Democracy Index

According to the 2023 Democracy Index, almost half of the world's population live in a democracy of some sort (45.4%). Only 7.8% reside in a 'full democracy', down from 8.9% in 2015; this percentage fell after the US was demoted from a “full democracy” to a “flawed democracy” in 2016. More than one-third of the world’s population live under authoritarian rule (39.4%), a share that has been creeping up in recent years.

In the 2023 Democracy Index, 74 of the 167 countries and territories covered by the model are democracies of some type. The number of “full democracies” (those scoring more than 8.00 out of 10) remained at 24 in 2023, the same as the previous year. The number of 'flawed democracies' increased from 48 in 2022 to 50 in 2023. Of the remaining 95 countries in our index, 34 are classified as'hybrid regimes', combining elements of formal democracy and authoritarianism, and 59 are classified as “authoritarian regimes”.

The global average index score fell to 5.23, down from 5.29 in 2022. This is in keeping with a general trend of regression and stagnation in recent years, and it marks a new low since the index began in 2006. The developed countries of western Europe dominate among the world’s “full democracies”, accounting for 15 of the total of 24 in 2023. Canada is the sole “full democracy” in North America, as the US continues to languish as a “flawed democracy”, a classification to which it was relegated in 2016. The Asia and Australasia region has five “full democracies”, including three Asian ones ( Japan, South Korea and Taiwan) alongside Australia and New Zealand. Two Latin American countries are classed as “full democracies” (Costa Rica and Uruguay), as is one African country (Mauritius).

The Nordic countries (Norway, Iceland, Sweden, Finland and Denmark) continue to dominate the Democracy Index rankings, taking five of the top six spots, with New Zealand claiming second place. Afghanistan was at the bottom of the global rankings, with a score of 0.26. In 2023, some 68 countries experienced a decline in their total score compared with 2022, but almost as many (31) recorded an improvement. The other 99 stagnated, with their scores remaining unchanged compared with 2022. There were six changes in regime type in 2023: at the top of the ranking Greece moved up the rankings to become a “full democracy” and Chile was relegated to the “flawed democracy” classification once again. Two countries, Papua New Guinea and Paraguay, moved up the rankings from the “hybrid regime” classification into the lower end of the “flawed democracies” category. Pakistan dropped 11 places in the index, to be reclassified as an "authoritarian regime", while Angola was upgraded to a “hybrid regime” from an “authoritarian” classification.

The Democracy Index is based on five categories: electoral process and pluralism; the functioning of government; political participation; political culture; and civil liberties. Based on its scores on a range of indicators within these categories, each country is then itself classified as one of four types of regime: "full democracy", "flawed democracy", "hybrid regime" or "authoritarian regime".