Geert Hofstede, a well-known psychologist, and professor coined “power distance.” Before starting his work, his travels throughout the world shaped his perspective of cultural variety and motivated him to conduct 50-country research.
After his research, four cultural aspects were identified: power distance, masculinity/femininity, individualism/collectivism, and uncertainty aversion. Additionally, he devised the power distance index, which measures a country’s power distance.
A country’s power distance is higher when its indices are highly organized. They have a PDI score between 80 and 100, which is about average. Malaysia (PDI 100), the Philippines (PDI 94), Russia (PDI 93), China (PDI 80), and Indonesia all fall into this category (PDI of 78).
High PDI countries’ characteristics
In addition to having a high PDI, nations with high power distance are known for:
- Hierarchical organizations: Countries with high PDI have stringent command and control structures.
- Low-ranking employees are similarly prohibited from confronting their supervisors in these nations.
- Leaders are the only ones who can make choices, and their subordinates are not allowed to question or argue with them.
- There is a wide disparity between the rich and poor in this country.
- Leaders in nations with significant power disparity are seldom held responsible for their actions.
- Family, friends, and allies get a piece of the action. On the other hand, low power distance nations demand that leaders prove themselves worthy of their position. This implies that anybody may run for office since they have faith in their abilities as a leader.
- Low-ranking employees are continuously scrutinized and supervised. Workers with a high degree of knowledge freedom enjoy more independence in nations with lower power distances than persons in high power distance countries.
- Paternalism: Countries with a great deal of power distance tend to have paternalistic societies in which the state exerts extensive control over the lives of citizens.
Country | 2022 Population |
---|---|
Vatican City | 0.7990 |
Tokelau | 1.3780 |
Niue | 1.6220 |
Falkland Islands | 3.5390 |
Montserrat | 4.9650 |
Saint Pierre and Miquelon | 5.7590 |
Saint Barthelemy | 9.9450 |
Nauru | 10.9030 |
Wallis and Futuna | 10.9820 |
Tuvalu | 12.0660 |
Anguilla | 15.2300 |
Cook Islands | 17.5710 |
Palau | 18.2330 |
British Virgin Islands | 30.5960 |
Gibraltar | 33.7040 |
San Marino | 34.0850 |
Liechtenstein | 38.3870 |
Saint Martin | 39.7300 |
Turks and Caicos Islands | 39.7410 |
Monaco | 39.7830 |
Sint Maarten | 43.9660 |
Faroe Islands | 49.2330 |
Saint Kitts and Nevis | 53.8710 |
American Samoa | 55.0300 |
Greenland | 56.9730 |
Northern Mariana Islands | 58.2690 |
Marshall Islands | 60.0570 |
Bermuda | 61.9390 |
Cayman Islands | 67.2770 |
Dominica | 72.3440 |
Andorra | 77.4630 |
Isle of Man | 85.7320 |
Seychelles | 99.4260 |
Antigua and Barbuda | 99.5090 |
United States Virgin Islands | 103.9710 |
Aruba | 107.6090 |
Tonga | 107.7490 |
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines | 111.5510 |
Grenada | 113.4750 |
Micronesia | 117.4890 |
Kiribati | 123.4190 |
Curacao | 165.5290 |
Guam | 171.5190 |
Saint Lucia | 185.1130 |
Samoa | 202.2390 |
Sao Tome and Principe | 227.6790 |
French Polynesia | 284.1640 |
Mayotte | 286.2590 |
Barbados | 288.0230 |
New Caledonia | 290.9150 |
French Guiana | 314.1690 |
Vanuatu | 321.8320 |
Iceland | 345.3930 |
Martinique | 374.0870 |
Guadeloupe | 399.7940 |
Bahamas | 400.5160 |
Belize | 412.1900 |
Malta | 444.0330 |
Brunei | 445.4310 |
Maldives | 540.9850 |
Cape Verde | 567.6780 |
Suriname | 596.8310 |
Western Sahara | 626.1610 |
Montenegro | 627.9500 |
Luxembourg | 642.3710 |
Macau | 667.4900 |
Solomon Islands | 721.1590 |
Bhutan | 787.9410 |
Guyana | 794.0450 |
Comoros | 907.4190 |
Reunion | 908.0610 |
Fiji | 909.4660 |
Djibouti | 1016.0970 |
Eswatini | 1184.8170 |
Cyprus | 1223.3870 |
Mauritius | 1274.7270 |
Estonia | 1321.9100 |
Timor-Leste | 1369.4290 |
Trinidad and Tobago | 1406.5850 |
Equatorial Guinea | 1496.6620 |
Bahrain | 1783.9830 |
Latvia | 1848.8370 |
Guinea-Bissau | 2063.3670 |
Slovenia | 2078.0340 |
North Macedonia | 2081.3040 |
Lesotho | 2175.6990 |
Gabon | 2331.5330 |
Botswana | 2441.1620 |
Gambia | 2558.4820 |
Namibia | 2633.8740 |
Lithuania | 2661.7080 |
Puerto Rico | 2829.8120 |
Albania | 2866.3740 |
Armenia | 2971.9660 |
Qatar | 2979.9150 |
Jamaica | 2985.0940 |
Bosnia and Herzegovina | 3249.3170 |
Mongolia | 3378.0780 |
Uruguay | 3496.0160 |
Eritrea | 3662.2440 |
Georgia | 3968.7380 |
Moldova | 4013.1710 |
Croatia | 4059.2860 |
Kuwait | 4380.3260 |
Panama | 4446.9640 |
New Zealand | 4898.2030 |
Mauritania | 4901.9810 |
Central African Republic | 5016.6780 |
Ireland | 5020.1990 |
Costa Rica | 5182.3540 |
Liberia | 5305.1170 |
Oman | 5323.9930 |
Palestine | 5345.5410 |
Slovakia | 5460.1930 |
Norway | 5511.3700 |
Finland | 5554.9600 |
Republic of the Congo | 5797.8050 |
Denmark | 5834.9500 |
Singapore | 5943.5460 |
Turkmenistan | 6201.9430 |
El Salvador | 6550.3890 |
Lebanon | 6684.8490 |
Kyrgyzstan | 6728.2710 |
Nicaragua | 6779.1000 |
Bulgaria | 6844.5970 |
Libya | 7040.7450 |
Paraguay | 7305.8430 |
Laos | 7481.0230 |
Hong Kong | 7604.2990 |
Sierra Leone | 8306.4360 |
Serbia | 8653.0160 |
Togo | 8680.8370 |
Switzerland | 8773.6370 |
Israel | 8922.8920 |
Austria | 9066.7100 |
Papua New Guinea | 9292.1690 |
Belarus | 9432.8000 |
Hungary | 9606.2590 |
Tajikistan | 9957.4640 |
United Arab Emirates | 10081.7850 |
Portugal | 10140.5700 |
Sweden | 10218.9710 |
Honduras | 10221.2470 |
Azerbaijan | 10300.2050 |
Jordan | 10300.8690 |
Greece | 10316.6370 |
Czech Republic | 10736.7840 |
Dominican Republic | 11056.3700 |
Cuba | 11305.6520 |
South Sudan | 11618.5110 |
Belgium | 11668.2780 |
Haiti | 11680.2830 |
Bolivia | 11992.6560 |
Tunisia | 12046.6560 |
Burundi | 12624.8400 |
Benin | 12784.7260 |
Rwanda | 13600.4640 |
Guinea | 13865.6910 |
Zimbabwe | 15331.4280 |
Somalia | 16841.7950 |
Cambodia | 17168.6390 |
Netherlands | 17211.4470 |
Chad | 17413.5800 |
Senegal | 17653.6710 |
Ecuador | 18113.3610 |
Guatemala | 18584.0390 |
Romania | 19031.3350 |
Kazakhstan | 19205.0430 |
Chile | 19250.1950 |
Syria | 19364.8090 |
Zambia | 19470.2340 |
Malawi | 20180.8390 |
Mali | 21473.7640 |
Sri Lanka | 21575.8420 |
Burkina Faso | 22102.8380 |
Taiwan | 23888.5950 |
North Korea | 25990.6790 |
Australia | 26068.7920 |
Niger | 26083.6600 |
Ivory Coast | 27742.2980 |
Cameroon | 27911.5480 |
Madagascar | 29178.0770 |
Venezuela | 29266.9910 |
Nepal | 30225.5820 |
Yemen | 31154.8670 |
Ghana | 32395.4500 |
Mozambique | 33089.4610 |
Malaysia | 33181.0720 |
Peru | 33684.2080 |
Uzbekistan | 34382.0840 |
Angola | 35027.3430 |
Saudi Arabia | 35844.9090 |
Poland | 37739.7850 |
Morocco | 37772.7560 |
Canada | 38388.4190 |
Afghanistan | 40754.3880 |
Iraq | 42164.9650 |
Ukraine | 43192.1220 |
Algeria | 45350.1480 |
Sudan | 45992.0200 |
Argentina | 46010.2340 |
Spain | 46719.1420 |
Uganda | 48432.8630 |
South Korea | 51329.8990 |
Colombia | 51512.7620 |
Myanmar | 55227.1430 |
Kenya | 56215.2210 |
Italy | 60262.7700 |
South Africa | 60756.1350 |
Tanzania | 63298.5500 |
France | 65584.5180 |
United Kingdom | 68497.9070 |
Thailand | 70078.2030 |
Germany | 83883.5960 |
Turkey | 85561.9760 |
Iran | 86022.8370 |
DR Congo | 95240.7920 |
Vietnam | 98953.5410 |
Egypt | 106156.6920 |
Philippines | 112508.9940 |
Ethiopia | 120812.6980 |
Japan | 125584.8380 |
Mexico | 131562.7720 |
Russia | 145805.9470 |
Bangladesh | 167885.6890 |
Brazil | 215353.5930 |
Nigeria | 216746.9340 |
Pakistan | 229488.9940 |
Indonesia | 279134.5050 |
United States | 334805.2690 |
India | 1406631.7760 |
China | 1448471.4000 |
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