DQI = (V-Dem × Freedom House × RSF)^(1/3). A geometric mean is used so that a collapse in any single dimension drags the whole index down — a country with strong elections but no press freedom is correctly penalised. Arithmetic means would obscure this.
Explore this in the live data →
This is one of 36 standing analyses drawn from the Some Perspective dataset. It is not dated commentary: it describes a relationship in the data that holds across the series, and it is regenerated whenever the underlying dataset is refreshed. The figures quoted here reflect the 2026-08-15 data vintage.