Which countries are closed autocracies?

31 countries we track are classified as closed autocracies, including Eswatini, Eritrea, Jordan, Bahrain, Morocco.

Closed autocracy

31 countries

In a closed autocracy, citizens get no meaningful vote on who leads them. There are no real multiparty elections for the leadership. Power belongs to a single party, a royal family, or the military, and it changes hands on their terms.

Across the 31 closed autocracies we track, the current leader has been in office an average of 3,805 days (about 10.4 years).

Country	Leader	Days in office
🇸🇿 Eswatini	Mswati III · Monarch	14,738
🇪🇷 Eritrea	Isaias Afwerki · President	12,295
🇯🇴 Jordan	Abdullah II of Jordan · Monarch	10,067
🇧🇭 Bahrain	Hamad II of Bahrain · Monarch	10,040
🇲🇦 Morocco	Mohammed VI of Morocco · Monarch	9,901
🇸🇸 South Sudan	Salva Kiir Mayardit · President	5,532
🇰🇵 North Korea	Kim Jong-un · President	5,358
🇬🇼 Guinea-Bissau	Manuel Serifo Nhamadjo · President	5,225
🇨🇳 China	Xi Jinping · President	4,918
🇶🇦 Qatar	Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani · Monarch	4,815
🇸🇦 Saudi Arabia	Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud · Monarch	4,238
🇨🇺 Cuba	Miguel Díaz-Canel · President	3,056
🇸🇩 Sudan	Abdel Fattah al-Burhan · President	2,698
🇴🇲 Oman	Haitham bin Tarik Al Said · Monarch	2,424
🇲🇲 Myanmar	Myint Swe · President	2,037
🇱🇾 Libya	Mohamed al-Menfi · President	1,995
🇱🇦 Laos	Thongloun Sisoulith · President	1,988
🇲🇱 Mali	Assimi Goïta · President	1,925
🇦🇫 Afghanistan	Hibatullah Akhundzada · Monarch	1,842
🇬🇳 Guinea	Mamady Doumbouya · President	1,795
🇾🇪 Yemen	Rashad al-Alimi · President	1,607
🇦🇪 United Arab Emirates	Mohammed Bin Zayed Al Nahyan · Monarch	1,570
🇸🇴 Somalia	Hassan Sheikh Mohamud · President	1,569
🇧🇫 Burkina Faso	Ibrahim Traoré · President	1,425
🇳🇪 Niger	Abdourahamane Tiani · President	1,130
🇰🇼 Kuwait	Mishal Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah · Monarch	989
🇭🇹 Haiti	Transitional Presidential Council · President	858
🇻🇳 Vietnam	Tô Lâm · President	831
🇸🇾 Syria	Ahmed al-Sharaa · President	579
🇲🇬 Madagascar	Michael Randrianirina · President	321
🇧🇩 Bangladesh	Tarique Rahman · Prime Minister	195

Regime classifications follow the Regimes of the World scheme (V-Dem), via Our World in Data.