The Economist’s Democracy Index

The Democracy Index is published by the Economist Intelligence Unit which is part of The Economist Group, who produce the weekly newspaper The Economist.

The index is based on 60 indicators grouped into five categories: electoral process and pluralism (12 indicators); functioning of government (14 indicators); political participation (9 indicators); political culture (8 indicators); and civil liberties (17 indicators). It categorises each country into one of four regime types: full democracies, flawed democracies, hybrid regimes (electoral democracy with authoritarian tendencies) and authoritarian regimes.

The first Democracy Index report was published in 2006. Reports were published every two years until 2010 and thereafter once a year. The latest report is 2024 (published in February 2025). In the 2024 report, the EIU recorded a decrease in the index, with the average score falling to 5.17 from 5.23 in 2023 (a score of 10.00 represents a perfect democracy). This is the index’s lowest score since it began in 2006, and it implies that democracy as a system of government is on the decline. In the 2024 report, 45% of the world’s population are classified as living in a democracy (full and flawed), 39% under authoritarian rule, and 15% in hybrid regimes.

In the 2024 index, Singapore is classified as a flawed democracy with a score of 6.18. It has consistently been around this score since the inception of the index.

Interestingly, in 2024 the US is also classified as a flawed democracy, with a score of 7.85. Full democracies include Norway, which was ranked first with 9.81, and countries such as the United Kingdom, New Zealand, Sweden, Finland, Denmark, Canada, Switzerland, Australia, Taiwan, Japan, Uruguay, Costa Rica, Portugal, and Estonia.

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