Tuesday, April 14, 2026

Inglehart Values Map

While not a geographic map, the Inglehart Values Map from political scientist Robert Inglehart charts out regions of the world as they appear along a bivariate chart of values.

via Wikipedia. - 2004 version
The x axis shows a continuum from survival values to those of self expression. Survival values place emphasis on economic and physical security. Those with higher self expression values are generally more financially secure and more free to express themselves without fear. They tend to emphasize personal freedoms and tolerance of others. The y axis shows traditional values (generally religious) vs secular values. The colors define regions. You can see how the former communist countries of Europe tend to be less religious but also less inclined towards self expression. Latin American counties are on the opposite end of this, being more traditional minded but having high self expression scores. 

Inglehart pointed out a correlation between the Protestant societies of northern Europe and high degrees of self expression and “secular rational” values. Catholic European countries fall closer to the middle of the chart while African nations are clustered in the lower left. The most interesting pattern is in the “Confucian” countries of East Asia that score very high in the secular-rational scale but diverge quite a bit among the survival-self expression axis.

Several versions and updates of this chart have been made over the years. Here is a 2023 version with slightly different regional breakdowns and a more subtle color scheme.

-via World Values Survey
Finally, here is a video where you can how this map changed between 1981 and 2015.



No comments: