Political Rights Score in South Korea
South Korea: Political Rights Score was 33 in 2025. ▼ Falling
Political Rights Score in South Korea, 2002–2025
Source: Freedom House (2026) – processed by Our World in Data.
Analysis
South Korea recorded 33 for political rights score in 2025.
The figure is up 3.1% on the previous year and down 2.9% over ten years.
Over the whole period, political rights score in South Korea peaked at 36 in 2004 and was at its lowest, 32, in 2002.
That places South Korea 67th 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 South Korea, year by year
| Year | Value | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 2002 | 32 | — |
| 2003 | 33 | +3.1% |
| 2004 | 36 | +9.1% |
| 2005 | 36 | +0.0% |
| 2006 | 36 | +0.0% |
| 2007 | 36 | +0.0% |
| 2008 | 36 | +0.0% |
| 2009 | 36 | +0.0% |
| 2010 | 36 | +0.0% |
| 2011 | 36 | +0.0% |
| 2012 | 36 | +0.0% |
| 2013 | 35 | -2.8% |
| 2014 | 34 | -2.9% |
| 2015 | 34 | +0.0% |
| 2016 | 32 | -5.9% |
| 2017 | 33 | +3.1% |
| 2018 | 33 | +0.0% |
| 2019 | 33 | +0.0% |
| 2020 | 33 | +0.0% |
| 2021 | 33 | +0.0% |
| 2022 | 33 | +0.0% |
| 2023 | 33 | +0.0% |
| 2024 | 32 | -3.0% |
| 2025 | 33 | +3.1% |
South Korea compared with similar countries
- South Korea's 33 is below the median for high income countries, which is 37, 89% of the median. (66 countries reporting)
- South Korea's 33 is above the median for East Asia & Pacific, which is 28, 1.2× the median. (31 countries reporting)
Averages by decade
| Decade | Average | Lowest | Highest | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2000s | 35.12 | 32 | 36 | 8 |
| 2010s | 34.2 | 32 | 36 | 10 |
| 2020s | 32.83 | 32 | 33 | 6 |
Countries ranked near South Korea
- 67 Bhutan 33 compare
- 67 East Timor 33 compare
- 67 Liechtenstein 33 compare
More social development data for South Korea
- Refugees under the mandate of the UNHCR by country or territory of 4,407 (2025)
- Refugees under the mandate of the UNHCR by country or territory of 117 (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 units per person (2025)
- Refugees under the mandate of the UNHCR by country or territory of 117 (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 0 units per US$ of GDP (2025)
Frequently asked questions
- What is political rights score in South Korea?
- Political rights score in South Korea was 33 in 2025, according to Freedom House (2026) – processed by Our World in Data.
- What is the highest political rights score recorded in South Korea?
- The highest recorded value was 36 in 2004.
- What is the lowest political rights score recorded in South Korea?
- The lowest recorded value was 32 in 2002.
- How does South Korea rank for political rights score?
- South Korea ranks 67th out of 197 countries with data for 2025.
- Is political rights score rising or falling in South Korea?
- Over the last ten years it is down 2.9%. The long-run trend across the full record is falling.
- Where does this South Korea 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.