List of socialist states

This is a combined map of all countries that declared themselves socialist states under any definition, at some point in their history, color-coded for the number of years they said they were socialist:

  Over 70 years

  60–70 years

  50–60 years

  40–50 years

  30–40 years

  20–30 years

  Under 20 years

Click on image to magnify

The following is a list of self-declared socialist states—that is to say, past and present states that have declared themselves socialist or in the process of building socialism.

Self-identification is the only criterion used by the list, therefore the list includes all countries that have claimed to be socialist, even if their claims are disputed. All countries that have not claimed to be socialist are excluded, even in cases where certain outside observers regarded those countries as socialist. This list includes countries that assert in their constitutions that they are based on socialism, regardless of their economic or political system. As a result, this list is best understood as a list of countries that explicitly claim to be socialist; it does not reflect the actual economic systems themselves.

The majority of self-declared socialist countries have been Marxist–Leninist states, following the model of the Soviet Union or a variant of people's democracy. They share a common definition of "socialism" and they refer to themselves as socialist states on the road to communism with a leading vanguard party structure. For this reason, they are generally, albeit erroneously, called "communist states". Meanwhile, the countries in the non-Marxist–Leninist category represent a wide variety of different interpretations of the word "socialism". In many cases, they do not define what they mean by it. Modern uses of the term "socialism" are wide in meaning and interpretation.

A sovereign state is a different entity from the political party that rules that state at any given time, thus a country may be ruled by a socialist political party, but without the country itself claiming to be socialist. This has occurred in both one-party and multi-party political systems. In particular, there are numerous cases of democratic socialist political parties winning elections in liberal democratic states and ruling for a number of terms until a different party wins the elections. For example, the Swedish Social Democratic Party has won most elections in Sweden since 1932, but the country never adopted socialism as its official ideology. This article does not list countries that do not have constitutional references to socialism, even in cases where socialist parties have governed those countries for a certain period of time.

On the other hand, countries that do maintain constitutional references to socialism are always listed, even when those countries are ruled by non-socialist political parties. For example, India is a liberal democracy that has been ruled by non-socialist parties on many occasions, but it is listed here because the Indian constitution makes references to socialism. Certain other countries, such as Hungary, Poland and Croatia, have constitutions that make references to their communist and socialist past by recognizing and condemning it, but without claiming to be socialist in the present.

Marxist–Leninist

Current

Country	Since	Duration	Party	Head of party	Head of state	Head of government
People's Republic of China	1 October 1949	75 years, 17 days	Communist Party of China	Xi Jinping (since 2012)		Li Keqiang (since 2012)
Republic of Cuba	1 July 1966	58 years, 109 days	Communist Party of Cuba	Raúl Castro (since 2006)		Miguel Díaz-Canel (since 2018)
Laos People's Democratic Republic	2 December 1975	48 years, 321 days	Lao People's Revolutionary Party	Bounnhang Vorachith (since 2016)		Thongloun Sisoulith (since 2016)
Socialist Republic of Vietnam	2 July 1976	48 years, 108 days	Communist Party of Vietnam	Nguyễn Phú Trọng (since 2011)	Trần Đại Quang (since 2016)	Nguyễn Xuân Phúc (since 2016)

Former

Country	Full name	From	Until	Duration	Constitutional statement
/Afghanistan	Democratic Republic of Afghanistan	27 April 1978	30 November 1987	9 years, 217 days	Preamble: "In the present stage, the People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan, as the initiator and coordinator of the policy of National Reconciliation, actively carries forward together with other political, national and democratic forces this humanitarian policy"
	Republic of Afghanistan	30 November 1987	28 April 1992	4 years, 150 days
	Total	27 April 1978	28 April 1992	14 years, 1 day
Albania	Democratic Government of Albania	29 November 1944	11 January 1946	1 year, 43 days	Section 1, Article 1: "The People's Socialist Republic of Albania is a state of the dictatorship of the proletariat, which expresses and defends the interests of all the working people"
	People's Republic of Albania	11 January 1946	28 December 1976	30 years, 352 days
	People's Socialist Republic of Albania	28 December 1976	22 March 1992	15 years, 85 days
	Total	29 November 1944	22 March 1992	47 years, 114 days
Angola	People's Republic of Angola	11 November 1975	27 August 1992	16 years, 290 days	Section 1, Article 2: "All sovergenity is vested in the Angolan people. The MPLA, their legitimate representative constituted from a broad front including all patriotic forces engaged in the anti-imperialist struggle, is responsible for the political, economic, and social leadership of the nation"
Belarus Byelorussian SSR	Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic	31 July 1920	25 August 1991	70 years, 344 days	Section 1, Article 1: "The Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic is a socialist state expressing the will and interests of the workers, peasants and intelligentsia, the working people of all nationalities of the republic"
Benin	People's Republic of Benin	30 November 1975	1 March 1990	14 years, 91 days	Legally a socialist state.
Bulgaria	People's Republic of Bulgaria	15 September 1946	7 December 1990	44 years, 83 days	Section 1, Article 1: "The People's Republic of Bulgaria is a socialist state of the working people from town and village, headed by the working class"
Cambodia	Democratic Kampuchea	17 April 1975	22 June 1982	7 years, 66 days	Legally a socialist state from 1979 to 1989, ruled by a communist party from 1975 to 1989, but not internationally recognized by some countries
	People's Republic of Kampuchea	10 January 1979	1 May 1989	10 years, 111 days
	Total	17 April 1975	1 May 1989	14 years, 14 days
Congo-Brazzaville	People's Republic of the Congo	3 January 1970	15 March 1992	22 years, 72 days	Presidential oath: "I swear allegiance to the Congolese people, to the Revolution and to the Congolese Labor Party. I shall undertake, while guided by Marxist–Leninist principles, [...] to devote all my strength to the triumph of the proletarian ideals"
Czechoslovakia	Czechoslovak Republic	9 June 1948	11 July 1960	12 years, 32 days	Section 1, Article 1: "The Czechoslovak Socialist Republic is a socialist state founded on the firm alliance of the workers, farmers and intelligentsia, with the working class as its head"
	Czechoslovak Socialist Republic	11 July 1960	29 March 1990	29 years, 261 days
	Total	9 June 1948	29 March 1990	41 years, 293 days
Ethiopia	Provisional Military Government of Socialist Ethiopia	28 June 1974	22 February 1987	12 years, 239 days	Country declared Marxist–Leninist in 1974, the Workers' Party of Ethiopia becoming "the formulator of the country's development process and the leading force of the state and in society" in 1987
	People's Democratic Republic of Ethiopia	22 February 1987	27 May 1991	4 years, 94 days
	Total	28 June 1974	27 May 1991	16 years, 333 days
East Germany	German Democratic Republic	7 October 1949	3 October 1990	40 years, 361 days	Section 1, Article 1: "The German Democratic Republic is a socialist state of workers and peasants. It is the political organization of the working people of town and country under the leadership of the working class and its Marxist–Leninist party"
Hungary	Hungarian People's Republic	20 August 1949	23 October 1989	40 years, 64 days	Section 1, Article 2: "The Hungarian People's Republic is a socialist state"
North Korea	Democratic People's Republic of Korea	9 September 1948	19 February 1992	43 years, 163 days	Section 1, Article 1: "The Democratic People's Republic of Korea is an independent socialist state representing the interests of all the Korean people" (see below)
/Mongolia	Mongolian People's Republic	24 November 1924	12 February 1992	67 years, 80 days	Section 1, Article 2: "The Mongolian People's Republic is state which exists and is developing in the form of people's democracy"
Mozambique	People's Republic of Mozambique	25 June 1975	1 December 1990	15 years, 159 days	Section 1, Article 2: "Power belongs to the workers and peasants united and led by FRELIMO and organs of people's power"
Poland	Polish People's Republic	28 June 1945	30 December 1989	44 years, 185 days	Section 1, Article 1: "The Polish People's Republic is a socialist state"
Romania	Romanian People's Republic	30 December 1947	21 August 1965	17 years, 234 days	Section 1, Article 3: "The leading force of society in the Socialist Republic of Romania is the Romanian Communist Party"
	Socialist Republic of Romania	21 August 1965	30 December 1989	24 years, 131 days
	Total	30 December 1947	30 December 1989	42 years, 0 days
Somalia	Somali Democratic Republic	21 October 1969	26 January 1991	21 years, 97 days	Section 1, Article 1: "The Somali Democratic Republic is a socialist state led by the working class and is an integral part of the Arab and African entities"
Russia Russian SFSR/Soviet Union	Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic	9 November 1917	30 December 1922	5 years, 51 days	Section 1, Article 1, Chapter 2: "Bearing in mind as its fundamental problem the abolition of the exploitation of men by men, the entire abolition of the division of the people into classes, the suppression of exploiters, the establishment of a socialist society, and the victory of socialism in all lands" Section 1, Article 1: "The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics is a socialist state of the whole people, expressing the will and interests of the workers, peasants and intelligentsia, the working people of all the nations and nationalities of the country"
	Union of Soviet Socialist Republics	30 December 1922	26 December 1991	68 years, 361 days
	Total	9 November 1917	26 December 1991	74 years, 47 days
Ukraine Ukrainian SSR	Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic	10 March 1919	24 August 1991	72 years, 167 days	Section 1, Article 1: "The Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic is the whole people state that expresses the will and interests of the workers, peasants and intellectuals, workers of the republic of all nationalities"
North Vietnam	Democratic Republic of Vietnam	2 September 1945	2 July 1976	30 years, 304 days	Section 2, Article 9: "The Democratic Republic of Vietnam is advancing step by step from people's democracy to socialism by developing and transforming the national economy along socialist lines, transforming its backward economy into a socialist economy with modern industry and agriculture and an advanced science and technology"
South Yemen	People's Republic of South Yemen	30 November 1967	1 December 1970	3 years, 1 day	Section 1, Article 3: "The Yemeni Socialist Party, armed with the Scientific Socialism theory, is the leader and guide of society and state"
	People's Democratic Republic of Yemen	1 December 1970	22 May 1990	19 years, 172 days
	Total	30 November 1967	22 May 1990	22 years, 173 days
Yugoslavia	Democratic Federal Yugoslavia	29 November 1943	29 November 1945	2 years, 0 days	Section 1, Article 2: "The socialist system in Yugoslavia is based on relations between people acting as free and equal producers and creators, whose work serves exclusively to satisfy their personal and common needs"
	Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia	29 November 1945	7 April 1963	17 years, 129 days
	Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia	7 April 1963	27 April 1992	29 years, 20 days
	Total	29 November 1943	27 April 1992	48 years, 150 days

Non-Marxist–Leninist

Current countries with constitutional references to socialism

Country	Since	Duration	Form of government	Constitutional statement
People's Republic of Bangladesh	11 April 1971	53 years, 190 days	Multi-party system	Preamble: "Further pledging that it shall be a fundamental aim of the State to realise through the democratic process, a socialist society free from exploitation, a society in which the rule of law, fundamental human rights and freedoms, equality and justice, political, economic and social, will be secured for all citizens"
Co-operative Republic of Guyana	6 October 1980	44 years, 12 days	Multi-party system	Preamble: "Convinced that the organisation of the State and society on socialist principles is the only means of ensuring social and economic justice for all of the people of Guyana; and, therefore, being motivated and guided by the principles of socialism"
Republic of India	18 December 1976	47 years, 305 days	Multi-party system	Preamble: "We, the people of India, having solemnly resolved to constitute India into a Sovereign Socialist Secular Democratic Republic and to secure to all its citizens"
North Korea	19 February 1992	76 years, 39 days total; 32 years, 242 days since revision	De facto one-party state with semi hereditary leadership	Preamble: "The Democratic People's Republic of Korea is the socialist motherland of Juche, which has applied the idea and leadership of Kim Il-sung"
Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal	20 September 2015	9 years, 28 days	Multi-party system	Section 1, Article 4: "Nepal is an independent, indivisible, sovereign, secular, inclusive democratic, socialism-oriented federal democratic republican state"
Portuguese Republic	2 April 1976	48 years, 199 days	Multi-party system	Preamble: "The Constituent Assembly affirms the Portuguese people's decision to [...] open up a path towards a socialist society"
Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka	7 September 1978	46 years, 41 days	Multi-party system	Preamble: "[...] to constitute Sri Lanka into a democratic socialist republic whilst ratifying the immutable republican principles of representative democracy, and assuring to all peoples freedom, equality, justice, fundamental human rights and the independence of the judiciary"
United Republic of Tanzania	26 April 1964	60 years, 175 days	Multi-party system	Section 1, Article 3: "The United Republic is a democratic, secular and socialist state which adheres to multi-party democracy"

Former

Country	Full name	From	Until	Duration	Constitutional statement
Algeria	People's Democratic Republic of Algeria	8 September 1969	23 February 1989	26 years, 76 days	Preamble: "The democratic and popular Algerian Republic will direct its activities toward the construction of the country in accordance with the principles of socialism"
Burma	Union of Burma	2 March 1962	3 January 1974	11 years, 307 days	Chapter XVI General Provisions: "In order to overcome this deterioration and to build Socialism, the Revolutionary Council of the Union of Burma assumed responsibility as a historical mission, adopted the Burmese Way to Socialism and also formed the Burma Socialist Programme Party"
	Socialist Republic of the Union of Burma	3 January 1974	18 September 1988	14 years, 259 days
	Total	2 March 1962	18 September 1988	26 years, 200 days
Cape Verde	Republic of Cape Verde	5 July 1975	22 September 1992	17 years, 79 days
Egypt	Republic of Egypt	18 June 1953	22 February 1958	4 years, 249 days	Preamble: "The Arab Republic of Egypt is a democratic, socialist state based on the alliance of the working forces of the people"
	United Arab Republic	22 February 1958	28 September 1961	3 years, 218 days
	Arab Republic of Egypt	28 September 1961	26 March 2007	45 years, 179 days
	Total	18 June 1953	26 March 2007	53 years, 281 days
Grenada	People's Revolutionary Government of Grenada	13 March 1979	25 October 1983	4 years, 226 days
Iraq	Iraqi Republic (Ba'athist)	17 July 1968	9 April 2003	34 years, 266 days	Chapter 1, Article 1: "Its [the country's] basic objective is the realization of one Arab State and the build-up of the socialist system"
Libya	Libyan Arab Republic	1 September 1969	2 March 1977	7 years, 182 days	Section 1, Article 6: "The aim of the state is the realization of socialism through the application of social justice which forbids any form of exploitation"
	Socialist People's Libyan Arab Jamahiriya	2 March 1977	15 April 1986	9 years, 44 days
	Great Socialist People's Libyan Arab Jamahiriya	15 April 1986	23 October 2011	25 years, 191 days
	Total	1 September 1969	23 October 2011	42 years, 52 days
Madagascar	Democratic Republic of Madagascar	30 December 1975	12 September 1992	16 years, 257 days	Malagasy constitutional referendum, 1975
Seychelles	Republic of Seychelles	5 June 1977	27 December 1991	14 years, 205 days	Preamble: "Seychelles is declared to be a sovereign socialist republic"
Sudan	Democratic Republic of the Sudan	25 May 1969	10 October 1985	16 years, 138 days	Preamble: "In the belief of our pursuit of freedom, socialism and democracy to achieve the society of sufficiency, justice and equality"
Syria	Syrian Arab Republic	8 March 1963	27 February 2012	48 years, 356 days	Section 1, Article 8: "The leading party in the society and the state is the Socialist Arab Ba'ath Party. It leads a patriotic and progressive front seeking to unify the resources of the people's masses and place them at the service of the Arab nation's goals"

Multi-party states with governing socialist parties

Country	Party	Electoral Coalition	Election	Lower house	Upper house	Official ideology
Angola	People's Movement for the Liberation of Angola	—	2017 election	150 / 220	—	Democratic Socialism
Bolivia	Movement for Socialism	—	2014 election	84 / 130	25 / 36	Socialism of the 21st century
Congo	Congolese Party of Labour	—	2017 election	90 / 151	—	Democratic Socialism
Ecuador	PAIS Alliance	United Front	2017 election	74 / 137	—	Socialism of the 21st century
El Salvador	Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front	—	2018 election	31 / 84	—	Socialism
Ethiopia	Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front	—	2015 election	500 / 547	—	Socialism
Guinea-Bissau	African Party for the Independence of Guinea and Cape Verde	—	2014 election	57 / 102	—	Democratic Socialism
Greece	Syriza	—	2015 election	145 / 300	—	Socialism
Mozambique	Mozambique Liberation Front	—	2014 election	144 / 250	—	Democratic Socialism
Nepal	Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist–Leninist)	—	2017 election	121 / 275	0 / 59	People's Multiparty Democracy
Nicaragua	Sandinista National Liberation Front	—	2016 election	71 / 92	—	Sandinismo
Portugal	Socialist Party (Portugal)	—	2015 election	122 / 230	—	Social Democracy
	Portuguese Communist Party					Marxism–Leninism
	Left Bloc					Democratic socialism
Tanzania	Party of the Revolution	—	2015 election	276 / 384	—	Democratic Socialism
Uruguay	Communist Party of Uruguay	Broad Front	2014 election	50 / 99	15 / 30	Marxism–Leninism
	Movement of Popular Participation					Socialism of the 21st century
Venezuela	United Socialist Party of Venezuela	Great Patriotic Pole	2015 election	55 / 167	545 / 545 (Constituent Assembly)	Socialism of the 21st century
	Communist Party of Venezuela					Marxism–Leninism
	Republican Bicentennial Vanguard					Chavismo

Unrecognized

These are territories which have claimed independence, declared themselves "socialist" under some interpretation of the term and created stable institutions of governance that have lasted for a considerable period of time, but which are not recognized as independent states by the international community. According to international law, these territories belong to other states.

• Freetown Christiania (1971–present)
• Rebel Zapatista Autonomous Municipalities (December 1994–present)
• Democratic Federation of Northern Syria (November 2013–present)
• Wa State (April 1989–present)

Ephemeral

These are short-lived political entities that emerged during wars or revolutions (mostly in the aftermath of World War I) and declared themselves "socialist" under some interpretation of the term, but did not survive long enough to create a stable government or achieve international recognition.

• Paris Commune (18 March–28 May 1871)
• Strandzha Commune (18 August–8 September 1903)
• Soviet Republic of Soldiers and Fortress-Builders of Naissaar (December 1917–26 February 1918)
• Finnish Socialist Workers' Republic (28 January–29 April 1918)
• Odessa Soviet Republic (31 January–13 March 1918)
• Donetsk–Krivoy Rog Soviet Republic (12 February–May 1918)
• Alsace Soviet Republic (9–22 November 1918)
• Free Socialist Republic of Germany (9 November 1918–11 August 1919)
• Commune of the Working People of Estonia (29 November 1918–5 June 1919)
• Saxony Soviet (November 1918–14 March 1919)
• Latvian Socialist Soviet Republic (17 December 1918–13 January 1920)
• Free Territory (1918–1921)
• Lithuanian–Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic (27 February–25 August 1919)
• Hungarian Soviet Republic (21 March–6 August 1919)
• Mughan Soviet Republic (March–June 1919)
• Bavarian Council Republic (6 April–3 May 1919)
• Limerick Soviet (15–27 April 1919)
• Crimean Socialist Soviet Republic (28 April–26 June 1919)
• Bessarabian Soviet Socialist Republic (May–September 1919; 15–18 September 1924)
• Slovak Soviet Republic (16 June–7 July 1919)
• Persian Socialist Soviet Republic (9 June 1920–September 1921)
• Galician Soviet Socialist Republic (8 July–21 September 1920)
• Hunan Soviet (9 September 1927–October 1927; succeed by Jiangxi–Fujian Soviet and then Chinese Soviet Republic)
• Guangzhou Commune (Guangzhou Soviet) (11 December 1927–13 December 1927)
• Shinmin Prefecture (1929–1932)
• Nghệ-Tĩnh Soviet (1930–1931)
• Chinese Soviet Republic (7 November 1931–22 September 1937)
• Socialist Republic of Chile (4 June–2 October 1932)
• People's Revolutionary Government of the Republic of China (22 November 1933–13 January 1934)
• Asturian Socialist Republic (October 5–18 1934)
• Anarchist Aragon (21 July 1936–1939)
• Revolutionary Catalonia (21 July 1936–1939)
• Finnish Democratic Republic (December 1939–March 1940)
• Political Committee of National Liberation of Greece (10 March 1944–28 August 1949)
• Second East Turkestan Republic (12 November 1944–20 December 1949)
• People's Republic of Korea (6 September 1945–February 1946)
• Azerbaijan People's Government (November 1945–December 1946)
• Republic of Mahabad (22 January–15 December 1946)
• Provisional People's Committee for North Korea (February 1946–9 September 1948)
• Marquetalia Republic (1948–1958)
• Provisional Revolutionary Government of the Republic of South Vietnam (8 June 1969–2 June 1976)
• National Revolutionary Council of Gambia (30 July 1981–5 August 1981)
• Democratic Republic of Yemen (21 May–7 July 1994)

See also

• People's Republic
• Socialism in One Country