Political Rights Score in Barbados
Barbados: Political Rights Score was 37 in 2025. ▼ Falling
Political Rights Score in Barbados, 2002–2025
Source: Freedom House (2026) – processed by Our World in Data.
Analysis
Barbados recorded 37 for political rights score in 2025. That is the lowest value across all 24 years on record.
Compared with earlier readings it is down 7.5% over ten years.
Over the whole period, political rights score in Barbados peaked at 40 in 2005 and was at its lowest, 37, in 2022.
Barbados ranks 34th of 197 countries on this measure, in the top quarter.
The long-run direction has been consistently falling across the 24 years of available data.
Political Rights Score in Barbados, year by year
| Year | Value | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 2002 | 39 | — |
| 2003 | 39 | +0.0% |
| 2004 | 39 | +0.0% |
| 2005 | 40 | +2.6% |
| 2006 | 40 | +0.0% |
| 2007 | 40 | +0.0% |
| 2008 | 40 | +0.0% |
| 2009 | 40 | +0.0% |
| 2010 | 40 | +0.0% |
| 2011 | 40 | +0.0% |
| 2012 | 40 | +0.0% |
| 2013 | 40 | +0.0% |
| 2014 | 40 | +0.0% |
| 2015 | 40 | +0.0% |
| 2016 | 40 | +0.0% |
| 2017 | 38 | -5.0% |
| 2018 | 38 | +0.0% |
| 2019 | 38 | +0.0% |
| 2020 | 38 | +0.0% |
| 2021 | 38 | +0.0% |
| 2022 | 37 | -2.6% |
| 2023 | 37 | +0.0% |
| 2024 | 37 | +0.0% |
| 2025 | 37 | +0.0% |
Barbados compared with similar countries
- Barbados's 37 is above the median for high income countries, which is 37, 1.0× the median. (66 countries reporting)
- Barbados's 37 is above the median for Latin America & Caribbean, which is 33, 1.1× the median. (34 countries reporting)
Averages by decade
| Decade | Average | Lowest | Highest | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2000s | 39.62 | 39 | 40 | 8 |
| 2010s | 39.4 | 38 | 40 | 10 |
| 2020s | 37.33 | 37 | 38 | 6 |
Countries ranked near Barbados
More social development data for Barbados
- Refugees under the mandate of the UNHCR by country or territory of 5 (2025)
- Refugees under the mandate of the UNHCR by country or territory of 577 (2025)
- Political Rights Rating 1 (2025)
- Electoral democracy 1 (2025)
- Political rights rating fh, annual growth rate 0 % change on previous year (2025)
- Political rights rating fh, gaps filled 1 (2025)
- Refugees under the mandate of the UNHCR by country or territory of 0.002 units per person (2025)
- Refugees under the mandate of the UNHCR by country or territory of 577 (2025)
- Refugees under the mandate of the UNHCR by country or territory of 0 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 political rights score in Barbados?
- Political rights score in Barbados was 37 in 2025, according to Freedom House (2026) – processed by Our World in Data.
- What is the highest political rights score recorded in Barbados?
- The highest recorded value was 40 in 2005.
- What is the lowest political rights score recorded in Barbados?
- The lowest recorded value was 37 in 2022.
- How does Barbados rank for political rights score?
- Barbados ranks 34th out of 197 countries with data for 2025.
- Is political rights score rising or falling in Barbados?
- Over the last ten years it is down 7.5%. The long-run trend across the full record is falling.
- Where does this Barbados data come from?
- The figures come from Freedom House (2026) – processed by Our World in Data, published as part of Political Rights Score. Statizoid updates them automatically from the source API.
Download this data
CSV · JSON — 24 observations, free to reuse under CC BY 4.0 (Our World in Data).
About this data
Identifies the fine-grained extent of free and fair elections, political pluralism and participation, and a functioning government. Higher scores indicate more rights.