Political Rights Score in Italy
Italy: Political Rights Score was 35 in 2025. ▼ Falling
Political Rights Score in Italy, 2002–2025
Source: Freedom House (2026) – processed by Our World in Data.
Analysis
Italy recorded 35 for political rights score in 2025. That is the lowest value across all 24 years on record.
Compared with earlier readings it is down 2.8% on the previous year and down 2.8% over ten years.
Over the whole period, political rights score in Italy peaked at 39 in 2005 and was at its lowest, 35, in 2012.
That places Italy 48th out of 197 countries with data for 2025, putting it in the top quarter.
The long-run direction has been consistently falling across the 24 years of available data.
Political Rights Score in Italy, year by year
| Year | Value | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 2002 | 38 | — |
| 2003 | 38 | +0.0% |
| 2004 | 38 | +0.0% |
| 2005 | 39 | +2.6% |
| 2006 | 38 | -2.6% |
| 2007 | 38 | +0.0% |
| 2008 | 38 | +0.0% |
| 2009 | 37 | -2.6% |
| 2010 | 37 | +0.0% |
| 2011 | 36 | -2.7% |
| 2012 | 35 | -2.8% |
| 2013 | 37 | +5.7% |
| 2014 | 36 | -2.7% |
| 2015 | 36 | +0.0% |
| 2016 | 36 | +0.0% |
| 2017 | 36 | +0.0% |
| 2018 | 36 | +0.0% |
| 2019 | 36 | +0.0% |
| 2020 | 36 | +0.0% |
| 2021 | 36 | +0.0% |
| 2022 | 36 | +0.0% |
| 2023 | 36 | +0.0% |
| 2024 | 36 | +0.0% |
| 2025 | 35 | -2.8% |
Italy compared with similar countries
- Italy's 35 is below the median for high income countries, which is 37, 95% of the median. (66 countries reporting)
- Italy's 35 is above the median for Europe & Central Asia, which is 35, 1.0× the median. (52 countries reporting)
Averages by decade
| Decade | Average | Lowest | Highest | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2000s | 38 | 37 | 39 | 8 |
| 2010s | 36.1 | 35 | 37 | 10 |
| 2020s | 35.83 | 35 | 36 | 6 |
Countries ranked near Italy
More social development data for Italy
- Refugees under the mandate of the UNHCR by country or territory of 192,914 (2025)
- Refugees under the mandate of the UNHCR by country or territory of 266 (2025)
- Political Rights Rating 2 (2025)
- Electoral democracy 1 (2025)
- Political rights rating fh, annual growth rate 100 % 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 units per person (2025)
- Refugees under the mandate of the UNHCR by country or territory of 266 (2025)
- Refugees under the mandate of the UNHCR by country or territory of 0.0033 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 Italy?
- Political rights score in Italy was 35 in 2025, according to Freedom House (2026) – processed by Our World in Data.
- What is the highest political rights score recorded in Italy?
- The highest recorded value was 39 in 2005.
- What is the lowest political rights score recorded in Italy?
- The lowest recorded value was 35 in 2012.
- How does Italy rank for political rights score?
- Italy ranks 48th out of 197 countries with data for 2025.
- Is political rights score rising or falling in Italy?
- Over the last ten years it is down 2.8%. The long-run trend across the full record is falling.
- Where does this Italy 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.