World view · governance
Democracy Index
प्रजातन्त्र सूचकाङ्क
Nepal · 2025
4.01 / 10
Rank 106 of 167
Trajectory · 2006–2025
Democracy Index
Economist Intelligence Unit
Linear extrapolation of the last 5-year trend — illustrative only, not a forecast.
Solid — measured history
Dashed — if current trend continues
Green dotted — reform scenario (1.5× current pace)
Honest caveat: projections are linear extrapolation of the last 5 observed years. Real-world indices change non-linearly with policy shocks, elections, and external events. This tool answers "where would this go if nothing changes?" — it is not a forecast. For real change, see the "what would move this" panel below.
Why Nepal is here
Nepal had one of the largest democratic deteriorations globally in 2025 (-0.59 from the prior year), per the EIU — the steepest fall in South Asia. Still classified as a "Hybrid regime", but now sitting at 4.01/10 — perilously close to the "Authoritarian" boundary at 4.00. The main drivers of decline were the civil-liberties and functioning-of-government sub-scores, against a backdrop of party instability and constraints on assembly.
The short version
Nepal does hold real elections — that part is good. But governments keep falling, courts are not fully independent, and politicians switch sides for jobs. In 2025 our score dropped from 4.60 to 4.01 — one of the biggest falls in the world this year.
Inside the score
The headline number breaks down into these sub-scores — these are the levers.
Electoral process & pluralism
8.75/10
Strongest pillar — 2022 federal/provincial elections held on schedule, peaceful, competitive
Functioning of government
4.29/10
14 PMs since 2008. Coalition arithmetic, not policy, drives most decisions
Political participation
4.44/10
Turnout 61% (2022); women, Madhesi, Janajati representation rising but tokenistic in cabinet
Political culture
2.5/10
Weakest pillar — public trust in parties and parliament collapsed
Civil liberties
5.88/10
Protected by constitution; uneven enforcement, especially on assembly and online speech
SAARC scoreboard
How Nepal compares to its neighbours on this index, latest year.
What would actually move this
Three concrete actions — each tied to where a comparable country actually moved on this metric.
- 1
A directly-elected prime minister or constitutional limit on no-confidence motions (the chronic instability is structural, not personal).
- 2
Strict floor-crossing law with automatic seat loss.
- 3
Independent Judicial Council appointments outside the executive's gift.
Countries that moved — and how
Real reform episodes from countries roughly our size or context. Each shows that significant movement is possible within a decade.
Indonesia 🇮🇩
6.41 → 7.18 (2007 → 2014)
Direct presidential election, decentralisation, anti-corruption commission (KPK) given prosecutorial autonomy.
South Korea 🇰🇷
7.88 → 8.06 (2006 → 2024)
Independent judiciary, civil society space, peaceful impeachment of a sitting president — institutions held.
Mongolia 🇲🇳
6.60 → 6.42 (2006 → 2024)
Steady consolidation despite resource-curse risks; 2024 election peaceful and audited.
Source · cited verbatim
Economist Intelligence Unit — Democracy Index, 2025
Open the publisher's releaseAll values on this page are taken directly from this source. Year and confidence level is shown on each card. If you find a discrepancy with the publisher's current dataset, please report it.