South Korea vs Sweden: Full democracy

South Korea
1
in 2025
Sweden
1
in 2025
South Korea rank
1st
Sweden rank
1st

Full democracy over time

  • South Korea
  • Sweden
00.20.40.60.81178919072025

How they compare

South Korea currently reports 1 against 1 in Sweden, a difference of 0.

Across all 78 years both countries report, Sweden has been ahead every year.

South Korea ranks 1st and Sweden ranks 1st of 197 countries.

Sweden has averaged higher in every one of the 9 decades both report.

Head to head by decade

Decade South Korea Sweden Difference Ahead
1940s 0 1 1 Sweden
1950s 0 1 1 Sweden
1960s 0 1 1 Sweden
1970s 0 1 1 Sweden
1980s 0 1 1 Sweden
1990s 0.3 1 0.7 Sweden
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, South Korea or Sweden?
South Korea, at 1 against 1 in Sweden as of 2025.
What is the difference in full democracy between South Korea and Sweden?
0, with South Korea ahead.
How many years of comparable data are there for South Korea and Sweden?
78 years are reported by both, from 1948 to 2025.
How do South Korea and Sweden rank globally for full democracy?
South Korea ranks 1st and Sweden 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+).