Democracy Index

The Democracy Index is an index compiled by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), a UK-based company. It intends to measure the state of democracy in 167 countries, of which 166 are sovereign states and 164 are UN member states.

The Economist Intelligence Unit Democracy Index map for 2019[1]

Full democracies   9.01–10   8.01–9

Flawed democracies   7.01–8   6.01–7

Hybrid regimes   5.01–6   4.01–5

Authoritarian regimes   3.01–4   2.01–3   0–2

No data   ?

The index was first published in 2006, with updates for 2008, 2010 and later years. The index is based on 60 indicators grouped in five different categories, measuring pluralism, civil liberties and political culture. In addition to a numeric score and a ranking, the index categorises each country into one of four regime types: full democracies, flawed democracies, hybrid regimes and authoritarian regimes.

Method

As described in the report,[2] the democracy index is a weighted average based on the answers of 60 questions, each one with either two or three permitted alternative answers. Most answers are experts' assessments. Some answers are provided by public-opinion surveys from the respective countries. In the case of countries for which survey results are missing, survey results for similar countries, and expert assessments are used in order to fill in gaps.

The questions are grouped into five categories: electoral process and pluralism, civil liberties, the functioning of government, political participation, and political culture. Each answer is converted to a score, either 0 or 1, or for the three-answer questions, 0, 0.5 or 1. With the exceptions mentioned below, within each category, the scores are added, multiplied by ten, and divided by the total number of questions within the category. There are a few modifying dependencies, which are explained much more precisely than the main rule procedures. In a few cases, an answer yielding zero for one question voids another question; e.g. if the elections for the national legislature and head of government are not considered free (question 1), then the next question, "Are elections... fair?", is not considered, but automatically scored zero. Likewise, there are a few questions considered so important that a low score on them yields a penalty on the total score sum for their respective categories, namely:

1. "Whether national elections are free and fair";
2. "The security of voters";
3. "The influence of foreign powers on government";
4. "The capability of the civil servants to implement policies".

The five category indices, which are listed in the report, are then averaged to find the Democracy Index for a given country. Finally, the Democracy Index, rounded to two decimals, decides the regime type classification of the country.

The report discusses other indices of democracy, as defined, e.g. by Freedom House, and argues for some of the choices made by the team from the Economist Intelligence Unit. In this comparison, a higher emphasis is placed on the public opinion and attitudes, as measured by surveys, but on the other hand, economic living standards are not weighted as one criterion of democracy (as seemingly some other investigators have done).[3][4]

The report is widely cited in the international press as well as in peer reviewed academic journals.[5]

Classification definitions

Full democracies are nations where civil liberties and fundamental political freedoms are not only respected but also reinforced by a political culture conducive to the thriving of democratic principles. These nations have a valid system of governmental checks and balances, an independent judiciary whose decisions are enforced, governments that function adequately, and diverse and independent media. These nations have only limited problems in democratic functioning.[6]

Flawed democracies are nations where elections are fair and free and basic civil liberties are honoured but may have issues (e.g. media freedom infringement and minor suppression of political opposition and critics). These nations have significant faults in other democratic aspects, including underdeveloped political culture, low levels of participation in politics, and issues in the functioning of governance.[6]

Hybrid regimes are nations with regular electoral frauds, preventing them from being fair and free democracies. These nations commonly have governments that apply pressure on political opposition, non-independent judiciaries, widespread corruption, harassment and pressure placed on the media, anaemic rule of law, and more pronounced faults than flawed democracies in the realms of underdeveloped political culture, low levels of participation in politics, and issues in the functioning of governance.[6]

Authoritarian regimes are nations where political pluralism is nonexistent or severely limited. These nations are often absolute monarchies or dictatorships, may have some conventional institutions of democracy but with meagre significance, infringements and abuses of civil liberties are commonplace, elections (if they take place) are not fair and free, the media is often state-owned or controlled by groups associated with the ruling regime, the judiciary is not independent, and censorship and suppression of governmental criticism are commonplace.[6]

Democracy Index by country 2019

Listing by country is available on The Economist website.[7]

Democracy Index 2019

Rank	Country	Score	Electoral process and pluralism	Functio­ning of govern­ment	Political partici­pation	Political culture	Civil liberties	Regime type	Region[n 1]	Changes from last year
1	Norway	9.87	10.00	9.64	10.00	10.00	9.71	Full democracy	Western Europe	Score: Rank:
2	Iceland	9.58	10.00	9.29	8.89	10.00	9.71	Full democracy	Western Europe
3	Sweden	9.39	9.58	9.64	8.33	10.00	9.41	Full democracy	Western Europe
4	New Zealand	9.26	10.00	9.29	8.89	8.13	10.00	Full democracy	Asia & Australasia
5	Finland	9.25	10.00	8.93	8.89	8.75	9.71	Full democracy	Western Europe	Score: 0.11 Rank: 3
6	Ireland	9.24	10.00	7.86	8.33	10.00	10.00	Full democracy	Western Europe	Score: 0.09 Rank:
7	Denmark	9.22	10.00	9.29	8.33	9.38	9.12	Full democracy	Western Europe	Score: Rank: 2
	Canada	9.22	9.58	9.64	7.78	9.38	9.71	Full democracy	North America	Score: 0.07 Rank: 1
9	Australia	9.09	10.00	8.93	7.78	8.75	10.00	Full democracy	Asia & Australasia	Score: Rank:
10	Switzerland	9.03	9.58	9.29	7.78	9.38	9.12	Full democracy	Western Europe
11	Netherlands	9.01	9.58	9.29	8.33	8.75	9.12	Full democracy	Western Europe	Score: 0.12 Rank:
12	Luxembourg	8.81	10.00	8.93	6.67	8.75	9.71	Full democracy	Western Europe	Score: Rank:
13	Germany	8.68	9.58	8.57	8.33	7.50	9.41	Full democracy	Western Europe
14	United Kingdom	8.52	9.58	7.50	8.89	7.50	9.12	Full democracy	Western Europe	Score: 0.01 Rank:
15	Uruguay	8.38	10.00	8.57	6.11	7.50	9.71	Full democracy	Latin America	Score: Rank:
16	Austria	8.29	9.58	7.86	8.33	6.88	8.82	Full democracy	Western Europe	Score: Rank:
	Spain	8.29	9.58	7.14	7.78	8.13	8.82	Full democracy	Western Europe	Score: 0.11 Rank: 3
18	Mauritius	8.22	9.17	8.21	5.56	8.75	9.41	Full democracy	Sub-Saharan Africa	Score: Rank: 1
19	Costa Rica	8.13	9.58	7.50	6.67	7.50	9.41	Full democracy	Latin America	Score: 0.06 Rank: 1
20	France	8.12	9.58	7.86	7.78	6.88	8.53	Full democracy	Western Europe	Score: 0.32 Rank: 9
21	Chile	8.08	9.58	8.57	5.00	8.13	9.12	Full democracy	Latin America	Score: 0.11 Rank: 2
22	Portugal	8.03	9.58	7.86	6.11	7.50	9.12	Full democracy	Western Europe	Score: 0.19 Rank: 5
23	South Korea[n 2]	8.00	9.17	7.86	7.22	7.50	8.24	Flawed democracy	Asia & Australasia	Score: Rank: 2
24	Japan	7.99	8.75	8.21	6.67	7.50	8.82	Flawed democracy	Asia & Australasia
25	United States	7.96	9.17	7.14	7.78	7.50	8.24	Flawed democracy	North America	Score: Rank:
26	Malta	7.95	9.17	7.50	6.11	8.13	8.82	Flawed democracy	Western Europe	Score: 0.26 Rank: 8
27	Estonia	7.90	9.58	7.86	6.67	6.88	8.53	Flawed democracy	Eastern Europe	Score: 0.07 Rank: 4
28	Israel	7.86	9.17	7.86	8.89	7.50	5.88	Flawed democracy	Middle East & North Africa	Score: 0.07 Rank: 2
29	Botswana	7.81	9.17	7.14	6.11	7.50	9.12	Flawed democracy	Sub-Saharan Africa	Score: Rank: 1
30	Cape Verde	7.78	9.17	7.36	6.67	6.88	8.82	Flawed democracy	Sub-Saharan Africa	Score: 0.1 Rank: 4
31	Taiwan	7.73	9.58	8.21	6.11	5.63	9.12	Flawed democracy	Asia & Australasia	Score: Rank: 1
32	Czech Republic	7.69	9.58	6.79	6.67	6.88	8.53	Flawed democracy	Eastern Europe	Score: Rank: 2
33	Belgium	7.64	9.58	8.21	5.00	6.88	8.53	Flawed democracy	Western Europe	Score: 0.14 Rank: 2
34	Cyprus	7.59	9.17	6.43	6.67	6.88	8.82	Flawed democracy	Western Europe	Score: Rank: 1
35	Italy	7.52	9.58	6.07	7.78	6.25	7.94	Flawed democracy	Western Europe	Score: 0.19 Rank: 2
36	Slovenia	7.50	9.58	6.79	6.67	6.25	8.24	Flawed democracy	Eastern Europe	Score: Rank:
	Lithuania	7.50	9.58	6.43	6.11	6.25	9.12	Flawed democracy	Eastern Europe
38	Latvia	7.49	9.58	6.07	6.11	6.88	8.82	Flawed democracy	Eastern Europe	Score: 0.11 Rank:
39	Greece	7.43	9.58	4.86	6.67	7.50	8.53	Flawed democracy	Western Europe	Score: 0.14 Rank:
40	South Africa	7.24	7.42	7.50	8.33	5.00	7.94	Flawed democracy	Sub-Saharan Africa	Score: Rank:
41	Timor-Leste	7.19	9.58	6.29	5.56	6.88	7.65	Flawed democracy	Asia & Australasia	Score: Rank: 1
42	Slovakia	7.17	9.58	7.14	5.56	5.63	7.94	Flawed democracy	Eastern Europe	Score: 0.07 Rank: 2
43	Malaysia	7.16	9.17	7.86	6.67	6.25	5.88	Flawed democracy	Asia & Australasia	Score: 0.28 Rank: 9
	Trinidad and Tobago	7.16	9.58	7.14	6.11	5.63	7.35	Flawed democracy	Latin America	Score: Rank:
45	Colombia	7.13	9.17	6.79	5.56	5.63	8.53	Flawed democracy	Latin America	Score: 0.17 Rank: 6
46	Panama	7.05	9.58	6.07	6.67	5.00	7.94	Flawed democracy	Latin America	Score: Rank: 1
47	Bulgaria	7.03	9.17	6.43	7.22	4.38	7.94	Flawed democracy	Eastern Europe
48	Argentina	7.02	9.17	5.36	6.11	6.25	8.24	Flawed democracy	Latin America
49	Suriname	6.98	9.17	6.43	6.67	5.00	7.65	Flawed democracy	Latin America	Score: Rank:
50	Jamaica	6.96	8.75	7.14	4.44	6.25	8.24	Flawed democracy	Latin America	Score: 0.06 Rank: 3
51	India	6.90	8.67	6.79	6.67	5.63	6.76	Flawed democracy	Asia & Australasia	Score: 0.33 Rank: 10
52	Brazil	6.86	9.58	5.36	6.11	5.00	8.24	Flawed democracy	Latin America	Score: 0.11 Rank: 2
53	Tunisia	6.72	9.17	5.71	7.22	5.63	5.88	Flawed democracy	Middle East & North Africa	Score: 0.31 Rank: 10
54	Philippines	6.64	9.17	5.36	7.22	4.38	7.06	Flawed democracy	Asia & Australasia	Score: 0.07 Rank: 1
55	Ghana	6.63	8.33	5.71	6.67	6.25	6.18	Flawed democracy	Sub-Saharan Africa	Score: Rank: 2
	Hungary	6.63	8.75	6.07	5.00	6.25	7.06	Flawed democracy	Eastern Europe
57	Poland	6.62	9.17	6.07	6.11	4.38	7.35	Flawed democracy	Eastern Europe	Score: 0.05 Rank: 3
58	Peru	6.60	9.17	5.00	5.56	5.63	7.65	Flawed democracy	Latin America	Score: Rank: 1
59	Croatia	6.57	9.17	6.07	5.56	5.00	7.06	Flawed democracy	Eastern Europe	Score: Rank: 1
60	Dominican Republic	6.54	9.17	5.36	6.11	5.00	7.06	Flawed democracy	Latin America	Score: Rank: 1
	Lesotho	6.54	9.17	4.50	6.67	5.63	6.76	Flawed democracy	Sub-Saharan Africa	Score: 0.1 Rank: 4
62	Mongolia	6.50	9.17	5.71	5.56	5.00	7.06	Flawed democracy	Asia & Australasia	Score: Rank:
63	Romania	6.49	9.17	5.71	5.56	4.38	7.65	Flawed democracy	Eastern Europe	Score: 0.11 Rank: 3
64	Indonesia	6.48	7.92	7.14	6.11	5.63	5.59	Flawed democracy	Asia & Australasia	Score: 0.09 Rank: 1
65	Namibia	6.43	6.58	5.36	6.67	5.63	7.94	Flawed democracy	Sub-Saharan Africa	Score: 0.18 Rank: 4
66	Serbia	6.41	8.25	5.36	6.11	5.00	7.35	Flawed democracy	Eastern Europe	Score: Rank: 3
67	Ecuador	6.33	8.75	5.36	6.11	4.38	7.06	Flawed democracy	Latin America	Score: 0.06 Rank: 1
68	Thailand	6.32	7.42	5.36	6.11	6.25	6.47	Flawed democracy	Asia & Australasia	Score: 1.69 Rank: 38
69	Sri Lanka	6.27	7.00	6.07	5.56	6.25	6.47	Flawed democracy	Asia & Australasia	Score: 0.08 Rank: 2
70	Paraguay	6.24	8.75	5.71	5.00	4.38	7.35	Flawed democracy	Latin America	Score: Rank:
71	El Salvador	6.15	9.17	4.64	6.11	3.75	7.06	Flawed democracy	Latin America	Score: 0.19 Rank: 6
	Guyana	6.15	6.92	5.36	6.11	5.00	7.35	Flawed democracy	Latin America	Score: 0.52 Rank: 17
73	Mexico	6.09	7.83	6.07	7.22	3.13	6.18	Flawed democracy	Latin America	Score: 0.1 Rank: 2
74	Papua New Guinea	6.03	6.92	6.07	3.89	5.63	7.65	Flawed democracy	Asia & Australasia	Score: Rank: 1
75	Hong Kong	6.02	3.58	4.36	6.11	7.50	8.53	Flawed democracy	Asia & Australasia	Score: 0.13 Rank: 2
	Singapore	6.02	3.92	7.86	5.00	6.25	7.06	Flawed democracy	Asia & Australasia	Score: 0.36 Rank: 9
77	North Macedonia	5.97	7.00	5.36	6.67	3.75	7.06	Hybrid regime	Eastern Europe	Score: 0.1 Rank: 1
78	Ukraine	5.90	7.42	2.71	6.67	6.25	6.47	Hybrid regime	Eastern Europe	Score: 0.21 Rank: 6
79	Albania	5.89	7.00	5.36	4.44	5.00	7.65	Hybrid regime	Eastern Europe	Score: 0.09 Rank: 3
80	Bangladesh	5.88	7.83	6.07	6.11	4.38	5.00	Hybrid regime	Asia & Australasia	Score: 0.31 Rank: 8
81	Fiji	5.85	6.58	5.36	6.11	5.63	5.59	Hybrid regime	Asia & Australasia	Score: Rank: 2
82	Senegal	5.81	6.08	6.07	4.44	6.25	6.18	Hybrid regime	Sub-Saharan Africa	Score: 0.34 Rank: 9
83	Moldova	5.75	6.58	4.64	6.11	4.38	7.06	Hybrid regime	Eastern Europe	Score: 0.1 Rank: 4
84	Montenegro	5.65	5.67	5.36	6.11	4.38	6.76	Hybrid regime	Eastern Europe	Score: 0.09 Rank: 3
85	Madagascar	5.64	7.92	3.57	6.11	5.63	5.00	Hybrid regime	Sub-Saharan Africa	Score: 0.42 Rank: 10
86	Armenia	5.54	7.50	5.36	6.11	3.13	5.59	Hybrid regime	Eastern Europe	Score: 0.75 Rank: 17
87	Malawi	5.50	6.08	4.29	5.00	6.25	5.88	Hybrid regime	Sub-Saharan Africa	Score: 0.01 Rank: 3
88	Liberia	5.45	7.42	3.07	5.56	5.63	5.59	Hybrid regime	Sub-Saharan Africa	Score: 0.1 Rank: 5
89	Georgia	5.42	7.83	3.21	6.11	4.38	5.59	Hybrid regime	Eastern Europe	Score: 0.08 Rank:
	Honduras	5.42	7.83	4.29	4.44	4.38	6.18	Hybrid regime	Latin America	Score: 0.21 Rank: 4
91	Bhutan	5.30	8.75	6.79	2.78	4.38	3.82	Hybrid regime	Asia & Australasia	Score: Rank: 3
92	Nepal	5.28	4.83	5.36	5.00	5.63	5.59	Hybrid regime	Asia & Australasia	Score: 0.1 Rank: 5
93	Guatemala	5.26	6.92	4.64	3.89	4.38	6.47	Hybrid regime	Latin America	Score: 0.34 Rank: 6
94	Kenya	5.18	3.50	5.71	6.67	5.63	4.41	Hybrid regime	Sub-Saharan Africa	Score: 0.07 Rank: 4
95	Tanzania	5.16	5.75	5.00	5.00	5.63	4.41	Hybrid regime	Sub-Saharan Africa	Score: 0.25 Rank: 4
96	Morocco	5.10	5.25	4.64	5.56	5.63	4.41	Hybrid regime	Middle East & North Africa	Score: 0.11 Rank: 4
97	Benin	5.09	4.67	5.71	4.44	5.63	5.00	Hybrid regime	Sub-Saharan Africa	Score: 0.65 Rank: 16
	Zambia	5.09	4.75	2.93	4.44	6.88	6.47	Hybrid regime	Sub-Saharan Africa	Score: 0.52 Rank: 11
99	Uganda	5.02	4.33	3.57	4.44	6.88	5.88	Hybrid regime	Sub-Saharan Africa	Score: 0.18 Rank: 3
100	Mali	4.92	6.42	3.07	3.89	5.63	5.59	Hybrid regime	Sub-Saharan Africa	Score: 0.49 Rank: 9
101	Kyrgyzstan	4.89	6.08	2.93	6.67	3.75	5.00	Hybrid regime	Eastern Europe	Score: 0.22 Rank: 3
102	Bosnia and Herzegovina	4.86	6.17	2.93	5.56	3.75	5.88	Hybrid regime	Eastern Europe	Score: 0.12 Rank: 1
	Sierra Leone	4.86	6.58	2.86	3.33	6.25	5.29	Hybrid regime	Sub-Saharan Africa	Score: 0.2 Rank: 3
104	Bolivia	4.84	4.75	3.93	5.00	3.75	6.76	Hybrid regime	Latin America	Score: 0.86 Rank: 21
105	Haiti	4.57	4.75	2.07	3.89	6.25	5.88	Hybrid regime	Latin America	Score: 0.34 Rank: 3
106	Lebanon	4.36	3.92	1.50	6.67	5.00	4.71	Hybrid regime	Middle East & North Africa	Score: 0.27 Rank:
107	Gambia	4.33	4.00	4.29	3.33	5.63	4.41	Hybrid regime	Sub-Saharan Africa	Score: 0.02 Rank: 4
108	Pakistan	4.25	6.08	5.71	2.22	2.50	4.71	Hybrid regime	Asia & Australasia	Score: 0.08 Rank: 4
109	Nigeria	4.12	5.17	3.93	3.33	3.75	4.41	Hybrid regime	Sub-Saharan Africa	Score: 0.32 Rank: 1
110	Turkey	4.09	3.08	5.00	5.00	5.00	2.35	Hybrid regime	Western Europe	Score: 0.28 Rank:
111	Ivory Coast	4.05	4.33	2.86	3.33	5.63	4.12	Hybrid regime	Sub-Saharan Africa	Score: 0.1 Rank: 2
112	Burkina Faso	4.04	3.92	2.71	4.44	5.00	4.12	Hybrid regime	Sub-Saharan Africa	Score: 0.71 Rank: 8
113	Algeria	4.01	3.08	2.86	5.00	5.00	4.12	Hybrid regime	Middle East & North Africa	Score: 0.51 Rank: 13
114	Jordan	3.93	3.58	4.29	3.89	4.38	3.53	Authoritarian	Middle East & North Africa	Score: Rank: 1
	Kuwait	3.93	3.58	4.29	3.89	4.38	3.53	Authoritarian	Middle East & North Africa	Score: 0.08 Rank: 2
116	Mauritania	3.92	3.50	3.57	5.00	3.13	4.41	Authoritarian	Sub-Saharan Africa	Score: 0.1 Rank: 3
117	Palestine	3.89	3.33	0.14	7.78	4.38	3.82	Authoritarian	Middle East & North Africa	Score: 0.5 Rank: 8
118	Iraq	3.74	5.25	0.00	6.67	5.00	1.76	Authoritarian	Middle East & North Africa	Score: 0.32 Rank: 4
119	Angola	3.72	2.25	2.86	5.56	5.00	2.94	Authoritarian	Sub-Saharan Africa	Score: 0.1 Rank: 4
120	Mozambique	3.65	2.58	2.14	5.00	5.00	3.53	Authoritarian	Sub-Saharan Africa	Score: 0.2 Rank: 4
121	Gabon	3.61	2.58	2.21	4.44	5.00	3.82	Authoritarian	Sub-Saharan Africa	Score: Rank: 3
122	Myanmar	3.55	3.08	3.93	2.78	5.63	2.35	Authoritarian	Asia & Australasia	Score: 0.28 Rank: 4
	Nicaragua	3.55	1.25	2.86	3.89	5.63	4.12	Authoritarian	Latin America	Score: 0.08 Rank:
124	Cambodia	3.53	0.83	4.64	3.33	5.63	3.24	Authoritarian	Asia & Australasia	Score: 0.06 Rank: 1
125	Ethiopia	3.44	0.42	3.57	5.56	5.00	2.65	Authoritarian	Sub-Saharan Africa	Score: 0.09 Rank: 3
126	Togo	3.30	3.17	1.79	3.33	5.00	3.24	Authoritarian	Sub-Saharan Africa	Score: 0.2 Rank: 12
127	Niger	3.29	2.92	1.14	3.33	4.38	4.71	Authoritarian	Sub-Saharan Africa	Score: 0.47 Rank: 7
128	Qatar	3.19	0.00	4.29	2.22	5.63	3.82	Authoritarian	Middle East & North Africa	Score: Rank: 5
129	Rwanda	3.16	1.42	4.29	2.78	4.38	2.94	Authoritarian	Sub-Saharan Africa	Score: 0.19 Rank: 1
	Zimbabwe	3.16	0.00	2.50	4.44	5.63	3.24	Authoritarian	Sub-Saharan Africa	Score: Rank: 5
131	Comoros	3.15	2.08	2.21	3.89	3.75	3.82	Authoritarian	Sub-Saharan Africa	Score: 0.56 Rank: 10
132	Eswatini	3.14	0.92	2.86	2.78	5.63	3.53	Authoritarian	Sub-Saharan Africa	Score: 0.11 Rank: 9
	Guinea	3.14	3.50	0.43	4.44	4.38	2.94	Authoritarian	Sub-Saharan Africa	Score: Rank: 4
134	Republic of the Congo	3.11	2.17	2.50	3.89	3.75	3.24	Authoritarian	Sub-Saharan Africa	Score: 0.2 Rank: 3
	Russia	3.11	2.17	1.79	5.00	2.50	4.12	Authoritarian	Eastern Europe	Score: 0.17 Rank: 10
136	Vietnam	3.08	0.00	3.21	3.89	5.63	2.65	Authoritarian	Asia & Australasia	Score: Rank: 3
137	Egypt	3.06	2.67	3.21	3.33	3.75	2.35	Authoritarian	Middle East & North Africa	Score: 0.3 Rank: 10
	Oman	3.06	0.08	3.93	2.78	4.38	4.12	Authoritarian	Middle East & North Africa	Score: 0.02 Rank: 3
139	Kazakhstan	2.94	0.50	2.14	4.44	4.38	3.24	Authoritarian	Eastern Europe	Score: Rank: 5
140	Venezuela	2.88	0.00	1.79	5.00	4.38	3.24	Authoritarian	Latin America	Score: 0.28 Rank: 6
141	Afghanistan	2.85	3.42	0.64	3.89	2.50	3.82	Authoritarian	Asia & Australasia	Score: 0.12 Rank: 2
	Cameroon	2.85	1.67	2.50	3.33	4.38	2.35	Authoritarian	Sub-Saharan Africa	Score: 0.43 Rank: 9
143	Cuba	2.84	0.00	3.57	3.33	4.38	2.94	Authoritarian	Latin America	Score: 0.16 Rank: 1
144	Djibouti	2.77	0.42	1.29	3.89	5.63	2.65	Authoritarian	Sub-Saharan Africa	Score: 0.1 Rank: 2
145	United Arab Emirates	2.76	0.00	3.93	2.22	5.00	2.65	Authoritarian	Middle East & North Africa	Score: Rank: 2
146	Azerbaijan	2.75	0.50	3.21	2.78	3.75	3.53	Authoritarian	Eastern Europe	Score: 0.1 Rank: 3
147	Sudan	2.70	0.00	1.79	5.56	5.00	1.18	Authoritarian	Middle East & North Africa	Score: 0.55 Rank: 8
148	Guinea-Bissau	2.63	4.92	0.00	2.78	3.13	2.35	Authoritarian	Sub-Saharan Africa	Score: 0.65 Rank: 9
149	Bahrain	2.55	0.83	2.71	2.78	4.38	2.06	Authoritarian	Middle East & North Africa	Score: 0.16 Rank: 1
150	Belarus	2.48	0.92	2.00	2.78	4.38	2.35	Authoritarian	Eastern Europe	Score: 0.65 Rank: 13
151	Iran	2.38	0.00	2.86	4.44	3.13	1.47	Authoritarian	Middle East & North Africa	Score: 0.07 Rank: 1
152	Eritrea	2.37	0.00	2.14	1.67	6.88	1.18	Authoritarian	Sub-Saharan Africa	Score: Rank: 1
153	China	2.26	0.00	4.29	3.33	2.50	1.18	Authoritarian	Asia & Australasia	Score: 1.06 Rank: 23
154	Burundi	2.15	0.00	0.07	3.33	5.00	2.35	Authoritarian	Sub-Saharan Africa	Score: 0.18 Rank: 1
155	Laos	2.14	0.00	2.86	1.67	5.00	1.18	Authoritarian	Asia & Australasia	Score: 0.23 Rank: 4
156	Libya	2.02	0.00	0.00	2.78	4.38	2.94	Authoritarian	Middle East & North Africa	Score: 0.17 Rank: 2
157	Uzbekistan	2.01	0.08	1.86	2.22	5.00	0.88	Authoritarian	Eastern Europe	Score: Rank: 1
158	Yemen	1.95	0.00	0.00	3.89	5.00	0.88	Authoritarian	Middle East & North Africa	Score: Rank:
159	Saudi Arabia	1.93	0.00	2.86	2.22	3.13	1.47	Authoritarian	Middle East & North Africa
	Tajikistan	1.93	0.08	0.79	1.67	6.25	0.88	Authoritarian	Eastern Europe
161	Equatorial Guinea	1.92	0.00	0.43	3.33	4.38	1.47	Authoritarian	Sub-Saharan Africa
162	Turkmenistan	1.72	0.00	0.79	2.22	5.00	0.59	Authoritarian	Eastern Europe
163	Chad	1.61	0.00	0.00	1.67	3.75	2.65	Authoritarian	Sub-Saharan Africa
164	Syria	1.43	0.00	0.00	2.78	4.38	0.00	Authoritarian	Middle East & North Africa	Score: Rank: 2
165	Central African Republic	1.32	1.25	0.00	1.11	1.88	2.35	Authoritarian	Sub-Saharan Africa	Score: 0.2 Rank: 1
166	Democratic Republic of the Congo	1.13	0.00	0.00	1.67	3.13	0.88	Authoritarian	Sub-Saharan Africa
167	North Korea	1.08	0.00	2.50	1.67	1.25	0.00	Authoritarian	Asia & Australasia	Score: Rank:
Rank	Country	Score	Electoral process and pluralism	Functio­ning of govern­ment	Political partici­pation	Political culture	Civil liberties	Regime type	Region	Changes from last year

Recent changes

In 2016, the United States was downgraded from a full democracy to a flawed democracy;[8] its score, which had been declining for some years, crossed the threshold from 8.05 in 2015 to 7.98 in 2016. The report states that this was caused by a myriad of factors dating back to at least the late 1960s which have eroded Americans' trust in governmental institutions.[8][9][10]

The 2017 Democracy index registered the worst year for global democracy since 2010–11. Asia was the region with the largest decline since 2016. Venezuela was downgraded from a hybrid regime to an authoritarian regime.

Australia (ranked 8th) and Taiwan (ranked 33rd) both legalised same-sex marriage in 2017. In China, Xi Jinping, General Secretary of the Communist Party of China, further entrenched his power by writing his contribution to the Chinese Communist Party's ideology, dubbed Xi Jinping Thought, into the party's constitution. Moldova was downgraded from a flawed democracy to a hybrid regime as a result of problematic elections. By contrast, Armenia was re-upgraded from an authoritarian regime to a hybrid regime[11] as a result of constitutional changes that shifted power from the presidency to parliament.[12]

In 2017, the Gambia was re-upgraded from an authoritarian regime to a hybrid regime after Yahya Jammeh, who was president from 1996 to 2017, was defeated by Adama Barrow, an opposition candidate in the 2016 presidential elections.

In 2019, France, Portugal and Chile were upgraded from flawed democracy to full democracy. In fact, this is a re-upgrade for the former two, which suffered from the eurozone crisis many years ago. By contrast, Malta was downgraded from a full democracy to a flawed democracy. Thailand was re-upgraded from a hybrid regime to a flawed democracy.[7] Algeria was re-upgraded from an authoritarian regime to a hybrid regime.

Criticism

The Democracy Index has been criticised for lacking transparency and accountability beyond the numbers. To generate the index, the Economist Intelligence Unit has a scoring system in which various experts are asked to answer 60 questions and assign each reply a number, with the weighted average deciding the ranking. However, the final report does not indicate what kinds of experts, nor their number, nor whether the experts are employees of the Economist Intelligence Unit or independent scholars, nor the nationalities of the experts.[13]

Democracy Index by regime type

The following table gives the number and percentage of countries and the percentage of the world population for each regime type in 2018:[14]

Type of regime	Score (s)	Number of countries	Percentage of countries	Percentage of world population
Full democracies	s > 8	20	12.0	4.5
Flawed democracies	6 < s ≤ 8	55	32.9	43.2
Hybrid regimes	4 < s ≤ 6	39	23.4	16.7
Authoritarian regimes	s ≤ 4	53	31.7	35.6

World population refers to the total population of the 167 countries covered by the Index. Since this excludes only microstates, this is nearly equal to the entire estimated world population.

Democracy Index by region

The following table gives the index average by world region, and the number of covered countries in 2019. Note that some regional groups (e.g. Eastern Europe and Asia and Australasia) are very heterogeneous and composed of full democracies as well as authoritarian regimes:

Rank	Region	Countries	2006[4]	2008[15]	2010[3]	2011[16]	2012[2]	2013[17]	2014[18]	2015[6]	2016[19]	2017[20]	2018[14]	2019[7]
1	North America	2	8.64	8.64	8.63	8.59	8.59	8.59	8.59	8.56	8.56	8.56	8.56	8.59
2	Western Europe	21	8.60	8.61	8.45	8.40	8.44	8.41	8.41	8.42	8.40	8.38	8.35	8.35
3	Latin America and the Caribbean	24	6.37	6.43	6.37	6.35	6.36	6.38	6.36	6.37	6.33	6.26	6.24	6.13
4	Asia and Australasia	28	5.44	5.58	5.53	5.51	5.56	5.61	5.70	5.74	5.74	5.63	5.67	5.67
5	Central and Eastern Europe	28	5.76	5.67	5.55	5.50	5.51	5.53	5.58	5.55	5.43	5.40	5.42	5.42
6	Sub-Saharan Africa	44	4.24	4.28	4.23	4.32	4.33	4.36	4.34	4.38	4.37	4.35	4.36	4.26
7	Middle East and North Africa	20	3.54	3.48	3.52	3.62	3.73	3.68	3.65	3.58	3.56	3.54	3.54	3.53
	World	167	5.52	5.55	5.46	5.49	5.52	5.53	5.55	5.55	5.52	5.48	5.48	5.44

See also

• Corruption Perceptions Index
• Democracy-Dictatorship Index
• Democracy promotion
• Democracy Ranking
• Freedom in the World
• List of freedom indices

Notes

1. The region is defined by the official EIU report, for example grouping Turkey in Western Europe and all post-Soviet states in Eastern Europe.
2. An exact score of 8.00 is considered a Flawed democracy per the EIU website.

References

1. "EIU Democracy Index 2019 - World Democracy Report". www.eiu.com. Retrieved 2020-02-04.
2. "Democracy index 2012: Democracy at a standstill" (PDF). Economist Intelligence Unit. 14 March 2013. Archived (PDF) from the original on 20 March 2017. Retrieved 26 January 2017.
3. "Democracy Index 2010: Democracy in retreat" (PDF). Economist Intelligence Unit. 6 December 2010. Archived (PDF) from the original on 13 December 2017. Retrieved 26 January 2017.
4. Laza Kekic, director, country forecasting services (15 November 2006). "The Economist Intelligence Unit's index of democracy" (PDF). The World in 2007. Economist Intelligence Unit. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2 February 2017. Retrieved 26 January 2017.CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
5. "More State than Nation: Lukashenko's Belarus | JIA SIPA". Journal of International Affairs. 65 (1): 93–113. 1 December 2011. Archived from the original on 21 December 2016. Retrieved 26 January 2017.
6. "Democracy Index 2015: Democracy in an age of anxiety" (PDF). The Economist Intelligence Unit. Archived (PDF) from the original on 5 March 2016. Retrieved 26 January 2017.
7. "Democracy Index 2019 A year of democratic setbacks and popular protest". EIU.com. Retrieved 24 January 2020.
8. Karlis, Nicole (31 January 2018). "New report classifies US as a "flawed democracy" - Partisanship and Trump were to blame for the US's dismal ranking in the Economist's annual Democracy Index report". Salon. Archived from the original on 16 February 2018. Retrieved 17 February 2018.
9. Eshe Nelson (25 January 2017). "The US has been downgraded to a "flawed democracy," but not just because of Trump". Qz.com. Archived from the original on 1 October 2017. Retrieved 30 September 2017.
10. "Declining trust in government is denting democracy". The Economist. 25 January 2017. Archived from the original on 14 July 2017. Retrieved 13 July 2017.
11. "Democracy Index 2017". www.eiu.com. Retrieved 2018-01-31.
12. "Democracy Index 2017: Free Speech Under Attack" (PDF). www.eiu.com. 30 January 2018. Archived (PDF) from the original on 18 February 2018. Retrieved 24 February 2018.
13. "Peter Tasker: The flawed 'science' behind democracy rankings". asia.nikkei.com. Archived from the original on 2019-02-23. Retrieved 2019-02-22.
14. The Economist Intelligence Unit (8 January 2019). "Democracy Index 2018: Me Too?". The Economist Intelligence Unit. Archived from the original on 2 February 2019. Retrieved 13 January 2019.
15. "Index of Democracy 2008" (PDF). Economist Intelligence Unit. 21 October 2008. Archived (PDF) from the original on 8 March 2017. Retrieved 26 January 2017.
16. "Democracy index 2011: Democracy under stress". Economist Intelligence Unit. 14 December 2011. Archived from the original on 2 February 2017. Retrieved 26 January 2017.
17. "Democracy Index 2013: Democracy in limbo". The Economist Intelligence Unit. Archived from the original on 31 May 2019. Retrieved 26 January 2017.
18. "Democracy Index 2014:Democracy and its discontents" (PDF). The Economist Intelligence Unit. Archived (PDF) from the original on 1 February 2016. Retrieved 26 January 2017.
19. "Democracy Index 2016: Revenge of the "deplorables"". eiu.com. The Economist Intelligence Unit. 25 January 2017. Archived from the original on 11 November 2019. Retrieved 20 July 2017.
20. "Democracy Index 2017: Free speech under attack". eiu.com. The Economist Intelligence Unit. Archived from the original on 31 January 2018. Retrieved 31 January 2018.

External links

• The Economist Intelligence Unit's website
• EIU Democracy Index main page