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The Global Democracy Index is a tool developed by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) to assess the state of democracy in 167 countries and territories.
This index, published annually, measures the quality of democracy based on five main criteria: electoral process and pluralism, functioning of government, political participation, political culture, and civil liberties.
Countries are classified into four categories: Full Democracies, Flawed Democracies, Hybrid Regimes, Authoritarian Regimes.
The quality of global democracies hit an all-time low in 2024.
The categories that have seen the greatest decline since 2008 are civil liberties, electoral process, and pluralism.
“While autocracies seem to be gaining strength, as evidenced by the index trend since 2006, the world’s democracies are struggling,” says Joan Hoey, director of the Democracy Index.
The functioning of the government category has also seen a decline.
This is the lowest-scoring category of the index, a result of fundamental weaknesses afflicting democratic systems, both developed and developing.
Stalemates, dysfunctions, corruption, insufficient transparency, and lack of accountability have undermined citizens’ trust in governments, political parties, and politicians. In many countries, powerful interest groups and wealthy individuals exert significant influence.
Governments outsource decision-making to unelected bodies.
Citizens feel they have no control over their governments.
As a result, popular trust in democratic institutions has been declining for many years and contributed to the categorical rejection of incumbent politicians in 2024.
“The causes of this prolonged democratic recession are complex. In this year’s report, we discuss the factors that have fueled popular dissatisfaction with democratic political systems over the past two decades, leading to the rise of political insurgents like Donald Trump, Nigel Farage, Javier Milei, and Marine Le Pen.”
“If insurgents come to power and fail to improve governance and deliver tangible improvements to citizens, there is a risk that disaffection and political polarization will grow.”
Apart from the United States, which has been downgraded to a “Flawed Democracy” since 2016, in 2024, France was also downgraded from a “Full Democracy” to a “Flawed Democracy,” despite Western Europe being an exception as it was the only region in the world that saw its average index score improve thanks to some rising democracies like the Czech Republic, Estonia, and Portugal, which have risen to become “Full Democracies.”
In 2024, Norway was named the most democratic country in the world for the 16th consecutive year.
More than a third (39.2%) of the world’s population lives under an authoritarian regime.
Sixty countries are now classified as “authoritarian regimes.”
Among these countries, Afghanistan received the lowest score.
A significant change was observed in Bangladesh, which dropped 25 positions due to the ousting of the autocratic ruler Sheikh Hasina.
The global average index dropped to a new all-time low of 5.17, down from a high of 5.55 in 2015.
Only 6.6% of the world’s population now lives in a full democracy, compared to 12.5% ten years ago.
A large portion of the world’s population, currently two in five people, lives under authoritarian rule.
Despite the record number of democratic elections in 2024, many of them were marred by violence and fraud.
The Global Democracy Index provides a valuable overview of the state of democracy worldwide and the challenges it faces.
It is an essential tool for understanding global political dynamics and promoting democracy and civil liberties.
