Political Rights Score in Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe: Political Rights Score was 8 in 2025. ▲ Rising
Political Rights Score in Zimbabwe, 2002–2025
Source: Freedom House (2026) – processed by Our World in Data.
Analysis
Zimbabwe recorded 8 for political rights score in 2025.
That represents a change of down 11.1% on the previous year and down 33.3% over ten years.
Over the whole period, political rights score in Zimbabwe peaked at 12 in 2013 and was at its lowest, 4, in 2006.
That places Zimbabwe 143rd 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 Zimbabwe, year by year
| Year | Value | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 2002 | 6 | — |
| 2003 | 6 | +0.0% |
| 2004 | 5 | -16.7% |
| 2005 | 5 | +0.0% |
| 2006 | 4 | -20.0% |
| 2007 | 5 | +25.0% |
| 2008 | 4 | -20.0% |
| 2009 | 7 | +75.0% |
| 2010 | 8 | +14.3% |
| 2011 | 8 | +0.0% |
| 2012 | 11 | +37.5% |
| 2013 | 12 | +9.1% |
| 2014 | 12 | +0.0% |
| 2015 | 12 | +0.0% |
| 2016 | 12 | +0.0% |
| 2017 | 10 | -16.7% |
| 2018 | 12 | +20.0% |
| 2019 | 12 | +0.0% |
| 2020 | 11 | -8.3% |
| 2021 | 11 | +0.0% |
| 2022 | 11 | +0.0% |
| 2023 | 10 | -9.1% |
| 2024 | 9 | -10.0% |
| 2025 | 8 | -11.1% |
Zimbabwe compared with similar countries
- Zimbabwe's 8 is below the median for lower middle income countries, which is 15, 53% of the median. (46 countries reporting)
- Zimbabwe's 8 is below the median for Sub-Saharan Africa, which is 10.5, 76% of the median. (48 countries reporting)
Averages by decade
| Decade | Average | Lowest | Highest | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2000s | 5.25 | 4 | 7 | 8 |
| 2010s | 10.9 | 8 | 12 | 10 |
| 2020s | 10 | 8 | 11 | 6 |
Countries ranked near Zimbabwe
More social development data for Zimbabwe
- Refugees under the mandate of the UNHCR by country or territory of 8,570 (2025)
- Refugees under the mandate of the UNHCR by country or territory of 6,632 (2025)
- Political Rights Rating 6 (2025)
- Electoral democracy 0 (2025)
- Political rights rating fh, annual growth rate 0 % change on previous year (2025)
- Political rights rating fh, gaps filled 6 (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 6,632 (2025)
- Refugees under the mandate of the UNHCR by country or territory of 0.0005 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 Zimbabwe?
- Political rights score in Zimbabwe was 8 in 2025, according to Freedom House (2026) – processed by Our World in Data.
- What is the highest political rights score recorded in Zimbabwe?
- The highest recorded value was 12 in 2013.
- What is the lowest political rights score recorded in Zimbabwe?
- The lowest recorded value was 4 in 2006.
- How does Zimbabwe rank for political rights score?
- Zimbabwe ranks 143rd out of 197 countries with data for 2025.
- Is political rights score rising or falling in Zimbabwe?
- Over the last ten years it is down 33.3%. The long-run trend across the full record is rising.
- Where does this Zimbabwe 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.