By 1950, the defeat of Nazi totalitarianism, the postwar momentum toward decolonization, and the postwar reconstruction of Europe and Japan resulted in an increase in the number of democratic states. At midcentury, there were 22 democracies accounting for 31 percent of the world population and a further 21 states with restricted democratic practices, accounting for 11.9 percent of the globe's population.

By the close of our century liberal and electoral democracies clearly predominate, and have expanded significantly in the Third Wave, which has brought democracy to much of the post-Communist world and to Latin America and parts of Asia and Africa. Electoral democracies now represent 120 of the 192 existing countries and constitute 58.2 percent of the world's population. At the same time liberal democracies i.e. countries Freedom House regards as free and respectful of basic human rights and the rule of law are 85 in number and represent 38 percent of the global population.

Another major trend of the century is the proliferation of sovereign states. In 1900, there were 55 sovereign states, 80 in 1950 and today there are 192. Sovereignty, of course, is no guarantee of democracy. Nor is democracy an absolute guarantee of respect for human rights. Because democracy has expanded rapidly over the last 20 years, many new democracies are fragile and the gains could well be reversed.

List of Electoral Democracies (120) as of January, 2000

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