The world has seen only 18 attempted coups since 2010, and only four successfully installed a new leader for at least a month. That's not a great success rate, and it's even lower when counting confirmed coup plots that were cut off before they could come to fruition.



Why are successful coups so unlikely these days? One reason is that the world has changed, with governments shifting towards democracy, said Monty Marshall, director of the Center for Systemic Peace.

"Most coups are just changes of autocratic leadership," Marshall said. "We're in a democracy-dominant global system, and coups have become less frequent as governments have become more democratic."

Military forces are also less likely to intervene either to oust a bad leader or crack down on popular uprisings. Leaders are more likely to be forced to resign by protesters in the streets than they were in earlier decades, according to the data.

"When you wanted to get rid of a bad president, usually the military stepped in to get rid of the president. Now we have forced resignations and popular upswells of dissent with people taking to the streets," Marshall said. "It's more prevalent for the military to refuse to become politically involved."