Political Rights Score in New Zealand
New Zealand: Political Rights Score was 40 in 2025. ▬ Flat
Political Rights Score in New Zealand, 2002–2025
Source: Freedom House (2026) – processed by Our World in Data.
Analysis
New Zealand recorded 40 for political rights score in 2025. That is the highest value across all 24 years on record.
That represents a change of unchanged over ten years.
Over the whole period, political rights score in New Zealand peaked at 40 in 2015 and was at its lowest, 39, in 2002.
New Zealand ranks 1st of 197 countries on this measure, in the top 10%.
Political Rights Score in New Zealand, year by year
| Year | Value | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 2002 | 39 | — |
| 2003 | 39 | +0.0% |
| 2004 | 39 | +0.0% |
| 2005 | 39 | +0.0% |
| 2006 | 39 | +0.0% |
| 2007 | 39 | +0.0% |
| 2008 | 39 | +0.0% |
| 2009 | 39 | +0.0% |
| 2010 | 39 | +0.0% |
| 2011 | 39 | +0.0% |
| 2012 | 39 | +0.0% |
| 2013 | 39 | +0.0% |
| 2014 | 39 | +0.0% |
| 2015 | 40 | +2.6% |
| 2016 | 40 | +0.0% |
| 2017 | 40 | +0.0% |
| 2018 | 40 | +0.0% |
| 2019 | 40 | +0.0% |
| 2020 | 40 | +0.0% |
| 2021 | 40 | +0.0% |
| 2022 | 40 | +0.0% |
| 2023 | 40 | +0.0% |
| 2024 | 40 | +0.0% |
| 2025 | 40 | +0.0% |
Averages by decade
| Decade | Average | Lowest | Highest | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2000s | 39 | 39 | 39 | 8 |
| 2010s | 39.5 | 39 | 40 | 10 |
| 2020s | 40 | 40 | 40 | 6 |
Countries ranked near New Zealand
More social development data for New Zealand
- Refugees under the mandate of the UNHCR by country or territory of 2,148 (2025)
- Refugees under the mandate of the UNHCR by country or territory of 58 (2025)
- Political Rights Rating 1 (2025)
- Electoral democracy 1 (2025)
- Political rights rating fh, annual growth rate 0 % change on previous year (2025)
- Political rights rating fh, gaps filled 1 (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 58 (2025)
- Refugees under the mandate of the UNHCR by country or territory of 0.0004 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 New Zealand?
- Political rights score in New Zealand was 40 in 2025, according to Freedom House (2026) – processed by Our World in Data.
- What is the highest political rights score recorded in New Zealand?
- The highest recorded value was 40 in 2015.
- What is the lowest political rights score recorded in New Zealand?
- The lowest recorded value was 39 in 2002.
- How does New Zealand rank for political rights score?
- New Zealand ranks 1st out of 197 countries with data for 2025.
- Is political rights score rising or falling in New Zealand?
- Over the last ten years it is unchanged. The long-run trend across the full record is flat.
- Where does this New Zealand 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.