A Word from the Team 5

Executive Summary 6

State of the World: Autocratization Turns Viral 9

Pandemic Backsliding: Does Covid-19 Put Democracy at Risk? 10

Another Year of Decline for Liberal Democracy 13

Advancers and Decliners 18

Threat to Freedom of Expression Intensifies 24

From Year of Protest to Year of Lockdown 28

V-Dem Data Details

V-Dem in Numbers 30

Regimes of the World, 2010–2020 31

Liberal Democracy Index, All Countries in 2020 and 2010 32

Detailed Data, All Countries' LDI and its Components, 2020 34

What is Democracy Good for? Introducing “The Case for Democracy” 36

New Global Data on Political Parties: V-Party 38

Publications from the V-Dem Team 41

V-Dem Indices 42 V-Dem Methodology 49

References 50