Political Rights Score in Bulgaria
Bulgaria: Political Rights Score was 30 in 2025. ▼ Falling
Political Rights Score in Bulgaria, 2002–2025
Source: Freedom House (2026) – processed by Our World in Data.
Analysis
In 2025, political rights score in Bulgaria stood at 30. That is the lowest value across all 24 years on record.
That represents a change of down 6.2% on the previous year and down 9.1% over ten years.
Over the whole period, political rights score in Bulgaria peaked at 36 in 2002 and was at its lowest, 30, in 2025.
That places Bulgaria 81st out of 197 countries with data for 2025, putting it 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 Bulgaria, year by year
| Year | Value | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 2002 | 36 | — |
| 2003 | 36 | +0.0% |
| 2004 | 36 | +0.0% |
| 2005 | 36 | +0.0% |
| 2006 | 36 | +0.0% |
| 2007 | 36 | +0.0% |
| 2008 | 35 | -2.8% |
| 2009 | 35 | +0.0% |
| 2010 | 35 | +0.0% |
| 2011 | 34 | -2.9% |
| 2012 | 34 | +0.0% |
| 2013 | 31 | -8.8% |
| 2014 | 33 | +6.5% |
| 2015 | 33 | +0.0% |
| 2016 | 33 | +0.0% |
| 2017 | 33 | +0.0% |
| 2018 | 33 | +0.0% |
| 2019 | 34 | +3.0% |
| 2020 | 33 | -2.9% |
| 2021 | 33 | +0.0% |
| 2022 | 33 | +0.0% |
| 2023 | 32 | -3.0% |
| 2024 | 32 | +0.0% |
| 2025 | 30 | -6.2% |
Bulgaria compared with similar countries
- Bulgaria's 30 is below the median for high income countries, which is 37, 81% of the median. (66 countries reporting)
- Bulgaria's 30 is below the median for Europe & Central Asia, which is 35, 86% of the median. (52 countries reporting)
Averages by decade
| Decade | Average | Lowest | Highest | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2000s | 35.75 | 35 | 36 | 8 |
| 2010s | 33.3 | 31 | 35 | 10 |
| 2020s | 32.17 | 30 | 33 | 6 |
Countries ranked near Bulgaria
More social development data for Bulgaria
- Refugees under the mandate of the UNHCR by country or territory of 105,596 (2025)
- Refugees under the mandate of the UNHCR by country or territory of 533 (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 0.0001 units per person (2025)
- Refugees under the mandate of the UNHCR by country or territory of 533 (2025)
- Refugees under the mandate of the UNHCR by country or territory of 0.0164 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 Bulgaria?
- Political rights score in Bulgaria was 30 in 2025, according to Freedom House (2026) – processed by Our World in Data.
- What is the highest political rights score recorded in Bulgaria?
- The highest recorded value was 36 in 2002.
- What is the lowest political rights score recorded in Bulgaria?
- The lowest recorded value was 30 in 2025.
- How does Bulgaria rank for political rights score?
- Bulgaria ranks 81st out of 197 countries with data for 2025.
- Is political rights score rising or falling in Bulgaria?
- Over the last ten years it is down 9.1%. The long-run trend across the full record is falling.
- Where does this Bulgaria 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.