Age of electoral democracy (Lexical Index) in Malaysia
Malaysia: Age of electoral democracy (Lexical Index) was 8 years in 2025. ◆ Volatile
Latest (2025)
8 years
Change on year
up 14.3%
World rank
129th
of 144 countries
All-time high
8 years
in 2025
All-time low
1 years
in 2018
Years of data
8
2018–2025
Age of electoral democracy in Malaysia, 2018–2025
Source: Lexical Index (2026) – processed by Our World in Data. Measured in years.
Analysis
The most recent figure for age of electoral democracy in Malaysia is 8 years, measured in 2025. That is the highest value across all 8 years on record.
That represents a change of up 14.3% on the previous year and up 700.0% over ten years.
That places Malaysia 129th out of 144 countries with data for 2025, putting it in the bottom quarter.
Age of electoral democracy (Lexical Index) in Malaysia, year by year
| Year | years | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 2018 | 1 years | — |
| 2019 | 2 years | +100.0% |
| 2020 | 3 years | +50.0% |
| 2021 | 4 years | +33.3% |
| 2022 | 5 years | +25.0% |
| 2023 | 6 years | +20.0% |
| 2024 | 7 years | +16.7% |
| 2025 | 8 years | +14.3% |
Malaysia compared with similar countries
- Malaysia's 8 years is below the median for upper middle income countries, which is 35 years, 23% of the median. (46 countries reporting)
- Malaysia's 8 years is below the median for East Asia & Pacific, which is 45 years, 18% of the median. (23 countries reporting)
Averages by decade
| Decade | Average | Lowest | Highest | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2010s | 1.5 years | 1 years | 2 years | 2 |
| 2020s | 5.5 years | 3 years | 8 years | 6 |
Countries ranked near Malaysia
More social development data for Malaysia
- Refugees under the mandate of the UNHCR by country or territory of 150,164 (2025)
- Refugees under the mandate of the UNHCR by country or territory of 2,477 (2025)
- Political Rights Rating 4 (2025)
- Electoral democracy 1 (2025)
- Political rights rating fh, annual growth rate 0 % change on previous year (2025)
- Political rights rating fh, gaps filled 4 (2025)
- Refugees under the mandate of the UNHCR by country or territory of 0.0001 units per person (2025)
- Refugees under the mandate of the UNHCR by country or territory of 2,477 (2025)
- Refugees under the mandate of the UNHCR by country or territory of 0.0042 units per person (2025)
- Refugees under the mandate of the UNHCR by country or territory of 0 units per US$ of GDP (2025)
Frequently asked questions
- What is age of electoral democracy in Malaysia?
- Age of electoral democracy in Malaysia was 8 years in 2025, according to Lexical Index (2026) – processed by Our World in Data.
- What is the highest age of electoral democracy recorded in Malaysia?
- The highest recorded value was 8 years in 2025.
- What is the lowest age of electoral democracy recorded in Malaysia?
- The lowest recorded value was 1 years in 2018.
- How does Malaysia rank for age of electoral democracy?
- Malaysia ranks 129th out of 144 countries with data for 2025.
- Is age of electoral democracy rising or falling in Malaysia?
- Over the last ten years it is up 700.0%. The long-run trend across the full record is volatile.
- Where does this Malaysia data come from?
- The figures come from Lexical Index (2026) – processed by Our World in Data, published as part of Age of electoral democracy. Statizoid updates them automatically from the source API.
Download this data
CSV · JSON — 8 observations, free to reuse under CC BY 4.0 (Our World in Data).
About this data
Number of consecutive years in electoral democracy.