Political Rights Score in Maldives
Maldives: Political Rights Score was 19 in 2025. ▲ Rising
Political Rights Score in Maldives, 2002–2025
Source: Freedom House (2026) – processed by Our World in Data.
Analysis
Maldives recorded 19 for political rights score in 2025.
The figure is down 5.0% on the previous year and unchanged over ten years.
Over the whole period, political rights score in Maldives peaked at 25 in 2009 and was at its lowest, 9, in 2002.
That places Maldives 116th out of 197 countries with data for 2025, putting it 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 Maldives, year by year
| Year | Value | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 2002 | 9 | — |
| 2003 | 9 | +0.0% |
| 2004 | 9 | +0.0% |
| 2005 | 9 | +0.0% |
| 2006 | 11 | +22.2% |
| 2007 | 11 | +0.0% |
| 2008 | 20 | +81.8% |
| 2009 | 25 | +25.0% |
| 2010 | 24 | -4.0% |
| 2011 | 24 | +0.0% |
| 2012 | 17 | -29.2% |
| 2013 | 19 | +11.8% |
| 2014 | 20 | +5.3% |
| 2015 | 19 | -5.0% |
| 2016 | 17 | -10.5% |
| 2017 | 14 | -17.6% |
| 2018 | 14 | +0.0% |
| 2019 | 18 | +28.6% |
| 2020 | 19 | +5.6% |
| 2021 | 19 | +0.0% |
| 2022 | 19 | +0.0% |
| 2023 | 21 | +10.5% |
| 2024 | 20 | -4.8% |
| 2025 | 19 | -5.0% |
Maldives compared with similar countries
- Maldives's 19 is below the median for upper middle income countries, which is 26, 73% of the median. (58 countries reporting)
- Maldives's 19 is below the median for South Asia, which is 28, 68% of the median. (6 countries reporting)
Biggest year-on-year movements
Years where Political Rights Score in Maldives 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | +81.8% | 11 | 20 |
Averages by decade
| Decade | Average | Lowest | Highest | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2000s | 12.88 | 9 | 25 | 8 |
| 2010s | 18.6 | 14 | 24 | 10 |
| 2020s | 19.5 | 19 | 21 | 6 |
Countries ranked near Maldives
More social development data for Maldives
- Refugees under the mandate of the UNHCR by country or territory of 62 (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 62 (2025)
- Sovereign state gleditsch ward, annual growth rate 0 % change on previous year (2025)
- Refugees under the mandate of the UNHCR by country or territory of -18.42 % change on previous year (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 Maldives?
- Political rights score in Maldives was 19 in 2025, according to Freedom House (2026) – processed by Our World in Data.
- What is the highest political rights score recorded in Maldives?
- The highest recorded value was 25 in 2009.
- What is the lowest political rights score recorded in Maldives?
- The lowest recorded value was 9 in 2002.
- How does Maldives rank for political rights score?
- Maldives ranks 116th out of 197 countries with data for 2025.
- Is political rights score rising or falling in Maldives?
- Over the last ten years it is unchanged. The long-run trend across the full record is rising.
- Where does this Maldives 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.