Measuring Democracy: How do global indices help measure democracy?

India is a democratic country, however, not many know how is democracy measured. What global indices are used to measure democracy and why is India planning to bring about its very own index to assess democracy? Here is everything explained.

Apr 22, 2024, 15:38 IST
Measuring Democracy: How do global indices help measure democracy?
Measuring Democracy: How do global indices help measure democracy?

The Indian Government intends to release its very own democracy index. As per a report, this index will aid India to counter the recent downgrades in the ratings. It will also help to counter with various criticisms that are thrown by international groups.

The need for a democracy index in India

There exists a consensus from the Varieties of Democracy project that the democracy in India is actually in peril, as compared to situations in the year 1975. Such negative commentaries by various think thanks of the world, and India's rating on the Worldwide Governance Indicators of the World Bank threaten the sovereign ratings of the country.

All these global ratings talking about the conditions in India related to democracy, hunger, happiness, and human development were earlier denounced by the country.

For instance, the Foreign Minister of India, Mr. S. Jaishankar actually called those who made these indices as "self-appointed custodians".

The global democracy indices that exist at present

At present, there are various global democracy indices. In the year 1973, the Freedom House based in the United States has arrived at an assessment of civil liberties and political rights. Moreover, even before that, the V-Dem Institute at the University of Gothenburg in Sweden published the annual assessment of about 202 nations since the year 1789. Another important global Index is of the Economic Intelligence Unit that assesses the liberal, electoral, and participatory situation of democracies since the year 2006. Many more global democracy indices exist to provide information on the democratic status of the nations of the world. The names include those of the Boix-Miller-Rosato coding, Worldwide Governance Indicators, International IDEA’s Global State of Democracies report, Lexical Index and the Bertelsmann Transformation Index.

Some of these indices make use of facts to measure democracy, while others rely on judgment. Many also rely on the perfect blend of both to assess democracy.

Astha Pasricha
Astha Pasricha

Content Writer

    Astha Pasricha is a content writing professional with experience in writing rich and engaging content for websites, blogs, and chatbots. She is a graduate of Journalism and Mass Communication and English Honors. She has previously worked with organizations like Groomefy, Shiksha.com, Upside Me, EGlobal Soft Solutions and Codeflies Technologies Pvt. Ltd. At Jagran Josh, she writes content for the General Knowledge section. You can reach her at astha.pasricha@jagrannewmedia.com.
    ... Read More

    Get here current GK and GK quiz questions in English and Hindi for India, World, Sports and Competitive exam preparation. Download the Jagran Josh Current Affairs App.

    Trending

    Latest Education News