Four lessons from EIU’s new ranking of democracies | Graphic detail
Politics
Democracy
Authoritarian
Government
Click
Use
to move to a smaller summary and to move to a larger one
Democracy Index 2024: Key Findings and Implications for Elections
Only 43 out of more than 70 elections expected to be fully free and fair in 2024.
Less than 8% of the world's population live in full democracies, with 39.4% under authoritarian rule.
Norway remains the most democratic country, while Afghanistan is at the bottom for the third consecutive year.
Western Europe is the most democratic region, with 71% of countries in the region classified as full democracies.
Sub-Saharan Africa and Latin America experienced declines in democratic scores, with El Salvador being the worst performer in the region.
The global trend shows a decline in democratic scores since 2016, further exacerbated by the curtailment of civil liberties during the pandemic and ongoing conflicts.
Elections in the most democratic countries are expected to be free and fair, while in the least democratic countries like Russia, fraud is a concern.
