The Drill-Down Feature

By: V-Dem Staff
Oct 17, 2016


In Hungary, a referendum on whether to accept mandatory European Union quotas for immigrants was held on October 2nd. With the V-Dem online analysis tools we can track the general development of the active participation by citizens in political processes in Hungary by using the Participatory Democracy Index.

By using the drill-down feature in the online analysis tool (for more detailed instructions, consult our online manual), we can see in the graph below that the Participatory Component Index is made up of a number of sub-indices. In a next step, we drill down the Participatory Component Index in order to look at the Civil Society Participation and then the Direct Popular Vote Index, since these are relevant to the national referendum. We can see a steep upward trajectory in all indices following the fall of Communist rule in 1989, however with a slight decrease in recent years coinciding with the illiberal rule of Prime Minister Viktor Orban.  The Direct Popular Vote Index has declined over the past years but it seems like it might rise, perhaps as a result of concerns about immigration.

You can find out more about other democracy indices and their component variables and drill your way down in the data by using the online analysis tool at v-dem.net.