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A REPORT BY THE ECONOMIST INTELLIGENCE UNIT

Democracy Index 2020: In sickness and in health?

Democracy was dealt a major blow in 2020. Almost 70% of countries covered by The Economist Intelligence Unit’s Democracy Index recorded a decline in their overall score, as country after country locked down to protect lives from a novel coronavirus. The global average score fell to its lowest level since the index began in 2006.

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The state of democracy around the world

The EIU Democracy Index provides a snapshot of the state of world democracy for 165 independent states and two territories. The Democracy Index is based on five categories: electoral process and pluralism, civil liberties, the functioning of government, political participation, and political culture. Based on their scores on 60 indicators within these categories, each country is then itself classified as one of four types of regime: full democracy, flawed democracy, hybrid regime or authoritarian regime.

2020 Rankings

Top 5CountryScore
1Norway9.81
2Iceland9.37
3Sweden9.26
4New Zealand9.25
5Canada9.24
Bottom 5CountryScore
163Chad1.55
164Syria1.43
165Central African Republic1.32
166Dem. Republic of Congo1.13
167North Korea1.08

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