Cannabis Freedom Index

Datasets Society · not part of the score

Civil liberties

V-Dem Institute, via Our World in Data · 1900 to 2025

How free people are from torture, political killings and forced labour, and how far they may move, worship, speak and associate, is estimated every year by the country experts of the V-Dem Institute, from 0 to 1; Our World in Data publishes it as its human rights index.[1] In 2025 Estonia, Sweden and Denmark score highest, at 0.96, and North Korea, Afghanistan and Eritrea lowest.

The series runs back to 1900, so a profile can show how a country’s liberties rose or fell beside the history of its cannabis laws.[1] A country can respect civil liberties and still treat cannabis as a crime: Sweden is among the highest here, and its drug strategy aims at a drug-free society. Compare the Human Freedom Index and each profile’s beyond the penalty section.

Published by
V-Dem (2026), Democracy report v16, processed by Our World in Data — Human rights index (V-Dem's civil liberties index)
Data
OWID chart data, CSV
File here
vdem-civil-liberties.csv
See also
The interactive map · The files and their checksums
of 220 places covered
177
years in the file
1900–2025
the median country
0.75
places with several years
177

Civil liberties, on the map

The stronger the blue, the more civil liberties people have by V-Dem's estimate. Places V-Dem does not score are hatched. Select a country for its profile.

Under 0.20.2–0.40.4–0.60.6–0.80.8 or moreNot scored by V-Dem

V-Dem (2026), processed by Our World in Data, latest year. Not part of the score.

Highest · Civil liberties

  1. Estonia0.962025
  2. Sweden0.962025
  3. Denmark0.962025

Lowest · Civil liberties

  1. North Korea0.022025
  2. Afghanistan0.042025
  3. Eritrea0.052025

Country by country

Each place's latest figure, as on its profile. Select a heading to sort.

Further figures
AfghanistanAsia0.04of 1 in 20252025
AlbaniaEurope0.87of 1 in 20252025
AlgeriaAfrica0.42of 1 in 20252025
AngolaAfrica0.62of 1 in 20252025
ArgentinaSouth America0.82of 1 in 20252025
ArmeniaAsia0.80of 1 in 20252025
AustraliaOceania0.91of 1 in 20252025
AustriaEurope0.91of 1 in 20252025
AzerbaijanAsia0.29of 1 in 20252025
BahrainAsia0.30of 1 in 20252025
BangladeshAsia0.63of 1 in 20252025
BarbadosNorth America0.92of 1 in 20252025
BelarusEurope0.22of 1 in 20252025
BelgiumEurope0.95of 1 in 20252025
BeninAfrica0.84of 1 in 20252025
BhutanAsia0.70of 1 in 20252025
BoliviaSouth America0.74of 1 in 20252025
Bosnia and HerzegovinaEurope0.81of 1 in 20252025
BotswanaAfrica0.84of 1 in 20252025
BrazilSouth America0.87of 1 in 20252025
BulgariaEurope0.85of 1 in 20252025
Burkina FasoAfrica0.46of 1 in 20252025
BurundiAfrica0.27of 1 in 20252025
Cabo VerdeAfrica0.91of 1 in 20252025
CambodiaAsia0.26of 1 in 20252025
CameroonAfrica0.51of 1 in 20252025
CanadaNorth America0.90of 1 in 20252025
Central African RepublicAfrica0.44of 1 in 20252025
ChadAfrica0.28of 1 in 20252025
ChileSouth America0.93of 1 in 20252025
ChinaAsia0.18of 1 in 20252025
ColombiaSouth America0.77of 1 in 20252025
ComorosAfrica0.48of 1 in 20252025
CongoAfrica0.33of 1 in 20252025
Costa RicaNorth America0.93of 1 in 20252025
Côte d'IvoireAfrica0.70of 1 in 20252025
CroatiaEurope0.89of 1 in 20252025
CubaNorth America0.30of 1 in 20252025
CyprusEurope0.90of 1 in 20252025
CzechiaEurope0.95of 1 in 20252025
DenmarkEurope0.96of 1 in 20252025
DjiboutiAfrica0.40of 1 in 20252025
Dominican RepublicNorth America0.87of 1 in 20252025
DR CongoAfrica0.42of 1 in 20252025
EcuadorSouth America0.69of 1 in 20252025
EgyptAfrica0.23of 1 in 20252025
El SalvadorNorth America0.51of 1 in 20252025
Equatorial GuineaAfrica0.17of 1 in 20252025
EritreaAfrica0.05of 1 in 20252025
EstoniaEurope0.96of 1 in 20252025
EswatiniAfrica0.21of 1 in 20252025
EthiopiaAfrica0.30of 1 in 20252025
FijiOceania0.77of 1 in 20252025
FinlandEurope0.95of 1 in 20252025
FranceEurope0.92of 1 in 20252025
GabonAfrica0.79of 1 in 20252025
GambiaAfrica0.88of 1 in 20252025
GeorgiaAsia0.70of 1 in 20252025
GermanyEurope0.94of 1 in 20252025
GhanaAfrica0.91of 1 in 20252025
GreeceEurope0.88of 1 in 20252025
GuatemalaNorth America0.77of 1 in 20252025
GuineaAfrica0.35of 1 in 20252025
Guinea-BissauAfrica0.56of 1 in 20252025
GuyanaSouth America0.85of 1 in 20252025
HaitiNorth America0.74of 1 in 20252025
HondurasNorth America0.82of 1 in 20252025
Hong KongAsia0.61of 1 in 20252025
HungaryEurope0.79of 1 in 20252025
IcelandEurope0.95of 1 in 20252025
IndiaAsia0.53of 1 in 20252025
IndonesiaAsia0.63of 1 in 20252025
IranAsia0.25of 1 in 20252025
IraqAsia0.52of 1 in 20252025
IrelandEurope0.96of 1 in 20252025
IsraelAsia0.79of 1 in 20252025
ItalyEurope0.90of 1 in 20252025
JamaicaNorth America0.88of 1 in 20252025
JapanAsia0.93of 1 in 20252025
JordanAsia0.67of 1 in 20252025
KazakhstanAsia0.51of 1 in 20252025
KenyaAfrica0.74of 1 in 20252025
KosovoEurope0.81of 1 in 20252025
KuwaitAsia0.49of 1 in 20252025
KyrgyzstanAsia0.48of 1 in 20252025
LaosAsia0.14of 1 in 20252025
LatviaEurope0.94of 1 in 20252025
LebanonAsia0.69of 1 in 20252025
LesothoAfrica0.83of 1 in 20252025
LiberiaAfrica0.84of 1 in 20252025
LibyaAfrica0.32of 1 in 20252025
LithuaniaEurope0.91of 1 in 20252025
LuxembourgEurope0.95of 1 in 20252025
MadagascarAfrica0.65of 1 in 20252025
MalawiAfrica0.81of 1 in 20252025
MalaysiaAsia0.74of 1 in 20252025
MaldivesAsia0.72of 1 in 20252025
MaliAfrica0.61of 1 in 20252025
MaltaEurope0.92of 1 in 20252025
MauritaniaAfrica0.51of 1 in 20252025
MauritiusAfrica0.87of 1 in 20252025
MexicoNorth America0.63of 1 in 20252025
MoldovaEurope0.84of 1 in 20252025
MongoliaAsia0.80of 1 in 20252025
MontenegroEurope0.88of 1 in 20252025
MoroccoAfrica0.65of 1 in 20252025
MozambiqueAfrica0.48of 1 in 20252025
MyanmarAsia0.10of 1 in 20252025
NamibiaAfrica0.88of 1 in 20252025
NepalAsia0.74of 1 in 20252025
NetherlandsEurope0.91of 1 in 20252025
New ZealandOceania0.95of 1 in 20252025
NicaraguaNorth America0.08of 1 in 20252025
NigerAfrica0.65of 1 in 20252025
NigeriaAfrica0.67of 1 in 20252025
North KoreaAsia0.02of 1 in 20252025
North MacedoniaEurope0.79of 1 in 20252025
NorwayEurope0.95of 1 in 20252025
OmanAsia0.45of 1 in 20252025
PakistanAsia0.47of 1 in 20252025
PalestineAsia0.36of 1 in 19481948
PanamaNorth America0.87of 1 in 20252025
Papua New GuineaOceania0.81of 1 in 20252025
ParaguaySouth America0.81of 1 in 20252025
PeruSouth America0.80of 1 in 20252025
PhilippinesAsia0.56of 1 in 20252025
PolandEurope0.92of 1 in 20252025
PortugalEurope0.84of 1 in 20252025
QatarAsia0.36of 1 in 20252025
RomaniaEurope0.88of 1 in 20252025
RussiaEurope0.27of 1 in 20252025
RwandaAfrica0.19of 1 in 20252025
São Tomé and PríncipeAfrica0.89of 1 in 20252025
Saudi ArabiaAsia0.18of 1 in 20252025
SenegalAfrica0.81of 1 in 20252025
SerbiaEurope0.73of 1 in 20252025
SeychellesAfrica0.90of 1 in 20252025
Sierra LeoneAfrica0.79of 1 in 20252025
SingaporeAsia0.72of 1 in 20252025
SlovakiaEurope0.86of 1 in 20252025
SloveniaEurope0.88of 1 in 20252025
Solomon IslandsOceania0.86of 1 in 20252025
SomaliaAfrica0.45of 1 in 20252025
SomalilandAfrica0.63of 1 in 20252025
South AfricaAfrica0.86of 1 in 20252025
South KoreaAsia0.91of 1 in 20252025
South SudanAfrica0.23of 1 in 20252025
SpainEurope0.94of 1 in 20252025
Sri LankaAsia0.82of 1 in 20252025
SudanAfrica0.17of 1 in 20252025
SurinameSouth America0.91of 1 in 20252025
SwedenEurope0.96of 1 in 20252025
SwitzerlandEurope0.95of 1 in 20252025
SyriaAsia0.32of 1 in 20252025
TaiwanAsia0.93of 1 in 20252025
TajikistanAsia0.17of 1 in 20252025
TanzaniaAfrica0.67of 1 in 20252025
ThailandAsia0.48of 1 in 20252025
Timor-LesteAsia0.87of 1 in 20252025
TogoAfrica0.60of 1 in 20252025
Trinidad and TobagoNorth America0.89of 1 in 20252025
TunisiaAfrica0.69of 1 in 20252025
TürkiyeAsia0.40of 1 in 20252025
TurkmenistanAsia0.11of 1 in 20252025
UgandaAfrica0.32of 1 in 20252025
UkraineEurope0.58of 1 in 20252025
United Arab EmiratesAsia0.34of 1 in 20252025
United KingdomEurope0.84of 1 in 20252025
United StatesNorth America0.83of 1 in 20252025
UruguaySouth America0.93of 1 in 20252025
UzbekistanAsia0.37of 1 in 20252025
VanuatuOceania0.88of 1 in 20252025
VenezuelaSouth America0.31of 1 in 20252025
VietnamAsia0.38of 1 in 20252025
YemenAsia0.19of 1 in 20252025
ZambiaAfrica0.77of 1 in 20252025
ZimbabweAfrica0.38of 1 in 20252025

What is counted, and how the file was made

How free people are from government torture, political killings and forced labour, and how far they have property rights and freedom of movement, religion, expression and association, from 0 (none) to 1, every year, as estimated by V-Dem's country experts. Our World in Data publishes it as its "human rights index". V-Dem scores West and East Germany separately from 1949 to 1990, so Germany has no figures for those years.

OWID's chart file (V-Dem version 16, OWID update of 17 March 2026) was downloaded on 21 October 2026 and is published here unchanged. scripts/extract-owid.py (civil_liberties) keeps every year from 1900 for the countries this site covers, matching OWID's three-letter codes to ours through the World Bank's country list; historical states and regions are left out.

The file belongs to V-Dem, Our World in Data and keeps its terms; cite the publisher when you use it.

References

  1. Our World in Data — Human rights index (V-Dem)
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