The State of Democracy

After eight consecutive years of declining scores, the 2025 EIU Democracy Index showed a stabilization of democracy around the world. In the latest edition, almost 75 percent of countries either saw their score improve or remain stable compared to 2024, as the global average score across 167 countries and territories improved slightly to 5.2 out of 10. The index, which assesses electoral processes, governance, civil liberties, political participation and political culture classified 26 countries as full democracies, including all Scandinavian countries, several other European nations as well as Canada, New Zealand, Australia, Mauritius, Taiwan, Japan and Latin American countries Uruguay and Costa Rica.

Notably absent from the top category was the United States, which saw its score fall from 7.85 to 7.65 and was once again classified as a "flawed democracy". Once considered a shining example of democracy in the world, the country now ranks 35th between Poland and Botswana, as its civil liberties score deteriorated under the Trump administration and its political culture was rated badly due to the intense polarization in the country. Globally, the three worst-rated countries remained unchanged, with Afghanistan, Myanmar and North Korea at the bottom of the table for non-existing civil liberties, electoral process and pluralism. At the other end of the scale, Norway, New Zealand and Denmark were ranked as the most democratic countries in the world, with Norway rated particularly highly for electoral process and pluralism, political participation and civil liberties.

While the decline of democracy at the global level has been stopped, the share of the world's population living in full democracies is still remarkably low at just 6.6 percent. Meanwhile, 39 percent of the world's population live in countries rated as authoritarian, with China and Pakistan the most populous examples.