What is varieties of democracy in Jamaica?

Varieties of democracy in Jamaica was 0.805 in 2025, according to V-Dem (2026) – processed by Our World in Data.

What is the highest varieties of democracy recorded in Jamaica?

The highest recorded value was 0.811 in 2017.

What is the lowest varieties of democracy recorded in Jamaica?

The lowest recorded value was 0.195 in 1930.

How does Jamaica rank for varieties of democracy?

Jamaica ranks 27th out of 176 countries with data for 2025.

Is varieties of democracy rising or falling in Jamaica?

Over the last ten years it is up 0.9%. The long-run trend across the full record is rising.

Where does this Jamaica data come from?

The figures come from V-Dem (2026) – processed by Our World in Data, published as part of Varieties of democracy. Statizoid updates them automatically from the source API.

Varieties of democracy in Jamaica

Name: Varieties of democracy in Jamaica
Creator: V-Dem (2026) – processed by Our World in Data
License: CC BY 4.0 (Our World in Data)

Jamaica: Varieties of democracy was 0.805 in 2025. ▲ Rising

Latest (2025)

0.805

Change on year

up 0.9%

World rank

27th

of 176 countries

All-time high

0.811

in 2017

All-time low

0.195

in 1930

Years of data

126

1900–2025

Varieties of democracy in Jamaica, 1900–2025

Source: V-Dem (2026) – processed by Our World in Data.

Analysis

In 2025, varieties of democracy in Jamaica stood at 0.805.

The figure is up 0.9% on the previous year and up 0.9% over ten years.

Over the whole period, varieties of democracy in Jamaica peaked at 0.811 in 2017 and was at its lowest, 0.195, in 1930.

That places Jamaica 27th out of 176 countries with data for 2025, putting it in the top quarter.

The long-run direction has been consistently rising across the 126 years of available data.

Varieties of democracy in Jamaica, year by year

Annual values for Varieties of democracy in Jamaica, 1900 to 2025.
Year	Value	Change
1900	0.2	—
1901	0.2	+0.0%
1902	0.2	+0.0%
1903	0.2	+0.0%
1904	0.2	+0.0%
1905	0.2	+0.0%
1906	0.199	-0.5%
1907	0.199	+0.0%
1908	0.199	+0.0%
1909	0.199	+0.0%
1910	0.199	+0.0%
1911	0.199	+0.0%
1912	0.199	+0.0%
1913	0.199	+0.0%
1914	0.199	+0.0%
1915	0.199	+0.0%
1916	0.199	+0.0%
1917	0.199	+0.0%
1918	0.199	+0.0%
1919	0.202	+1.5%
1920	0.196	-3.0%
1921	0.196	+0.0%
1922	0.196	+0.0%
1923	0.196	+0.0%
1924	0.196	+0.0%
1925	0.201	+2.6%
1926	0.201	+0.0%
1927	0.201	+0.0%
1928	0.201	+0.0%
1929	0.201	+0.0%
1930	0.195	-3.0%
1931	0.195	+0.0%
1932	0.195	+0.0%
1933	0.195	+0.0%
1934	0.195	+0.0%
1935	0.2	+2.6%
1936	0.2	+0.0%
1937	0.201	+0.5%
1938	0.207	+3.0%
1939	0.205	-1.0%
1940	0.204	-0.5%
1941	0.204	+0.0%
1942	0.204	+0.0%
1943	0.204	+0.0%
1944	0.289	+41.7%
1945	0.305	+5.5%
1946	0.305	+0.0%
1947	0.314	+3.0%
1948	0.314	+0.0%
1949	0.314	+0.0%
1950	0.306	-2.5%
1951	0.306	+0.0%
1952	0.308	+0.7%
1953	0.426	+38.3%
1954	0.487	+14.3%
1955	0.494	+1.4%
1956	0.523	+5.9%
1957	0.523	+0.0%
1958	0.523	+0.0%
1959	0.513	-1.9%
1960	0.511	-0.4%
1961	0.511	+0.0%
1962	0.543	+6.3%
1963	0.546	+0.6%
1964	0.546	+0.0%
1965	0.541	-0.9%
1966	0.541	+0.0%
1967	0.515	-4.8%
1968	0.51	-1.0%
1969	0.518	+1.6%
1970	0.521	+0.6%
1971	0.521	+0.0%
1972	0.52	-0.2%
1973	0.515	-1.0%
1974	0.512	-0.6%
1975	0.512	+0.0%
1976	0.511	-0.2%
1977	0.469	-8.2%
1978	0.466	-0.6%
1979	0.475	+1.9%
1980	0.499	+5.1%
1981	0.473	-5.2%
1982	0.473	+0.0%
1983	0.475	+0.4%
1984	0.536	+12.8%
1985	0.537	+0.2%
1986	0.537	+0.0%
1987	0.537	+0.0%
1988	0.537	+0.0%
1989	0.56	+4.3%
1990	0.577	+3.0%
1991	0.577	+0.0%
1992	0.577	+0.0%
1993	0.608	+5.4%
1994	0.623	+2.5%
1995	0.627	+0.6%
1996	0.628	+0.2%
1997	0.642	+2.2%
1998	0.67	+4.4%
1999	0.67	+0.0%
2000	0.675	+0.7%
2001	0.675	+0.0%
2002	0.695	+3.0%
2003	0.743	+6.9%
2004	0.743	+0.0%
2005	0.751	+1.1%
2006	0.756	+0.7%
2007	0.762	+0.8%
2008	0.774	+1.6%
2009	0.774	+0.0%
2010	0.774	+0.0%
2011	0.767	-0.9%
2012	0.784	+2.2%
2013	0.798	+1.8%
2014	0.798	+0.0%
2015	0.798	+0.0%
2016	0.804	+0.8%
2017	0.811	+0.9%
2018	0.807	-0.5%
2019	0.81	+0.4%
2020	0.808	-0.2%
2021	0.801	-0.9%
2022	0.798	-0.4%
2023	0.798	+0.0%
2024	0.798	+0.0%
2025	0.805	+0.9%

Jamaica compared with similar countries

Jamaica's 0.805 is above the median for upper middle income countries, which is 0.491, 1.6× the median. (48 countries reporting)
Jamaica's 0.805 is above the median for Latin America & Caribbean, which is 0.667, 1.2× the median. (25 countries reporting)

Biggest year-on-year movements

Years where Varieties of democracy in Jamaica 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
1944	+41.7%	0.204	0.289
1953	+38.3%	0.308	0.426

Averages by decade

Decade	Average	Lowest	Highest	Years
1900s	0.1996	0.199	0.2	10
1910s	0.1993	0.199	0.202	10
1920s	0.1985	0.196	0.201	10
1930s	0.1988	0.195	0.207	10
1940s	0.2657	0.204	0.314	10
1950s	0.4409	0.306	0.523	10
1960s	0.5282	0.51	0.546	10
1970s	0.5022	0.466	0.521	10
1980s	0.5164	0.473	0.56	10
1990s	0.6199	0.577	0.67	10
2000s	0.7348	0.675	0.774	10
2010s	0.7951	0.767	0.811	10
2020s	0.8013	0.798	0.808	6

Countries ranked near Jamaica

24 Japan 0.819 compare
24 South Korea 0.819 compare
26 Iceland 0.807 compare
28 Taiwan 0.801 compare
29 Barbados 0.797 compare
30 Lithuania 0.786 compare
30 Trinidad and Tobago 0.786 compare

See the full ranking of 176 places →

More social development data for Jamaica

Refugees under the mandate of the UNHCR by country or territory of 31 (2022)
Refugees under the mandate of the UNHCR by country or territory of 2,642 (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 0.0009 units per person (2025)
Refugees under the mandate of the UNHCR by country or territory of 2,642 (2025)
Refugees under the mandate of the UNHCR by country or territory of 0 units per person (2022)
Refugees under the mandate of the UNHCR by country or territory of 0 units per US$ of GDP (2022)

All data for Jamaica →

Frequently asked questions

What is varieties of democracy in Jamaica?: Varieties of democracy in Jamaica was 0.805 in 2025, according to V-Dem (2026) – processed by Our World in Data.
What is the highest varieties of democracy recorded in Jamaica?: The highest recorded value was 0.811 in 2017.
What is the lowest varieties of democracy recorded in Jamaica?: The lowest recorded value was 0.195 in 1930.
How does Jamaica rank for varieties of democracy?: Jamaica ranks 27th out of 176 countries with data for 2025.
Is varieties of democracy rising or falling in Jamaica?: Over the last ten years it is up 0.9%. The long-run trend across the full record is rising.
Where does this Jamaica data come from?: The figures come from V-Dem (2026) – processed by Our World in Data, published as part of Varieties of democracy. Statizoid updates them automatically from the source API.

Download this data

CSV · JSON — 126 observations, free to reuse under CC BY 4.0 (Our World in Data).

Share, cite or embed this page

Cite this page

Varieties of democracy in Jamaica. Statizoid, drawing on V-Dem (2026) – processed by Our World in Data. Retrieved 22 September 2026, from https://social-development.statizoid.com/stat/varieties-democracy-vdem/jamaica/

Embed or link this data

Paste this into a page to link back to these figures. The data itself is free to reuse under CC BY 4.0 (Our World in Data); please keep the attribution.

<a href="https://social-development.statizoid.com/stat/varieties-democracy-vdem/jamaica/">Varieties of democracy in Jamaica</a> — Statizoid

About this data

Indicator: Varieties of democracy
Source: V-Dem (2026) – processed by Our World in Data
Licence: CC BY 4.0 (Our World in Data)
Coverage: 176 places, 29,649 data points, 1789–2025
Last refreshed: 18 September 2026

Central estimate of the extent to which political leaders are elected under comprehensive suffrage in free and fair elections, and freedoms of association and expression are guaranteed.