Donald Trump’s authoritarian drift in his second term places the country on a par with Hungary or Turkey, according to a ranking by Sweden’s V-Dem Institute

Donald Trump’s authoritarian drift in his second term places the country on a par with Hungary or Turkey, according to a ranking by Sweden’s V-Dem Institute

Democratic backsliding is advancing in the developed world. The annual report from Sweden’s V-Dem Institute leaves no room for doubt: almost a quarter of the world experienced democratic backsliding, or a shift towards autocratization, in 2025, and six of the 10 newly regressive countries identified in the research are located in Europe and North America, including G-7 powers such as Italy, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

But the most unsettling conclusion reached by the Swedish institute is that the United States — once a proud beacon of the more or less free world — is no longer a liberal democracy and is now on a par with countries like Hungary or Turkey, thanks to President Donald Trump. Autocracy is also spreading throughout Europe, but its reach extends far beyond the Old Continent: 41% of the world’s population (3.4 billion people) now live in countries where democracy is eroding.

The institute, which belongs to the University of Gothenburg and uses 48 metrics in its evaluation, is one of the most reliable sources when it comes to rating the state of governments around the world, and the conclusion of its 2026 study confirms the worst fears about the authoritarian drift of the U.S. under Trump’s leadership.

  • Buffalox@lemmy.world
    17·
    1 month ago

    Worldwide, democracy has regressed to its lowest levels since the mid-1970s

    I’ve been saying over and over again here, that it’s generally been going backwards since the 70’s. This goes for democracy, respect for human rights and minorities, and the peace movement.

    And many people here simply don’t believe it. (I’m guessing younger ones)

    • ChillPenguin@lemmy.world
      3·
      1 month ago

      It’s not just younger ones. I talk to a large group of boomers and they are all in the same boat of “everything is fine, we’ll just vote the next election. We’ve had presidents like this before.”

      • Buffalox@lemmy.world
        3·
        1 month ago

        We’ve had presidents like this before.”

        On that they are seriously mistaken, of course there have been bad presidents like Bush, but Trump is a whole new class of bad.
        I hope they are right, and that all this can be solved by a simple election, but I’m not betting on it.

        • ChillPenguin@lemmy.world
          2·
          1 month ago

          Yeah I really don’t think so. The damage is already done to democracy. I can believe we used to have a shared common decency. But it’s been rotting for a while now.

          Plus boomers aren’t known for actually fixing problems. The things I bring up to them, their responses are always like “well we will figure it out sometime” as they continue doing what they want. So uhhh… I don’t have a lot of confidence.

    • Psythik@lemmy.world
      42·
      1 month ago

      We need a second hippie revolution. And I don’t mean the half-assed underground “comebacks” from the late 90s and 2010s, a real movement that actually influences policy.