The latest Democracy Index, published by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), shows that global democracy is in its worst shape since the index began 20 years ago.

The Index looks at a number of variables, with ten being the highest score and zero being the lowest. Norway was ranked as the best democracy in the world, with a score of 9.81.

It also groups countries into four categories: full democracies, flawed democracies, hybrid regimes, and authoritarian regimes.

The global average was 5.17, down from a high in 5.55 in 2015.

Some 7% of the world’s population lived in full democracies, 38% in flawed democracies, 16% in hybrid regimes, and 39% in authoritarian regimes.

South Africa saw its score increase to 7.16 from 7.05 in 2023. The EIU said this was primarily because the ANC had been forced into a coalition after the May election, with the country being ranked as a flawed democracy.

The EIU said: “In a significant event in South African politics, the long-ruling African National Congress (ANC) retained power but lost its majority for the first time since the end of apartheid in 1994, demonstrating the reasonably free and fair nature of the May election as well as anti-incumbency sentiment. The ANC’s historic loss of its legislative majority prompted the party to form national-level power-sharing agreements for the first time.”

In sub-Saharan Africa, only Botswana and Mauritius had higher scores than South Africa.

After Norway, the countries which were ranked as the most democratic in the world were New Zealand, Sweden, Iceland and Switzerland. At the other end of the scale, the countries ranked as the least democratic were Afghanistan, Myanmar, North Korea, the Central African Republic, and Syria.

[Image: The Economist/Democracy Index 2024]


author