBOLSouth America2.257
17EthiopiaETHEastern Africa2.200
18MalaysiaMYSSouth-eastern Asia1.987
19PeruPERSouth America1.921
20GeorgiaGEOWestern Asia1.913
21ArgentinaARGSouth America1.901
22EswatiniSWZSouthern Africa1.846
23IraqIRQWestern Asia1.831
24ChadTCDMiddle Africa1.819
25United StatesUSANorthern America1.701

02In 2021

At either end

The 5 countries at each end of the headline.

Highest

  1. 1Türkiye3.467
  2. 2Hong Kong3.404
  3. 3Poland3.355
  4. 4Belarus3.183
  5. 5Nicaragua3.141

Lowest

  1. 176Oman-2.988
  2. 175São Tomé and Príncipe-2.751
  3. 174Uruguay-2.539
  4. 172Irelandshared-2.490
  5. 172Barbadosshared-2.490

A higher value is the worse result. The middle country reads 0.288. “Shared” marks a value another country also holds.

032020 → 2021

Since 2020

What changed between 2020 and this one: who joined or left, and how far the headline moved.

  • +0 / −0countries joined / left
  • 119values changed, of 176 in both
  • 73 · 46rose · fell
  • 57unchanged

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 2021.

  • 172 distinct values among 176

    Values are stored exactly as published, to 3 decimals. 2 countries share 0.753. 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 176 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 (2021). Political Polarization, 2021 [data set], describing 2021. As held by Nations Inquiry, https://nationsinquiry.com/datasets/political-polarization/2021

0636 held

Other years

07Questions

Political Polarization, 2021: questions and answers

Which country has the highest political polarization in Political Polarization, 2021?

Türkiye, at 3.467, of the 176 countries in the file.

What year does Political Polarization, 2021 describe?

2021.

How many countries does Political Polarization, 2021 cover?

176.

Where can I download Political Polarization, 2021?

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, 2021 the newest?

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

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