Voice and accountability during each General Secretary's tenure

Every General Secretary since 1991, ranked by how the voice and accountability changed from their first day in office. Politare shows what happened during a tenure; it does not claim the office-holder caused it.

#	General Secretary	In office	Total	Per year	Chart
1	Hu Jintao	15 Nov 2002 – 15 Nov 2012	+5.1 points 2002 → 2012	+0.5 points/yr
2	Xi Jinping	15 Nov 2012 – now	−2.7 points 2012 → 2025	−0.2 points/yr

Sorted by total, highest first. Every row is indexed to the last count complete before the first day in office ("from" marks a start that had to move because that count had no data, or because the period cut it); Levels are per cent changes, rates are differences in points; "per year" compounds levels and divides rates. Tenures with under 12 months, or under three observations, are left out. points, 0 to 100, higher is better · World Bank, Worldwide Governance Indicators (GOV_WGI_VA.SC): perceptions of how far citizens can take part in choosing their government, and of freedom of expression, association and the media, a score from 0 to 100 with its 90 % interval · China data · as of Sep 2026.