Democracy Index 2021: Check the top and bottom nations, highest-ranked region in the world, India rank, and more
Democracy Index 2021: The Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) released its report on the state of democracy in 2021 across 165 independent countries and two territories.
The report is based on five findings – electoral process and pluralism, functioning of the government, political participation, political culture, and civil liberties. The report has been further bifurcated into a full democracy, flawed democracy, hybrid regime, and authoritarian.
Democracy Index 2021 Highlights:
1- Norway topped the Democracy Index 2021 with an overall score of 9.75 while Afghanistan displaced North Korea as the least democratic country with an overall score of 0.32.
2- Norway, New Zealand, Finland, Sweden, and Iceland are the top five nations while the Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of Congo, North Korea, Myanmar, and Afghanistan are the bottom five nations in the Democracy Index 2021.
3- Since the start of the index in 2006, Latin America recorded the biggest setback in 2021 of any region with the greatest number of countries to have recorded double-digit downgrades. The region’s score across all categories of the index plummeted in 2021.
4- Zambia, Indonesia, Qatar, Moldova, India, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Montenegro, Guyana, Uruguay, and, in joint tenth place, the UAE and Singapore are the ten most improved countries in the index.
5- More than a third of the world’s population lives under authoritarian rule while just 6.4% enjoy full democracy. The global democracy score fell from 5.37 to a new low of 5.28 out of ten. The only equivalent drop since 2006 was in 2010 after the global financial crisis.
6- Asia remains the fourth-ranked region in the Democracy Index 2021, after North America, Western Europe and Latin America.
7- India ranked 46 on the global index in the flawed democracy category with an overall score of 6.91. It has the lowest score of 5 on political culture and the highest score of 8.67 on electoral process and pluralism. The country scores 6.18 on civil liberties, 7.22 on political participation, and 7.50 on the functioning of government.
8- If we look at the ranking of India's neighbouring countries then China (148), Myanmar (166), and Afghanistan (167) are placed in the Authoritarian category, Bangladesh (75), Bhutan (81), Nepal (101), Pakistan (104) in Hybrid Regime, while Sri Lanka (67) is placed in the Flawed Democracy category.
Also Read | List of India’s neighbouring countries
Democracy Index 2021: Check Countries & Overall Score
| Rank |
Country |
Overall Score |
| Full Democracy |
||
| 1. |
Norway |
9.75 |
| 2. |
New Zealand |
9.37 |
| 3. |
Finland |
9.27 |
| 4. |
Sweden |
9.26 |
| 5. |
Iceland |
9.18 |
| 6. |
Denmark |
9.09 |
| 7. |
Ireland |
9.00 |
| 8. |
Taiwan |
8.99 |
| 9. |
Australia |
8.90 |
| Switzerland |
||
| 11. |
Netherlands |
8.88 |
| 12. |
Canada |
8.87 |
| 13. |
Uruguay |
8.85 |
| 14. |
Luxembourg |
8.68 |
| 15. |
Germany |
8.67 |
| 16. |
South Korea |
8.16 |
| 17. |
Japan |
8.15 |
| 18. |
United Kingdom |
8.10 |
| 19. |
Mauritius |
8.08 |
| 20. |
Austria |
8.07 |
| Costa Rica |
||
| Flawed Democracy |
||
| 22. |
France |
7.99 |
| 23. |
Israel |
7.97 |
| 24. |
Spain |
7.94 |
| 25. |
Chile |
7.92 |
| 26. |
USA |
7.85 |
| 27. |
Estonia |
7.84 |
| 28. |
Portugal |
7.82 |
| 29. |
Czech Republic |
7.74 |
| 30. |
Botswana |
7.73 |
| 31. |
Italy |
7.68 |
| 32. |
Cabo Verde |
7.65 |
| 33. |
Malta |
7.57 |
| 34. |
Greece |
7.56 |
| 35. |
Slovenia |
7.54 |
| 36. |
Belgium |
7.51 |
| 37. |
Cyprus |
7.43 |
| 38. |
Latvia |
7.31 |
| 39. |
Malaysia |
7.24 |
| 40. |
Lithuania |
7.18 |
| 41. |
Trinidad and Tobago |
7.16 |
| 42. |
Jamaica |
7.13 |
| 43. |
Timor-Leste |
7.06 |
| 44. |
South Africa |
7.05 |
| 45. |
Slovakia |
7.03 |
| 46. |
India |
6.91 |
| 47. |
Brazil |
6.86 |
| 48. |
Panama |
6.85 |
| 49. |
Suriname |
6.82 |
| 50. |
Argentina |
6.81 |
| 51. |
Poland |
6.80 |
| 52. |
Indonesia |
6.71 |
| 53. |
Bulgaria |
6.64 |
| 54. |
Philippines |
6.62 |
| 55. |
Namibia |
6.52 |
| 56. |
Croatia |
6.50 |
| Ghana |
||
| Hungary |
||
| 59. |
Colombia |
6.48 |
| 60. |
Dominican Republic |
6.45 |
| 61. |
Romania |
6.43 |
| 62. |
Mongolia |
6.42 |
| 63. |
Serbia |
6.36 |
| 64. |
Lesotho |
6.30 |
| 65. |
Guyana |
6.25 |
| 66. |
Singapore |
6.23 |
| 67. |
Sri Lanka |
6.14 |
| 68. |
Albania |
6.11 |
| 69. |
Moldova |
6.10 |
| Papua New Guinea |
||
| 71. |
Peru |
6.09 |
| 72. |
Thailand |
6.04 |
| 73. |
North Macedonia |
6.03 |
| 74. |
Montenegro |
6.02 |
| Hybrid Regime |
||
| 75. |
Bangladesh |
5.99 |
| Tunisia |
||
| 77. |
Paraguay |
5.86 |
| 78. |
Malawi |
5.74 |
| 79. |
El Salvador |
5.72 |
| Zambia |
||
| 81. |
Bhutan |
5.71 |
| Ecuador |
||
| 83. |
Madagascar |
5.70 |
| 84. |
Fiji |
5.61 |
| 85. |
Hong Kong |
5.60 |
| 86. |
Mexico |
5.57 |
| Ukraine |
||
| 88. |
Senegal |
5.53 |
| 89. |
Armenia |
5.49 |
| 90. |
Liberia |
5.43 |
| 91. |
Georgia |
5.12 |
| 92. |
Honduras |
5.10 |
| Tanzania |
||
| 94. |
Kenya |
5.05 |
| 95. |
Bosnia and Herzegovina |
5.04 |
| Morocco |
||
| 97. |
Sierra Leone |
4.97 |
| 98. |
Bolivia |
4.65 |
| 99. |
Guatemala |
4.62 |
| 100. |
Uganda |
4.48 |
| 101. |
Gambia |
4.41 |
| Nepal |
||
| 103. |
Turkey |
4.35 |
| 104. |
Pakistan |
4.31 |
| 105. |
Côte d'Ivoire |
4.22 |
| 106. |
Benin |
4.19 |
| 107. |
Nigeria |
4.11 |
| 108. |
Mauritania |
4.03 |
| Authoritarian |
||
| 109. |
Palestine |
3.94 |
| 110. |
Kuwait |
3.91 |
| 111. |
Burkina Faso |
3.84 |
| Lebanon |
||
| 113. |
Algeria |
3.77 |
| 114. |
Qatar |
3.65 |
| 115. |
Kyrgyz Republic |
3.62 |
| 116. |
Iraq |
3.51 |
| Mozambique |
||
| 118. |
Jordan |
3.49 |
| 119. |
Haiti |
3.48 |
| Mali |
||
| 121. |
Gabon |
3.40 |
| 122. |
Angola |
3.37 |
| 123. |
Ethiopia |
3.30 |
| 124. |
Russia |
3.24 |
| 125. |
Niger |
3.22 |
| 126. |
Comoros |
3.20 |
| 127. |
Rwanda |
3.10 |
| 128. |
Eswatini |
3.08 |
| Kazakhstan |
||
| 130. |
Oman |
3.00 |
| 131. |
Vietnam |
2.94 |
| 132. |
Egypt |
2.93 |
| 133. |
Zimbabwe |
2.92 |
| 134. |
Cambodia |
2.90 |
| UAE |
||
| 136. |
Togo |
2.80 |
| 137. |
Congo (Brazzaville) |
2.79 |
| 138. |
Guinea-Bissau |
2.75 |
| 139. |
Djibouti |
2.74 |
| 140. |
Nicaragua |
2.69 |
| 141. |
Azerbaijan |
2.68 |
| 142. |
Cuba |
2.59 |
| 143. |
Cameroon |
2.56 |
| 144. |
Bahrain |
2.52 |
| 145. |
Sudan |
2.47 |
| 146. |
Belarus |
2.41 |
| 147. |
Guinea |
2.28 |
| 148. |
China |
2.21 |
| 149. |
Burundi |
2.13 |
| 150. |
Uzbekistan |
2.12 |
| 151. |
Venezuela |
2.11 |
| 152. |
Saudi Arabia |
2.08 |
| 153. |
Eritrea |
2.03 |
| 154. |
Libya |
1.95 |
| Iran |
||
| Yemen |
||
| 157. |
Tajiskistan |
1.94 |
| 158. |
Equitorial Gunea |
1.92 |
| 159. |
Laos |
1.77 |
| 160. |
Chad |
1.67 |
| 161. |
Turkmenistan |
1.66 |
| 162. |
Syria |
1.43 |
| Central African Republic |
||
| 164. |
Democratic Republic of Congo |
1.40 |
| 165. |
North Korea |
1.08 |
| 166. |
Myanmar |
1.02 |
| 167. |
Afghanistan |
0.32 |
Also Read | EIU's Democracy Index 2020: India falls to 53rd position
