Government

Democracy Index: What countries are democratically strong?



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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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Norway Map
Iceland Map
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