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Policy profile on 12 axes

How Colombia Is Governed

Colombia is a unitary state that scores 0.56 out of 1 on the V-Dem Liberal Democracy Index (2025). Government spending is 33% of GDP (IMF, 2025), the death penalty is abolished and same-sex marriage is legal. Below: the laws, institutions and public spending of Colombia, scored on the same 12 axes as the test, with every indicator and source.

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Policy profile

The 12 axes, indicator by indicator

This profile describes the country's policy regime (laws, institutions and public spending) from published indices, not the views of its people or its current leaders. Data as of October 2026; each value shows its own year.

Ownership-0.05PublicPrivate4 indicators and sources
  • State ownership of the economy (coded tier): State controls major firms in several sectors beyond utilities (energy, banking, telecom, mining, transport) (2026). Ecopetrol is majority state owned. Source
  • Index of Economic Freedom 2026: Property Rights (0-100): 43.1 (2026). Source
  • Index of Economic Freedom 2026: Investment Freedom (0-100): 60 (2026). Source
  • Index of Economic Freedom 2026: Financial Freedom (0-100): 60 (2026). Source
Markets+0.10PlannedFree5 indicators and sources
  • Index of Economic Freedom 2026: Business Freedom (0-100): 71.2 (2026). Source
  • Index of Economic Freedom 2026: Labor Freedom (0-100): 59.1 (2026). Source
  • Index of Economic Freedom 2026: Monetary Freedom (0-100): 71.9 (2026). Source
  • Regulatory Quality, estimate (-2.5 to 2.5): -0.2 (2025). Source
  • State ownership of the economy (coded tier): State controls major firms in several sectors beyond utilities (energy, banking, telecom, mining, transport) (2026). Ecopetrol is majority state owned. Source
Welfare+0.15SharedSelf-reliant4 indicators and sources
  • General government total expenditure (% of GDP): 33.19 (2025). Source
  • Public social spending (% of GDP): 14.06 (2023). Source
  • Domestic general government health expenditure (% of GDP): 5.68 (2024). Source
  • Index of Economic Freedom 2026: Tax Burden (0-100): 68.6 (2026). Source
Authority-0.45DemocraticStrong leader2 indicators and sources
  • Liberal Democracy Index (0-1): 0.56 (2025). Source
  • Judicial constraints on the executive (0-1): 0.85 (2025). Source
Security-0.20LibertyOrder4 indicators and sources
  • Freedom in the World civil liberties score (0-60): 38 (2025). Source
  • World Press Freedom Index score (0-100): 51.66 (2026). Source
  • Death penalty status: Abolished for all crimes (2025). Source
  • Prison population per 100,000 people: 199 (2025). Source
Structure0.00LocalCentral2 indicators and sources
  • Territorial form of the state: Unitary state (2025). Source
  • Strong elected regional governments index (0-1): 0.99 (2025). Source
Morality-0.80ProgressiveTraditional3 indicators and sources
  • Same-sex marriage law (0 marriage, 1 civil union or partnership, 2 no recognition, 3 constitutional or statutory ban): Same-sex marriage legal (2026). Source
  • Abortion law: On request (within a gestational limit) (2025). Source
  • Women, Business and the Law: Legal Framework Index (0-100): 81.05 (2025). Source
Religion-0.75SecularReligious2 indicators and sources
  • Religion and the state: Separation: no official or funded religion (2025). Source
  • Blasphemy or religious-insult law in force: None (2025). Source
Technology0.00EmbraceCaution3 indicators and sources
  • Research and development expenditure (% of GDP): 0.29 (2020). Source
  • Nuclear power policy: No nuclear power, no legal ban (2025). Source
  • Genetically modified crop cultivation: GM crops grown commercially (2025). Source
Culture-0.30MulticulturalNational identity4 indicators and sources
  • International migrant stock (% of population): 5.79 (2024). Source
  • Citizenship by birth in the territory: Conditional (a parent's residence or status, or at majority) (2025). Source
  • Residence required for ordinary naturalization (years; 0 = no ordinary route): 5 years (2025). Source
  • Dual citizenship for naturalizing adults: Allowed (2025). Source
Trade-0.25GlobalProtected4 indicators and sources
  • Tariff rate, applied, weighted mean, all products (%): 2.83 (2022). Source
  • Tariff rate, applied, simple mean, all products (%): 3.55 (2022). Source
  • Index of Economic Freedom 2026: Trade Freedom (0-100): 71.4 (2026). Source
  • Trade (exports + imports) (% of GDP): 35.37 (2025). Source
Foreign policy-0.05CooperationStrength5 indicators and sources
  • Military expenditure (% of GDP): 3.2 (2025). Source
  • Military conscription: Universal compulsory service (2025). Source
  • Nuclear weapons status (0 none, 1 considers, 2 pursues, 3 possesses): No nuclear weapons program (2023). Source
  • Party to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court: State party (2026). Source
  • Collective defense commitments: Other mutual defense commitment only (EU Treaty art. 42.7, Rio Treaty, Arab League treaty, bilateral pact) (2026). Source

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Policy neighbours

Governed most like Colombia

Every other country with a profile, tinted by how close its laws, institutions and public spending are to those of Colombia on the same 12 axes. The percentage uses the 12 Axes match formula.

  1. 1Uruguay88%
  2. 2Chile84%
  3. 3Croatia84%
  4. 4Hungary83%
  5. 5Romania83%
Least similarIran47%
World map of countries by how similar their policy regime is to ColombiaClosest: 1. Uruguay 88%, 2. Chile 84%, 3. Croatia 84%, 4. Hungary 83%, 5. Romania 83%, 6. South Korea 83%, 7. France 81%, 8. South Africa 81%, 9. Czechia 80%, 10. Bulgaria 79%. Least similar: Iran 47%. Every country is in the list after the map.Colombia
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  • 65 to 74%
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FAQ

Colombia: questions

How is Colombia governed, on the 12 axes?

Colombia is a unitary state that scores 0.56 out of 1 on the V-Dem Liberal Democracy Index (2025). Government spending is 33% of GDP (IMF, 2025), the death penalty is abolished and same-sex marriage is legal. Its policy regime leans furthest toward Progressive on Morality (-0.80), Secular on Religion (-0.75) and Democratic on Authority (-0.45), on a scale from -1 to +1.

Which countries are governed most like Colombia?

On the same 12 axes, the closest policy regimes are Uruguay (88%), Chile (84%) and Croatia (84%). The furthest is Iran (47%). Matches use the same formula as the 12 Axes test.

Where does the data on Colombia come from?

From 42 indicators dated 2020 to 2026, published by V-Dem, Freedom House, the Heritage Foundation, the IMF, the OECD, the World Bank, SIPRI, Reporters Without Borders, the World Prison Brief, UN DESA and others. Among them: a press freedom score of 51.7 out of 100 (RSF, 2026), 199 prisoners per 100,000 people (2025), military spending of 3.2% of GDP (SIPRI, 2025) and 5.8% of residents born abroad (UN DESA, 2024). Every value, year and source is listed in the profile above.

Does the profile describe what people in Colombia think?

No. It describes the policy regime: laws, institutions and public spending. It does not measure public opinion or the speeches of the current government. To see which country is governed closest to your own views, take the 12 Axes test and open the country match on your result.

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