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Democracy Index: What countries are democratically strong? - Answers


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Democracy Index: What countries are democratically strong?

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World map depicting the Democracy Score in countries

The United Kingdom-based Economic Intelligence Unit has been releasing the Democracy Index since 2006 to assess the state of democracy in the nations around the world. The 2017 Democracy Index, which has considered 167 countries, states that almost half of the world population is residing in some form of democracy, and no region has observed an improvement in its average score since 2016.

What is the Democracy Index?

Five basic categories that are taken into account before releasing the index are: electoral process and pluralism; civil liberties; the functioning of government; political participation; and political culture. In this year’s report, Freedom of expression is noticed to be facing new challenges. The index has scored nations between 1 to 10 points where 10 is the best, while 1 is the worst.

According to the report, only 19 nations have full democracy, as the majority of the countries which are considered “democratic” are flawed.

In the 2017 report, Norway is the strongest democracy in the world with a score of 9.87 out of 10. Coming at the second and the third spot are Iceland and Sweden, which have scores of 9.58 and 9.39, respectively. Other nations that have scores of 9 and above are New Zealand, Denmark, Canada, Ireland, Switzerland, Finland, and Australia.


It was in the 2016 Democracy Index, that even the United States dropped from “full democracy” to “flawed”, and it still is with a score of 7.98. Other countries having scores between 7 and 9 are the United Kingdom, India, Chile, Belgium, South Africa, France etc.

Meanwhile countries such as Colombia, Bangladesh Indonesia, Argentina, Hungary, Lesotho, Sri Lanka, to name a few stand midways with scores ranging between 5 and 7.

Countries that have scored poorly on the 2017 Democracy Index and have a score of less than 3 are Gambia, Bahrain, Afghanistan, Sudan, Libya, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Uzbekistan, among others. North Korea has been rated as the least democratic country in the world. The nation has been placed at the bottom of the table and has a score of just 1.08 out of 10.

The table below provides information on the 2017 Democracy Index score of each nation.

RANK COUNTRY SCORE CATEGORY
1  Norway 9.87 Full democracy
2  Iceland 9.58 Full democracy
3  Sweden 9.39 Full democracy
4  New Zealand 9.26 Full democracy
5  Denmark 9.22 Full democracy
6  Ireland 9.15 Full democracy
6  Canada 9.15 Full democracy
8  Australia 9.09 Full democracy
9  Finland 9.03 Full democracy
9  Switzerland 9.03 Full democracy
11  Netherlands 8.89 Full democracy
12  Luxembourg 8.81 Full democracy
13  Germany 8.61 Full democracy
14  United Kingdom 8.53 Full democracy
15  Austria 8.42 Full democracy
16  Mauritius 8.22 Full democracy
17  Malta 8.15 Full democracy
18  Uruguay 8.12 Full democracy
19  Spain 8.08 Full democracy
20  South Korea 8 Flawed democracy
21  United States of America 7.98 Flawed democracy
21  Italy 7.98 Flawed democracy
23  Japan 7.88 Flawed democracy
23  Cape Verde 7.88 Flawed democracy
23  Costa Rica 7.88 Flawed democracy
26  Chile 7.84 Flawed democracy
26  Portugal 7.84 Flawed democracy
28  Botswana 7.81 Flawed democracy
29  France 7.8 Flawed democracy
30  Estonia 7.79 Flawed democracy
30  Israel 7.79 Flawed democracy
32  Belgium 7.78 Flawed democracy
33  Taiwan 7.73 Flawed democracy
34  Czech Republic 7.62 Flawed democracy
35  Cyprus 7.59 Flawed democracy
36  Slovenia 7.5 Flawed democracy
37  Lithuania 7.41 Flawed democracy
38  Greece 7.29 Flawed democracy
38  Jamaica 7.29 Flawed democracy
40  Latvia 7.25 Flawed democracy
41  South Africa 7.24 Flawed democracy
42  India 7.23 Flawed democracy
43  Timor-Leste 7.19 Flawed democracy
44  Slovakia 7.16 Flawed democracy
45  Panama 7.08 Flawed democracy
46  Trinidad and Tobago 7.04 Flawed democracy
47  Bulgaria 7.03 Flawed democracy
48  Argentina 6.96 Flawed democracy
49  Brazil 6.86 Flawed democracy
50  Suriname 6.76 Flawed democracy
51  Philippines 6.71 Flawed democracy
52  Ghana 6.69 Flawed democracy
53  Poland 6.67 Flawed democracy
53  Colombia 6.67 Flawed democracy
55  Dominican Republic 6.66 Flawed democracy
56  Lesotho 6.64 Flawed democracy
56  Hungary 6.64 Flawed democracy
58  Croatia 6.63 Flawed democracy
59  Malaysia 6.54 Flawed democracy
60  Mongolia 6.5 Flawed democracy
61  Peru 6.49 Flawed democracy
62  Sri Lanka 6.48 Flawed democracy
63  Guyana 6.46 Flawed democracy
64  Romania 6.44 Flawed democracy
65  El Salvador 6.43 Flawed democracy
66  Serbia 6.41 Flawed democracy
66  Mexico 6.41 Flawed democracy
68  Indonesia 6.39 Flawed democracy
69  Tunisia 6.32 Flawed democracy
69  Singapore 6.32 Flawed democracy
71  Hong Kong 6.31 Flawed democracy
71  Namibia 6.31 Flawed democracy
71  Paraguay 6.31 Flawed democracy
74  Senegal 6.15 Flawed democracy
75  Papua New Guinea 6.03 Flawed democracy
76  Ecuador 6.02 Flawed democracy
77  Albania 5.98 Hybrid regime
78  Moldova 5.94 Hybrid regime
79  Georgia 5.93 Hybrid regime
80  Guatemala 5.86 Hybrid regime
81  Fiji 5.85 Hybrid regime
82  Honduras 5.72 Hybrid regime
83  Ukraine 5.69 Hybrid regime
83  Montenegro 5.69 Hybrid regime
85  Zambia 5.68 Hybrid regime
86  Mali 5.64 Hybrid regime
87  Benin 5.61 Hybrid regime
88  Macedonia 5.57 Hybrid regime
89  Bolivia 5.49 Hybrid regime
89  Malawi 5.49 Hybrid regime
91  Tanzania 5.47 Hybrid regime
92  Bangladesh 5.43 Hybrid regime
93  Liberia 5.23 Hybrid regime
94    Nepal 5.18 Hybrid regime
95  Kenya 5.11 Hybrid regime
95  Kyrgyzstan 5.11 Hybrid regime
95  Madagascar 5.11 Hybrid regime
98  Uganda 5.09 Hybrid regime
99  Bhutan 5.08 Hybrid regime
100  Turkey 4.88 Hybrid regime
101  Morocco 4.87 Hybrid regime
101  Bosnia and Herzegovina 4.87 Hybrid regime
103  Burkina Faso 4.75 Hybrid regime
104  Lebanon 4.72 Hybrid regime
105  Sierra Leone 4.66 Hybrid regime
105  Nicaragua 4.66 Hybrid regime
107  Thailand 4.63 Hybrid regime
108  Palestine 4.46 Hybrid regime
109  Nigeria 4.44 Hybrid regime
110  Pakistan 4.26 Hybrid regime
111  Armenia 4.11 Hybrid regime
112  Iraq 4.09 Hybrid regime
113  Gambia 4.06 Hybrid regime
114  Haiti 4.03 Hybrid regime
115  Mozambique 4.02 Hybrid regime
116  Ivory Coast 3.93 Authoritarian
117  Jordan 3.87 Authoritarian
117  Venezuela 3.87 Authoritarian
119  Kuwait 3.85 Authoritarian
120  Myanmar 3.83 Authoritarian
121  Mauritania 3.82 Authoritarian
122  Niger 3.76 Authoritarian
123  Comoros 3.71 Authoritarian
124  Cambodia 3.63 Authoritarian
125  Angola 3.62 Authoritarian
126  Gabon 3.61 Authoritarian
126  Cameroon 3.61 Authoritarian
128  Algeria 3.56 Authoritarian
129  Ethiopia 3.42 Authoritarian
130  Egypt 3.36 Authoritarian
131  Cuba 3.31 Authoritarian
132  Republic of the Congo 3.25 Authoritarian
133  Qatar 3.19 Authoritarian
133  Rwanda 3.19 Authoritarian
135  Russia 3.17 Authoritarian
136  Zimbabwe 3.16 Authoritarian
137  Guinea 3.14 Authoritarian
138  Belarus 3.13 Authoritarian
138  China 3.13 Authoritarian
140  Vietnam 3.08 Authoritarian
141  Kazakhstan 3.06 Authoritarian
142  Togo 3.05 Authoritarian
143  Oman 3.04 Authoritarian
144  Swaziland 3.03 Authoritarian
145  Djibouti 2.76 Authoritarian
146  Bahrain 2.71 Authoritarian
147  United Arab Emirates 2.69 Authoritarian
148  Azerbaijan 2.65 Authoritarian
149  Afghanistan 2.55 Authoritarian
150  Iran 2.45 Authoritarian
151  Eritrea 2.37 Authoritarian
151  Laos 2.37 Authoritarian
153  Burundi 2.33 Authoritarian
154  Libya 2.32 Authoritarian
155  Sudan 2.15 Authoritarian
156  Yemen 2.07 Authoritarian
157  Guinea-Bissau 1.98 Authoritarian
158  Uzbekistan 1.95 Authoritarian
159  Saudi Arabia 1.93 Authoritarian
159  Tajikistan 1.93 Authoritarian
161  Equatorial Guinea 1.81 Authoritarian
162  Turkmenistan 1.72 Authoritarian
163  Democratic Republic of the Congo 1.61 Authoritarian
164  Central African Republic 1.52 Authoritarian
165  Chad 1.5 Authoritarian
166  Syria 1.43 Authoritarian
167  North Korea 1.08 Authoritarian

 

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