The Democracy Index is an index compiled by The Economist The Economist is an English-language weekly news and international affairs publication owned by The Economist Newspaper Ltd. and edited in offices in the City of Westminster, London. Continuous publication began under founder James Wilson in September 1843. While The Economist calls itself a "newspaper", each issue appears on glossy examining the state of democracy Democracy is a political form of government where governing power is derived from the people, either by direct referendum or by means of elected representatives of the people (representative democracy). The term comes from the Greek: δημοκρατία - (dēmokratía) "rule of the people", which was coined from δῆμος (dêmos) & in 167 countries, attempting to quantify this with an Economist Intelligence Unit Index of Democracy which focused on five general categories: electoral process and pluralism, civil liberties, functioning of government, political participation and political culture. According to Economist Intelligence Unit's Democracy Index 2008 Sweden Sweden (pronounced /ˈswiːdən/ SWEE-dən, Swedish: Sverige [ˈsvær.jə]), officially the Kingdom of Sweden (Swedish: Konungariket Sverige (help·info)), is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden has land borders with Norway to the west and Finland to the northeast, and water borders with Denmark, Germany and scored a total of 9.88 on a scale from zero to ten, which was the highest result, while North Korea North Korea, officially the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (Chosongul: 조선민주주의인민공화국), is a country in East Asia, occupying the northern half of the Korean Peninsula. Its capital and largest city is Pyongyang. The Korean Demilitarized Zone serves as the buffer zone between North Korea and South Korea. The Amnok River and scored the lowest with 0.86.[1] The countries are categorised into "Full Democracies", "Flawed Democracies", "Hybrid Regimes" (all considered democracies), and "Authoritarian Regimes" (considered dictatorial).
Methodology
As described in the report, the democracy index is a kind of weighted average The weighted mean is similar to an arithmetic mean , where instead of each of the data points contributing equally to the final average, some data points contribute more than others. The notion of weighted mean plays a role in descriptive statistics and also occurs in a more general form in several other areas of mathematics based on the answers of 60 questions, each one with either two or three permitted alternative answers. Most answers are "experts' assessments"; the report does not indicate what kinds of experts, nor their number, nor whether the experts are employees of The Economist The Economist is an English-language weekly news and international affairs publication owned by The Economist Newspaper Ltd. and edited in offices in the City of Westminster, London. Continuous publication began under founder James Wilson in September 1843. While The Economist calls itself a "newspaper", each issue appears on glossy or e.g. independent scholars, nor the nationalities of the experts. Some answers are provided by public opinion surveys from the respective countries. "In the case of countries for which survey results are missing, survey results for similar countries and expert assessments are used in order to fill in gaps."
The questions are distributed into the five categories enumerated supra. Each answer is translated to a mark, either 0 or 1, or for the three answer alternative questions, 0.5. With the exceptions infra, seemingly, the sums are added within each category, multiplied by ten, and divided by the total number of questions within the category. There are a few modifying dependencies, which are explained much more precisely than the main rule procedures. In a few cases, an answer yielding zero for one question voids another question; e.g., if the elections for national legislation and head of government are not considered free (question 1), then the next question, "Are elections... fair?" is not considered, but automatically marked zero. Likewise, there are a few questions considered so important that a low score on them yields a penalty on the total score sum for their respective categories, namely
- "Whether national A nation is a group of people who share common history, culture, ethnic origin and language, often possessing or seeking its own government. The development and conceptualization of a nation is closely related to the development of modern industrial states and nationalist movements in Europe in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, although elections An election is a formal decision-making process by which a population chooses an individual to hold public office. Elections have been the usual mechanism by which modern representative democracy operates since the 17th century. Elections may fill offices in the legislature, sometimes in the executive and judiciary, and for regional and local are free and fair";
- "The security of voters";
- "The influence of foreign powers on government";
- "The capability of the civil servants A civil servant or public servant is a civilian public sector employee working for a government department or agency. The term explicitly excludes the armed services, although civilian officials will work at "Defence Ministry" headquarters. The term always includes the state's employees; whether regional, or sub-state, or even municipal to implement policies".
The five category indices, which all are listed in the report, are then averaged to find the democracy index for a given country. Finally, the democracy index, rounded Rounding is often done on purpose to obtain a value that is easier to write and handle than the original. It may be done also to indicate the accuracy of a computed number; for example, a quantity that was computed as 123,456 but is known to be accurate only to within a few hundred units is better stated as about 123,500 to one decimal The decimal numeral system has ten as its base. It is the numerical base most widely used by modern civilizations, decides the classification of the country, as quoted:
- Full democracies—scores of 8-10.
- Flawed democracies—scores of 6 to 7.9.
- Hybrid regimes—scores of 4 to 5.9.
- Authoritarian regimes—scores below 4.
The report discusses other indices of democracy, as defined e.g. by Freedom House Freedom House is a international non-governmental organization based in Washington, D.C. that conducts research and advocacy on its conceptions of democracy, political freedom and human rights. It publishes an annual report assessing the degree of perceived democratic freedoms in each country, which is used in political science research, and argues for some of the choices made by the team from The Economist. E.g., in this comparison, a higher emphasis has been put on the public opinion and attitudes, as measured by public surveys, but on the other hand, economic living standard has not been weighted as one criterion of democracy (as seemingly some other investigators have done).[citation needed][weasel words]
There is no indication that this report has been presented or is planned to be presented in any academic context, or has been checked by or will be checked by a peer review Peer review is a generic term that is used to describe a process of self-regulation by a profession or a process of evaluation involving qualified individuals with the related field. Peer review methods are employed to maintain standards, improve performance, and provide credibility.
Democracy index by regime type
The following table constitutes the number of countries in each category according to 2008 survey.
| Type of regime |
Countries |
% of countries |
% of world population |
| Full democracies |
30 |
18.0 |
14.4 |
| Flawed democracies |
50 |
29.9 |
35.5 |
| Hybrid regimes |
36 |
21.6 |
15.2 |
| Authoritarian regimes |
51 |
30.5 |
34.9 |
World population refers to the total population of the 167 countries that are covered. Since this survey excludes only a few microstates A microstate or ministate is a sovereign state having a very small population or very small land area, but usually both. Some examples include: Nauru, Singapore, Liechtenstein, Monaco, Malta, and Vatican City, this is nearly equal to the entire actual estimated world population in 2008.
Ranking of 2008
| No. |
Location |
Index |
Category |
Type of government |
| 1 |
Sweden Sweden (pronounced /ˈswiːdən/ SWEE-dən, Swedish: Sverige [ˈsvær.jə]), officially the Kingdom of Sweden (Swedish: Konungariket Sverige (help·info)), is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden has land borders with Norway to the west and Finland to the northeast, and water borders with Denmark, Germany and |
9.88 |
Full democracy |
Constitutional Monarchy A constitutional monarchy is a form of government in which a monarch acts as head of state within the parameters of a written , unwritten (i.e., uncodified) or blended constitution. It differs from absolute monarchy in that an absolute monarch serves as the sole source of political power in the state and is not legally bound by any constitution and Parliamentary Democracy A parliamentary system is a system of government in which the ministers of the executive branch are drawn from the legislature and are accountable to that body, such that the executive and legislative branches are intertwined. In such a system, the head of government is both de facto chief executive and chief legislator |
| 2 |
Norway After World War II, Norway experienced rapid economic growth, with the first two decades due to the Norwegian shipping and merchant marine and domestic industrialization, and from the early 1970s, a result of exploiting large oil and natural gas deposits that had been discovered in the North Sea and the Norwegian Sea. Today, Norway ranks as the |
9.68 |
Full democracy |
Constitutional Monarchy A constitutional monarchy is a form of government in which a monarch acts as head of state within the parameters of a written , unwritten (i.e., uncodified) or blended constitution. It differs from absolute monarchy in that an absolute monarch serves as the sole source of political power in the state and is not legally bound by any constitution and Parliamentary Democracy A parliamentary system is a system of government in which the ministers of the executive branch are drawn from the legislature and are accountable to that body, such that the executive and legislative branches are intertwined. In such a system, the head of government is both de facto chief executive and chief legislator |
| 3 |
Iceland b. ^ Iceland, the Faeroes and Greenland were formally Norwegian possessions until 1814 despite 400 years of Danish monarchy beforehand |
9.65 |
Full democracy |
Parliamentary republic A parliamentary republic or parliamentary constitutional republic is a type of republic which operates under a parliamentary system of government - meaning a system with no clear-cut separation between the executive and legislative branches, but with a clear differentiation between the head of government and the head of state and with the head of and Parliamentary Democracy A parliamentary system is a system of government in which the ministers of the executive branch are drawn from the legislature and are accountable to that body, such that the executive and legislative branches are intertwined. In such a system, the head of government is both de facto chief executive and chief legislator |
| 4 |
Netherlands The Netherlands (pronounced /ˈnɛðɚləndz/ ; Dutch: Nederland, pronounced [ˈneːdərlɑnt] ( listen)) is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located in North-West Europe. It is a parliamentary democratic constitutional monarchy. The Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany |
9.53 |
Full democracy |
Constitutional Monarchy A constitutional monarchy is a form of government in which a monarch acts as head of state within the parameters of a written , unwritten (i.e., uncodified) or blended constitution. It differs from absolute monarchy in that an absolute monarch serves as the sole source of political power in the state and is not legally bound by any constitution, Parliamentary Democracy A parliamentary system is a system of government in which the ministers of the executive branch are drawn from the legislature and are accountable to that body, such that the executive and legislative branches are intertwined. In such a system, the head of government is both de facto chief executive and chief legislator, Bicameralism In government, bicameralism is the practice of having two legislative or parliamentary chambers. Thus, a bicameral parliament or bicameral legislature is a legislature which consists of two chambers or houses. Bicameralism is an essential and defining feature of the classical notion of mixed government. Bicameral legislatures tend to require a |
| 5 |
Denmark Denmark (pronounced /ˈdɛnmɑrk/ ; Danish: Danmark, pronounced [ˈd̥ænmɑɡ̊], archaic: [ˈd̥anmɑːɡ̊]) is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe and the senior member of the Kingdom of Denmark. It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark borders |
9.52 |
Full democracy |
Constitutional Monarchy A constitutional monarchy is a form of government in which a monarch acts as head of state within the parameters of a written , unwritten (i.e., uncodified) or blended constitution. It differs from absolute monarchy in that an absolute monarch serves as the sole source of political power in the state and is not legally bound by any constitution and Parliamentary Democracy A parliamentary system is a system of government in which the ministers of the executive branch are drawn from the legislature and are accountable to that body, such that the executive and legislative branches are intertwined. In such a system, the head of government is both de facto chief executive and chief legislator |
| 6 |
Finland Finland (pronounced /ˈfɪnlənd/ ), officially the Republic of Finland Finnish: Suomi; Swedish: Finland (help·info), is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden on the west, Norway on the north and Russia on the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland |
9.25 |
Full democracy |
Parliamentary republic A parliamentary republic or parliamentary constitutional republic is a type of republic which operates under a parliamentary system of government - meaning a system with no clear-cut separation between the executive and legislative branches, but with a clear differentiation between the head of government and the head of state and with the head of and Parliamentary Democracy A parliamentary system is a system of government in which the ministers of the executive branch are drawn from the legislature and are accountable to that body, such that the executive and legislative branches are intertwined. In such a system, the head of government is both de facto chief executive and chief legislator |
| 7 |
New Zealand New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses , and numerous smaller islands, most notably Stewart Island/Rakiura and the Chatham Islands. The indigenous Māori language name for New Zealand is Aotearoa, commonly translated as The Land of the Long White Cloud. The Realm of New Zealand also |
9.19 |
Full democracy |
Constitutional Monarchy A constitutional monarchy is a form of government in which a monarch acts as head of state within the parameters of a written , unwritten (i.e., uncodified) or blended constitution. It differs from absolute monarchy in that an absolute monarch serves as the sole source of political power in the state and is not legally bound by any constitution and Parliamentary Democracy A parliamentary system is a system of government in which the ministers of the executive branch are drawn from the legislature and are accountable to that body, such that the executive and legislative branches are intertwined. In such a system, the head of government is both de facto chief executive and chief legislator |
| 8 |
Switzerland Switzerland , officially the Swiss Confederation (Confœderatio Helvetica in Latin, hence its ISO country codes CH and CHE), is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe[note 4] where it is bordered by Germany to the north, France to the west, Italy to |
9.15 |
Full democracy |
Parliamentary republic A parliamentary republic or parliamentary constitutional republic is a type of republic which operates under a parliamentary system of government - meaning a system with no clear-cut separation between the executive and legislative branches, but with a clear differentiation between the head of government and the head of state and with the head of, Confederation A confederation is an association of sovereign member states, that by treaty have delegated certain of their competences to common institutions, in order to coordinate their policies in a number of areas, without constituting a new state on top of the member states. Under international law a confederation respects the sovereignty of its members, Semi-direct democracy, Bicameralism In government, bicameralism is the practice of having two legislative or parliamentary chambers. Thus, a bicameral parliament or bicameral legislature is a legislature which consists of two chambers or houses. Bicameralism is an essential and defining feature of the classical notion of mixed government. Bicameral legislatures tend to require a |
| 9 |
Luxembourg Luxembourg (pronounced /ˈlʌksəmbɜrɡ/ LUKS-əm-berg), officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg (Luxembourgish: Groussherzogtum Lëtzebuerg, French: Grand-Duché de Luxembourg, German: Großherzogtum Luxemburg), is a landlocked country in western Europe, bordered by Belgium, France, and Germany. Luxembourg has a population of over half a |
9.10 |
Full democracy |
Constitutional Monarchy A constitutional monarchy is a form of government in which a monarch acts as head of state within the parameters of a written , unwritten (i.e., uncodified) or blended constitution. It differs from absolute monarchy in that an absolute monarch serves as the sole source of political power in the state and is not legally bound by any constitution and Parliamentary Democracy A parliamentary system is a system of government in which the ministers of the executive branch are drawn from the legislature and are accountable to that body, such that the executive and legislative branches are intertwined. In such a system, the head of government is both de facto chief executive and chief legislator |
| 10 |
Australia For at least 40,000 years before European settlement in the late 18th century, Australia was inhabited by indigenous Australians, who belonged to one or more of the roughly 250 language groups. After sporadic visits by fishermen from the immediate north and discovery by Dutch explorers in 1606, Australia's eastern half was claimed by the British |
9.09 |
Full democracy |
Federalism Federalism is a political concept in which a group of members are bound together by covenant with a governing representative head. The term federalism is also used to describe a system of the government in which sovereignty is constitutionally divided between a central governing authority and constituent political units (like states or provinces), Constitutional Monarchy A constitutional monarchy is a form of government in which a monarch acts as head of state within the parameters of a written , unwritten (i.e., uncodified) or blended constitution. It differs from absolute monarchy in that an absolute monarch serves as the sole source of political power in the state and is not legally bound by any constitution and Parliamentary Democracy A parliamentary system is a system of government in which the ministers of the executive branch are drawn from the legislature and are accountable to that body, such that the executive and legislative branches are intertwined. In such a system, the head of government is both de facto chief executive and chief legislator, Bicameralism In government, bicameralism is the practice of having two legislative or parliamentary chambers. Thus, a bicameral parliament or bicameral legislature is a legislature which consists of two chambers or houses. Bicameralism is an essential and defining feature of the classical notion of mixed government. Bicameral legislatures tend to require a |
| 11 |
Canada The land occupied by Canada was inhabited for millennia by various groups of Aboriginal peoples. Beginning in the late 15th century, British and French expeditions explored, and later settled, along the Atlantic coast. France ceded nearly all of its colonies in North America in 1763 after the Seven Years' War. In 1867, with the union of three |
9.07 |
Full democracy |
Federalism Federalism is a political concept in which a group of members are bound together by covenant with a governing representative head. The term federalism is also used to describe a system of the government in which sovereignty is constitutionally divided between a central governing authority and constituent political units (like states or provinces), Constitutional Monarchy and Parliamentary Democracy, Bicameralism |
| 12 |
Ireland |
9.01 |
Full democracy |
Parliamentary republic and Parliamentary Democracy, Bicameralism |
| 13 |
Germany |
8.82 |
Full democracy |
Federalism, Parliamentary republic and Parliamentary Democracy, Bicameralism |
| 14 |
Austria |
8.49 |
Full democracy |
Federalism, Parliamentary republic and Parliamentary Democracy, Bicameralism |
| 15 |
Spain |
8.45 |
Full democracy |
Constitutional Monarchy and Parliamentary Democracy, Bicameralism |
| 16 |
Malta |
8.39 |
Full democracy |
Parliamentary republic and Parliamentary Democracy |
| 17 |
Japan |
8.25 |
Full democracy |
Constitutional Monarchy and Parliamentary Democracy |
| 18 |
United States |
8.22 |
Full democracy |
Federalism, Presidential system, Bicameralism |
| 19 |
Czech Republic |
8.19 |
Full democracy |
Parliamentary republic and Parliamentary Democracy |
| 20 |
Belgium |
8.16 |
Full democracy |
Constitutional Monarchy and Parliamentary Democracy |
| 21 |
United Kingdom |
8.15 |
Full democracy |
Constitutional Monarchy and Parliamentary Democracy |
| 22 |
Greece |
8.13 |
Full democracy |
Parliamentary republic and Parliamentary Democracy |
| 23 |
Uruguay |
8.08 |
Full democracy |
Presidential system, Bicameralism |
| 24 |
France |
8.07 |
Full democracy |
Semi-presidential system, Bicameralism |
| 25 |
Portugal |
8.05 |
Full democracy |
Parliamentary republic and Parliamentary Democracy |
| 26 |
Mauritius |
8.04 |
Full democracy |
Parliamentary republic and Parliamentary Democracy |
| 27 |
Costa Rica |
8.04 |
Full democracy |
Presidential system |
| 28 |
South Korea |
8.01 |
Full democracy |
Presidential system |
| 29 |
Italy |
7.98 |
Full democracy |
Bicameralism, Parliamentary republic and Parliamentary Democracy |
| 30 |
Slovenia |
7.96 |
Full democracy |
Bicameralism, Parliamentary republic and Parliamentary Democracy |
| 31 |
South Africa |
7.91 |
Flawed democracy |
Constitutional democracy, Bicameralism |
| 32 |
Chile |
7.89 |
Flawed democracy |
Presidential system, Bicameralism |
| 33 |
Taiwan |
7.82 |
Flawed democracy [Presidential system] |
| 34 |
Cape Verde |
7.81 |
Flawed democracy |
| 35 |
India |
7.80 |
Flawed democracy |
Federalism, Parliamentary democracy, Bicameralism |
| 36 |
Cyprus |
7.70 |
Flawed democracy |
| 37 |
Estonia |
7.68 |
Flawed democracy |
| 38 |
Israel |
7.48 |
Flawed democracy |
| 39 |
Botswana |
7.47 |
Flawed democracy |
| 40 |
Hungary |
7.44 |
Flawed democracy |
| 41 |
Brazil |
7.38 |
Flawed democracy |
Federalism, Presidential system, Bicameralism |
| 42 |
Lithuania |
7.36 |
Flawed democracy |
| 43 |
Panama |
7.35 |
Flawed democracy |
| 44 |
Slovakia |
7.33 |
Flawed democracy |
| 45 |
Poland |
7.30 |
Flawed democracy |
| 46 |
Latvia |
7.23 |
Flawed democracy |
| 47 |
Timor-Leste |
7.22 |
Flawed democracy |
| 48 |
Trinidad and Tobago |
7.21 |
Flawed democracy |
| 49 |
Jamaica |
7.21 |
Flawed democracy |
| 50 |
Romania |
7.06 |
Flawed democracy |
| 51 |
Croatia |
7.04 |
Flawed democracy |
| 52 |
Bulgaria |
7.02 |
Flawed democracy |
| 53 |
Ukraine |
6.94 |
Flawed democracy |
| 54 |
Thailand |
6.81 |
Flawed democracy |
Bicameralism, Constitutional Monarchy and Parliamentary Democracy |
| 55 |
Mexico |
6.78 |
Flawed democracy |
| 56 |
Argentina |
6.63 |
Flawed democracy |
| 57 |
Sri Lanka |
6.61 |
Flawed democracy |
| 58 |
Mongolia |
6.60 |
Flawed democracy |
| 59 |
Suriname |
6.58 |
Flawed democracy |
| 60 |
Colombia |
6.54 |
Flawed democracy |
| 61 |
Papua New Guinea |
6.54 |
Flawed democracy |
| 62 |
Moldova |
6.50 |
Flawed democracy |
| 63 |
Serbia |
6.49 |
Flawed democracy |
| 64 |
Namibia |
6.48 |
Flawed democracy |
| 65 |
Montenegro |
6.43 |
Flawed democracy |
| 66 |
Paraguay |
6.40 |
Flawed democracy |
| 67 |
El Salvador |
6.40 |
Flawed democracy |
| 68 |
Malaysia |
6.36 |
Flawed democracy |
| 69 |
Indonesia |
6.34 |
Flawed democracy |
| 70 |
Peru |
6.31 |
Flawed democracy |
| 71 |
Lesotho |
6.29 |
Flawed democracy |
| 72 |
Macedonia |
6.21 |
Flawed democracy |
| 73 |
Dominican Republic |
6.20 |
Flawed democracy |
| 74 |
Honduras |
6.18 |
Flawed democracy |
| 75 |
Bolivia |
6.15 |
Flawed democracy |
| 76 |
Guyana |
6.12 |
Flawed democracy |
| 77 |
Philippines |
6.12 |
Flawed democracy |
Unitary presidential constitutional republic, Bicameralism |
| 78 |
Nicaragua |
6.07 |
Flawed democracy |
| 79 |
Guatemala |
6.07 |
Flawed democracy |
| 80 |
Benin |
6.06 |
Flawed democracy |
| 81 |
Albania |
5.91 |
Hybrid regime |
| 82 |
Singapore |
5.89 |
Hybrid regime |
| 83 |
Mali |
5.87 |
Hybrid regime |
| 84 |
Hong Kong |
5.85 |
Hybrid regime |
| 85 |
Palestinian Authority |
5.83 |
Hybrid regime |
| 86 |
Bosnia and Herzegovina |
5.70 |
Hybrid regime |
| 87 |
Turkey |
5.69 |
Hybrid regime |
| 88 |
Ecuador |
5.64 |
Hybrid regime |
| 89 |
Lebanon |
5.62 |
Hybrid regime |
| 90 |
Madagascar |
5.57 |
Hybrid regime |
| 91 |
Bangladesh |
5.52 |
Hybrid regime |
| 92 |
Mozambique |
5.49 |
Hybrid regime |
| 93 |
Senegal |
5.37 |
Hybrid regime |
| 94 |
Ghana |
5.35 |
Hybrid regime |
| 95 |
Venezuela |
5.34 |
Hybrid regime |
| 96 |
Tanzania |
5.28 |
Hybrid regime |
| 97 |
Zambia |
5.25 |
Hybrid regime |
| 98 |
Liberia |
5.25 |
Hybrid regime |
| 99 |
Malawi |
5.13 |
Hybrid regime |
| 100 |
Fiji |
5.11 |
Hybrid regime |
| 101 |
Uganda |
5.03 |
Hybrid regime |
| 102 |
Cambodia |
4.87 |
Hybrid regime |
| 103 |
Kenya |
4.79 |
Hybrid regime |
| 104 |
Georgia |
4.62 |
Hybrid regime |
| 105 |
Ethiopia |
4.52 |
Hybrid regime |
| 106 |
Burundi |
4.51 |
Hybrid regime |
| 107 |
Russia |
4.48 |
Hybrid regime |
Federalism, Semi-presidential system, Bicameralism |
| 108 |
Pakistan |
4.46 |
Hybrid regime |
| 109 |
Bhutan |
4.30 |
Hybrid regime |
| 110 |
Haiti |
4.19 |
Hybrid regime |
| 111 |
Gambia |
4.19 |
Hybrid regime |
| 112 |
Sierra Leone |
4.11 |
Hybrid regime |
| 113 |
Armenia |
4.09 |
Hybrid regime |
| 114 |
Kyrgyzstan |
4.05 |
Hybrid regime |
| 115 |
Nepal |
4.05 |
Hybrid regime |
| 116 |
Iraq |
4.00 |
Hybrid regime |
| 117 |
Jordan |
3.93 |
Authoritarian regime |
| 118 |
Mauritania |
3.91 |
Authoritarian regime |
| 119 |
Egypt |
3.89 |
Authoritarian regime |
| 120 |
Morocco |
3.88 |
Authoritarian regime |
| 121 |
Rwanda |
3.71 |
Authoritarian regime |
| 122 |
Burkina Faso |
3.60 |
Authoritarian regime |
| 123 |
Comoros |
3.58 |
Authoritarian regime |
| 124 |
Nigeria |
3.53 |
Authoritarian regime |
| 125 |
Cuba |
3.52 |
Authoritarian regime |
| 126 |
Cameroon |
3.46 |
Authoritarian regime |
| 127 |
Kazakhstan |
3.45 |
Authoritarian regime |
| 128 |
Niger |
3.41 |
Authoritarian regime |
| 129 |
Kuwait |
3.39 |
Authoritarian regime |
| 130 |
Bahrain |
3.38 |
Authoritarian regime |
| 131 |
Angola |
3.35 |
Authoritarian regime |
| 132 |
Belarus |
3.34 |
Authoritarian regime |
| 133 |
Algeria |
3.32 |
Authoritarian regime |
| 134 |
Côte d'Ivoire |
3.27 |
Authoritarian regime |
| 135 |
Azerbaijan |
3.19 |
Authoritarian regime |
| 136 |
People's Republic of China |
3.04 |
Authoritarian regime |
People's democratic dictatorship, socialist state and single-party communist state |
| 137 |
Swaziland |
3.04 |
Authoritarian regime |
Absolute Monarchy |
| 138 |
Afghanistan |
3.02 |
Authoritarian regime |
Islamic Interim Administration |
| 139 |
Gabon |
3.00 |
Authoritarian regime |
Republic |
| 140 |
Oman |
2.98 |
Authoritarian regime |
Islamic absolute monarchy |
| 141 |
Tunisia |
2.96 |
Authoritarian regime |
Republic |
| 142 |
Yemen |
2.95 |
Authoritarian regime |
Republic |
| 143 |
Republic of the Congo |
2.94 |
Authoritarian regime |
Republic |
| 144 |
Qatar |
2.92 |
Authoritarian regime |
Emirate |
| 145 |
Iran |
2.83 |
Authoritarian regime |
Islamic republic |
| 146 |
Sudan |
2.81 |
Authoritarian regime |
Federal presidential democratic republic |
| 147 |
United Arab Emirates |
2.60 |
Authoritarian regime |
Federal constitutional monarchy |
| 148 |
Zimbabwe |
2.53 |
Authoritarian regime |
Semi-presidential, parliamentary, consociationalist republic |
| 149 |
Vietnam |
2.53 |
Authoritarian regime |
Socialist republic, Single-party communist state |
| 150 |
Tajikistan |
2.45 |
Authoritarian regime |
Unitary presidential republic |
| 151 |
Togo |
2.43 |
Authoritarian regime |
Republic |
| 152 |
Djibouti |
2.37 |
Authoritarian regime |
Semi-presidential republic |
| 153 |
Eritrea |
2.31 |
Authoritarian regime |
Semi-presidential republic |
| 154 |
Democratic Republic of the Congo |
2.28 |
Authoritarian regime |
Semi-presidential republic |
| 155 |
Equatorial Guinea |
2.19 |
Authoritarian regime |
Presidential Republic |
| 156 |
Syria |
2.18 |
Authoritarian regime |
Presidential single party republic (under Emergency Law since 1963) |
| 157 |
Laos |
2.10 |
Authoritarian regime |
Socialist republic, Single-party communist state |
| 158 |
Guinea |
2.09 |
Authoritarian regime |
Military junta |
| 159 |
Libya |
2.00 |
Authoritarian regime |
Jamahiriya ("State of the masses") |
| 160 |
Guinea-Bissau |
1.99 |
Authoritarian regime |
Semi-presidential republic |
| 161 |
Saudi Arabia |
1.90 |
Authoritarian regime |
Islamic absolute monarchy |
| 162 |
Central African Republic |
1.86 |
Authoritarian regime |
Republic |
| 163 |
Myanmar |
1.77 |
Authoritarian regime |
Military junta (de facto Military Dictatorship) |
| 164 |
Uzbekistan |
1.74 |
Authoritarian regime |
Presidential republic |
| 165 |
Turkmenistan |
1.72 |
Authoritarian regime |
Presidential republic single-party state |
| 166 |
Chad |
1.52 |
Authoritarian regime |
Republic |
| 167 |
North Korea |
0.86 |
Authoritarian regime |
Socialist republic, Single-party communist state |
See also
References
- ^ The Economist Intelligence Unit's Index of Democracy 2008
External links
Categories: Democracy | Research | Lists of countries by international rankings | Index numbers
