Key features of electoral democracy in Jamaica
Jamaica: Key features of electoral democracy was 0.805 in 2025. ▲ Rising
Latest (2025)
0.805
Change on year
up 0.9%
World rank
27th
of 176 countries
All-time high
0.811
in 2017
All-time low
0.195
in 1930
Years of data
126
1900–2025
Key features of electoral democracy in Jamaica, 1900–2025
Source: V-Dem (2026) – processed by Our World in Data.
Analysis
The most recent figure for key features of electoral democracy in Jamaica is 0.805, measured in 2025.
That represents a change of up 0.9% on the previous year and up 0.9% over ten years.
Over the whole period, key features of electoral democracy in Jamaica peaked at 0.811 in 2017 and was at its lowest, 0.195, in 1930.
That places Jamaica 27th out of 176 countries with data for 2025, putting it in the top quarter.
The long-run direction has been consistently rising across the 126 years of available data.
Key features of electoral democracy in Jamaica, year by year
| Year | Value | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 1900 | 0.2 | — |
| 1901 | 0.2 | +0.0% |
| 1902 | 0.2 | +0.0% |
| 1903 | 0.2 | +0.0% |
| 1904 | 0.2 | +0.0% |
| 1905 | 0.2 | +0.0% |
| 1906 | 0.199 | -0.5% |
| 1907 | 0.199 | +0.0% |
| 1908 | 0.199 | +0.0% |
| 1909 | 0.199 | +0.0% |
| 1910 | 0.199 | +0.0% |
| 1911 | 0.199 | +0.0% |
| 1912 | 0.199 | +0.0% |
| 1913 | 0.199 | +0.0% |
| 1914 | 0.199 | +0.0% |
| 1915 | 0.199 | +0.0% |
| 1916 | 0.199 | +0.0% |
| 1917 | 0.199 | +0.0% |
| 1918 | 0.199 | +0.0% |
| 1919 | 0.202 | +1.5% |
| 1920 | 0.196 | -3.0% |
| 1921 | 0.196 | +0.0% |
| 1922 | 0.196 | +0.0% |
| 1923 | 0.196 | +0.0% |
| 1924 | 0.196 | +0.0% |
| 1925 | 0.201 | +2.6% |
| 1926 | 0.201 | +0.0% |
| 1927 | 0.201 | +0.0% |
| 1928 | 0.201 | +0.0% |
| 1929 | 0.201 | +0.0% |
| 1930 | 0.195 | -3.0% |
| 1931 | 0.195 | +0.0% |
| 1932 | 0.195 | +0.0% |
| 1933 | 0.195 | +0.0% |
| 1934 | 0.195 | +0.0% |
| 1935 | 0.2 | +2.6% |
| 1936 | 0.2 | +0.0% |
| 1937 | 0.201 | +0.5% |
| 1938 | 0.207 | +3.0% |
| 1939 | 0.205 | -1.0% |
| 1940 | 0.204 | -0.5% |
| 1941 | 0.204 | +0.0% |
| 1942 | 0.204 | +0.0% |
| 1943 | 0.204 | +0.0% |
| 1944 | 0.289 | +41.7% |
| 1945 | 0.305 | +5.5% |
| 1946 | 0.305 | +0.0% |
| 1947 | 0.314 | +3.0% |
| 1948 | 0.314 | +0.0% |
| 1949 | 0.314 | +0.0% |
| 1950 | 0.306 | -2.5% |
| 1951 | 0.306 | +0.0% |
| 1952 | 0.308 | +0.7% |
| 1953 | 0.426 | +38.3% |
| 1954 | 0.487 | +14.3% |
| 1955 | 0.494 | +1.4% |
| 1956 | 0.523 | +5.9% |
| 1957 | 0.523 | +0.0% |
| 1958 | 0.523 | +0.0% |
| 1959 | 0.513 | -1.9% |
| 1960 | 0.511 | -0.4% |
| 1961 | 0.511 | +0.0% |
| 1962 | 0.543 | +6.3% |
| 1963 | 0.546 | +0.6% |
| 1964 | 0.546 | +0.0% |
| 1965 | 0.541 | -0.9% |
| 1966 | 0.541 | +0.0% |
| 1967 | 0.515 | -4.8% |
| 1968 | 0.51 | -1.0% |
| 1969 | 0.518 | +1.6% |
| 1970 | 0.521 | +0.6% |
| 1971 | 0.521 | +0.0% |
| 1972 | 0.52 | -0.2% |
| 1973 | 0.515 | -1.0% |
| 1974 | 0.512 | -0.6% |
| 1975 | 0.512 | +0.0% |
| 1976 | 0.511 | -0.2% |
| 1977 | 0.469 | -8.2% |
| 1978 | 0.466 | -0.6% |
| 1979 | 0.475 | +1.9% |
| 1980 | 0.499 | +5.1% |
| 1981 | 0.473 | -5.2% |
| 1982 | 0.473 | +0.0% |
| 1983 | 0.475 | +0.4% |
| 1984 | 0.536 | +12.8% |
| 1985 | 0.537 | +0.2% |
| 1986 | 0.537 | +0.0% |
| 1987 | 0.537 | +0.0% |
| 1988 | 0.537 | +0.0% |
| 1989 | 0.56 | +4.3% |
| 1990 | 0.577 | +3.0% |
| 1991 | 0.577 | +0.0% |
| 1992 | 0.577 | +0.0% |
| 1993 | 0.608 | +5.4% |
| 1994 | 0.623 | +2.5% |
| 1995 | 0.627 | +0.6% |
| 1996 | 0.628 | +0.2% |
| 1997 | 0.642 | +2.2% |
| 1998 | 0.67 | +4.4% |
| 1999 | 0.67 | +0.0% |
| 2000 | 0.675 | +0.7% |
| 2001 | 0.675 | +0.0% |
| 2002 | 0.695 | +3.0% |
| 2003 | 0.743 | +6.9% |
| 2004 | 0.743 | +0.0% |
| 2005 | 0.751 | +1.1% |
| 2006 | 0.756 | +0.7% |
| 2007 | 0.762 | +0.8% |
| 2008 | 0.774 | +1.6% |
| 2009 | 0.774 | +0.0% |
| 2010 | 0.774 | +0.0% |
| 2011 | 0.767 | -0.9% |
| 2012 | 0.784 | +2.2% |
| 2013 | 0.798 | +1.8% |
| 2014 | 0.798 | +0.0% |
| 2015 | 0.798 | +0.0% |
| 2016 | 0.804 | +0.8% |
| 2017 | 0.811 | +0.9% |
| 2018 | 0.807 | -0.5% |
| 2019 | 0.81 | +0.4% |
| 2020 | 0.808 | -0.2% |
| 2021 | 0.801 | -0.9% |
| 2022 | 0.798 | -0.4% |
| 2023 | 0.798 | +0.0% |
| 2024 | 0.798 | +0.0% |
| 2025 | 0.805 | +0.9% |
Jamaica compared with similar countries
- Jamaica's 0.805 is above the median for upper middle income countries, which is 0.491, 1.6× the median. (48 countries reporting)
- Jamaica's 0.805 is above the median for Latin America & Caribbean, which is 0.667, 1.2× the median. (25 countries reporting)
Biggest year-on-year movements
Years where Key features of electoral democracy in Jamaica changed far more than this series normally does. A large move can be a real event or a change in how the figure was measured — the source note below says who published it.
| Year | Change | From | To |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1944 | +41.7% | 0.204 | 0.289 |
| 1953 | +38.3% | 0.308 | 0.426 |
Averages by decade
| Decade | Average | Lowest | Highest | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1900s | 0.1996 | 0.199 | 0.2 | 10 |
| 1910s | 0.1993 | 0.199 | 0.202 | 10 |
| 1920s | 0.1985 | 0.196 | 0.201 | 10 |
| 1930s | 0.1988 | 0.195 | 0.207 | 10 |
| 1940s | 0.2657 | 0.204 | 0.314 | 10 |
| 1950s | 0.4409 | 0.306 | 0.523 | 10 |
| 1960s | 0.5282 | 0.51 | 0.546 | 10 |
| 1970s | 0.5022 | 0.466 | 0.521 | 10 |
| 1980s | 0.5164 | 0.473 | 0.56 | 10 |
| 1990s | 0.6199 | 0.577 | 0.67 | 10 |
| 2000s | 0.7348 | 0.675 | 0.774 | 10 |
| 2010s | 0.7951 | 0.767 | 0.811 | 10 |
| 2020s | 0.8013 | 0.798 | 0.808 | 6 |
Countries ranked near Jamaica
More social development data for Jamaica
- Refugees under the mandate of the UNHCR by country or territory of 31 (2022)
- Refugees under the mandate of the UNHCR by country or territory of 2,642 (2025)
- Political Rights Rating 2 (2025)
- Electoral democracy 1 (2025)
- Political rights rating fh, annual growth rate 0 % change on previous year (2025)
- Political rights rating fh, gaps filled 2 (2025)
- Refugees under the mandate of the UNHCR by country or territory of 0.0009 units per person (2025)
- Refugees under the mandate of the UNHCR by country or territory of 2,642 (2025)
- Refugees under the mandate of the UNHCR by country or territory of 0 units per person (2022)
- Refugees under the mandate of the UNHCR by country or territory of 0 units per US$ of GDP (2022)
Frequently asked questions
- What is key features of electoral democracy in Jamaica?
- Key features of electoral democracy in Jamaica was 0.805 in 2025, according to V-Dem (2026) – processed by Our World in Data.
- What is the highest key features of electoral democracy recorded in Jamaica?
- The highest recorded value was 0.811 in 2017.
- What is the lowest key features of electoral democracy recorded in Jamaica?
- The lowest recorded value was 0.195 in 1930.
- How does Jamaica rank for key features of electoral democracy?
- Jamaica ranks 27th out of 176 countries with data for 2025.
- Is key features of electoral democracy rising or falling in Jamaica?
- Over the last ten years it is up 0.9%. The long-run trend across the full record is rising.
- Where does this Jamaica data come from?
- The figures come from V-Dem (2026) – processed by Our World in Data, published as part of Key features of electoral democracy. Statizoid updates them automatically from the source API.
Download this data
CSV · JSON — 126 observations, free to reuse under CC BY 4.0 (Our World in Data).
About this data
Central estimate of the extent to which political leaders are elected under comprehensive suffrage in free and fair elections, and freedoms of association and expression are guaranteed.