Based on the average score the measured countries end up in one of four categories: “full democracies” (with a score of 8+ to 10) “flawed democracies” (6+ to 8) “hybrid regimes” (4+ to 6) and “authoritarian regimes” (0 to 4).

Each country receives a score on a scale from 0-10 based on a range of indicators within five categories: electoral process and pluralism civil liberties the functioning of government, political participation and political culture. It makes an assessment of the state of democracy in 165 independent states and two territories, only microstates are excluded. Source: EIU Democracy Index 2022 How the report measures democracyĮIU’s Democracy Index has been published annually since 2006. Number of countries by regime type in 2022, percentage of total, and percentage of world population. Chile, France and Spain returned to the “full democracy” category while Papua New Guinea and Peru moved from a “flawed democracy” classification to that of a “hybrid regime”. In the 2022 assessment, there are only five changes of regime category compared to the previous report, three positive and two negative. Stagnation seems better than regression, but according to the report, it should be considered a disappointment “given expectations that there might be a rebound in the overall index score as pandemic-related prohibitions were lifted over the course of the year.” Global map by regime type.

After years of continuous regression since at least 2015 (with a score of 5.55), democratic development in 2022 seems to have reached a point of stagnation. The global average score in 2022 was 5.29 which is slightly better than the score of 5.28 in 2021. The state of national democracy worldwideĪccording to the 2022 Democracy Index 8% of the world’s population in 24 countries live in a full democracy, 37.3% in 48 countries in a flawed democracy, 17.9% in 36 countries in a hybrid regime, and 36.9% in 59 countries in an authoritarian regime.

The 2022 edition of the Economist Intelligence Unit’s (EIU) Democracy Index that was published earlier this month reports overall democratic stagnation in a year marked by Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine and a lack of democratic revival following COVID-19-related lockdowns and restrictions.

Democracy index