France vs Japan: Full democracy

France
1
in 2025
Japan
1
in 2025
France rank
1st
Japan rank
1st

Full democracy over time

  • France
  • Japan
00.20.40.60.81178919072025

How they compare

France currently reports 1 against 1 in Japan, a difference of 0.

The two have swapped places 2 times across 237 shared years of data; in 1789 it was Japan ahead.

France ranks 1st and Japan ranks 1st of 197 countries.

France has averaged higher in every one of the 25 decades both report.

Head to head by decade

Decade France Japan Difference Ahead
1780s 0 0 0
1790s 0 0 0
1800s 0 0 0
1810s 0 0 0
1820s 0 0 0
1830s 0 0 0
1840s 0 0 0
1850s 0 0 0
1860s 0 0 0
1870s 0 0 0
1880s 0 0 0
1890s 0 0 0
1900s 0 0 0
1910s 0 0 0
1920s 0 0 0
1930s 0 0 0
1940s 0.4 0 0.4 France
1950s 1 0.6 0.4 France
1960s 1 1 0
1970s 1 1 0
1980s 1 1 0
1990s 1 1 0
2000s 1 1 0
2010s 1 1 0
2020s 1 1 0

Averages of every year both report within each decade.

Frequently asked questions

Which has higher full democracy, France or Japan?
France, at 1 against 1 in Japan as of 2025.
What is the difference in full democracy between France and Japan?
0, with France ahead.
How many years of comparable data are there for France and Japan?
237 years are reported by both, from 1789 to 2025.
How do France and Japan rank globally for full democracy?
France ranks 1st and Japan ranks 1st of 197 countries.
Where does this data come from?
Lexical Index (2026) – processed by Our World in Data, published as Full democracy. Statizoid refreshes it automatically from the source and publishes the full history for both places.

Individual pages

About this data

Indicator
Full democracy
Source
Lexical Index (2026) – processed by Our World in Data
Licence
CC BY 4.0 (Our World in Data)
Coverage
198 places, 32,485 data points, 1789–2025
Last refreshed

Identifies if a country is a full democracy using the extended Lexical Index of Electoral Democracy (LIED+).