Political Rights Score in Benin
Benin: Political Rights Score was 19 in 2025. ▼ Falling
Political Rights Score in Benin, 2002–2025
Source: Freedom House (2026) – processed by Our World in Data.
Analysis
The most recent figure for political rights score in Benin is 19, measured in 2025.
Compared with earlier readings it is up 5.6% on the previous year and down 42.4% over ten years.
Over the whole period, political rights score in Benin peaked at 33 in 2006 and was at its lowest, 17, in 2021.
Benin ranks 116th of 197 countries on this measure, in the middle of the range.
The long-run direction has been consistently falling across the 24 years of available data.
Political Rights Score in Benin, year by year
| Year | Value | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 2002 | 27 | — |
| 2003 | 30 | +11.1% |
| 2004 | 30 | +0.0% |
| 2005 | 30 | +0.0% |
| 2006 | 33 | +10.0% |
| 2007 | 33 | +0.0% |
| 2008 | 32 | -3.0% |
| 2009 | 32 | +0.0% |
| 2010 | 33 | +3.1% |
| 2011 | 32 | -3.0% |
| 2012 | 32 | +0.0% |
| 2013 | 32 | +0.0% |
| 2014 | 32 | +0.0% |
| 2015 | 33 | +3.1% |
| 2016 | 33 | +0.0% |
| 2017 | 33 | +0.0% |
| 2018 | 32 | -3.0% |
| 2019 | 21 | -34.4% |
| 2020 | 21 | +0.0% |
| 2021 | 17 | -19.0% |
| 2022 | 17 | +0.0% |
| 2023 | 19 | +11.8% |
| 2024 | 18 | -5.3% |
| 2025 | 19 | +5.6% |
Benin compared with similar countries
- Benin's 19 is above the median for lower middle income countries, which is 15, 1.3× the median. (46 countries reporting)
- Benin's 19 is above the median for Sub-Saharan Africa, which is 10.5, 1.8× the median. (48 countries reporting)
Biggest year-on-year movements
Years where Political Rights Score in Benin 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | -34.4% | 32 | 21 |
Averages by decade
| Decade | Average | Lowest | Highest | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2000s | 30.88 | 27 | 33 | 8 |
| 2010s | 31.3 | 21 | 33 | 10 |
| 2020s | 18.5 | 17 | 21 | 6 |
Countries ranked near Benin
More social development data for Benin
- Refugees under the mandate of the UNHCR by country or territory of 16,974 (2025)
- Refugees under the mandate of the UNHCR by country or territory of 1,279 (2025)
- Political Rights Rating 4 (2025)
- Electoral democracy 0 (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 1,279 (2025)
- Refugees under the mandate of the UNHCR by country or territory of 0.0011 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 Benin?
- Political rights score in Benin was 19 in 2025, according to Freedom House (2026) – processed by Our World in Data.
- What is the highest political rights score recorded in Benin?
- The highest recorded value was 33 in 2006.
- What is the lowest political rights score recorded in Benin?
- The lowest recorded value was 17 in 2021.
- How does Benin rank for political rights score?
- Benin ranks 116th out of 197 countries with data for 2025.
- Is political rights score rising or falling in Benin?
- Over the last ten years it is down 42.4%. The long-run trend across the full record is falling.
- Where does this Benin 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.