The latest Democracy Index compiled by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), shows that democracy is under strain around the globe.
The index, which uses five measures to determine the state of democracy around the world, found that 45% of the world’s population live in democratic countries, while 37% live in authoritarian countries. The rest of the globe’s population live in what the EIU describes as ‘hybrid regimes’.
The index assigns to countries a score out of ten to indicate the state of democracy. Countries with a score above six are classed as democracies (either ‘full’ or ‘flawed’), while those with scores of between four and six are ‘hybrid regimes’. Those with scores of below four are ‘authoritarian regimes’.
The average score in 2022 was 5.29, a slight increase on the global average score the previous year.
Norway was the country with the highest score on the index for 2022. The top five included New Zealand, Iceland, Sweden, and Finland.
The bottom five, conversely, were Syria, the Central African Republic, North Korea, Myanmar, and Afghanistan.
South Africa was ranked 45th and classified as a ‘flawed democracy’. The only African countries which were ranked higher than South Africa were Mauritius, Botswana, and Cape Verde. The only other African countries which were ranked as democracies were Namibia, Lesotho, and Ghana.
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