Political Rights Score in Malaysia
Malaysia: Political Rights Score was 22 in 2025. ▲ Rising
Political Rights Score in Malaysia, 2002–2025
Source: Freedom House (2026) – processed by Our World in Data.
Analysis
In 2025, political rights score in Malaysia stood at 22. That is the highest value across all 24 years on record.
That represents a change of up 22.2% over ten years.
Over the whole period, political rights score in Malaysia peaked at 22 in 2022 and was at its lowest, 17, in 2002.
Malaysia ranks 108th of 197 countries on this measure, in the middle of the range.
The long-run direction has been consistently rising across the 24 years of available data.
Political Rights Score in Malaysia, year by year
| Year | Value | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 2002 | 17 | — |
| 2003 | 17 | +0.0% |
| 2004 | 19 | +11.8% |
| 2005 | 19 | +0.0% |
| 2006 | 19 | +0.0% |
| 2007 | 19 | +0.0% |
| 2008 | 20 | +5.3% |
| 2009 | 20 | +0.0% |
| 2010 | 20 | +0.0% |
| 2011 | 20 | +0.0% |
| 2012 | 20 | +0.0% |
| 2013 | 19 | -5.0% |
| 2014 | 19 | +0.0% |
| 2015 | 18 | -5.3% |
| 2016 | 18 | +0.0% |
| 2017 | 18 | +0.0% |
| 2018 | 21 | +16.7% |
| 2019 | 21 | +0.0% |
| 2020 | 21 | +0.0% |
| 2021 | 20 | -4.8% |
| 2022 | 22 | +10.0% |
| 2023 | 22 | +0.0% |
| 2024 | 22 | +0.0% |
| 2025 | 22 | +0.0% |
Malaysia compared with similar countries
- Malaysia's 22 is below the median for upper middle income countries, which is 26, 85% of the median. (58 countries reporting)
- Malaysia's 22 is below the median for East Asia & Pacific, which is 28, 79% of the median. (31 countries reporting)
Averages by decade
| Decade | Average | Lowest | Highest | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2000s | 18.75 | 17 | 20 | 8 |
| 2010s | 19.4 | 18 | 21 | 10 |
| 2020s | 21.5 | 20 | 22 | 6 |
Countries ranked near Malaysia
More social development data for Malaysia
- Refugees under the mandate of the UNHCR by country or territory of 150,164 (2025)
- Refugees under the mandate of the UNHCR by country or territory of 2,477 (2025)
- Political Rights Rating 4 (2025)
- Electoral democracy 1 (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 2,477 (2025)
- Refugees under the mandate of the UNHCR by country or territory of 0.0042 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 Malaysia?
- Political rights score in Malaysia was 22 in 2025, according to Freedom House (2026) – processed by Our World in Data.
- What is the highest political rights score recorded in Malaysia?
- The highest recorded value was 22 in 2022.
- What is the lowest political rights score recorded in Malaysia?
- The lowest recorded value was 17 in 2002.
- How does Malaysia rank for political rights score?
- Malaysia ranks 108th out of 197 countries with data for 2025.
- Is political rights score rising or falling in Malaysia?
- Over the last ten years it is up 22.2%. The long-run trend across the full record is rising.
- Where does this Malaysia 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.