With Europe Losing Further Ground And Spain Downgraded To A “flawed Democracy”
- The average global score in the 2021 Democracy Index fell from 5.37 in 2020 to 5.28, the biggest year-on-year decline since 2010, immediately after the global financial crash.
- Western Europe’s overall decline in this year’s index was modest, while eastern Europe’s average score stagnated, but Spain was downgraded from a “full democracy” to a “flawed democracy”.
- The UK dropped two positions in the global rankings, to 18th, following a volatile political year, edging closer to a “flawed democracy” classification.
EIU’s 2021 Democracy Index, launched today, sheds light on continued challenges to democracy worldwide, under pressure from the coronavirus pandemic and increasing support for authoritarian alternatives.
The annual index, which provides a measurement of the state of global democracy as tracked by EIU’s analysts, reveals an overall score of 5.28, down from 5.37 in 2020. This fall is the biggest since 2010, in the immediate aftermath of the global financial crisis. It sets another dismal record for the worst global score since the index was first produced in 2006.
In Europe, Spain was downgraded to a “flawed democracy”, reflecting a deterioration in its score for judicial independence. The UK also dropped in the ranking, but remains a “full democracy”, following controversies over party financing and a series of scandals that have undermined confidence in government.
| Democracy Index 2021, by regime type | |||
| No. of countries | % of countries | % of world population | |
| Full democracies | 21.0 | 12.6 | 6.4 |
| Flawed democracies | 53.0 | 31.7 | 39.3 |
| Hybrid regimes | 34.0 | 20.4 | 17.2 |
| Authoritarian regimes | 59.0 | 35.3 | 37.1 |
| Note. “World” population refers to the total population of the 167 countries covered by the index. Since this excludes only micro states, this is nearly equal to the entire estimated world population. | |||
| Source: EIU. |
According to EIU’s measure of democracy, less than half (45.7%) of the world’s population now live in a democracy of some sort, which is a significant decline from 2020 (49.4%). Even fewer (6.4%) reside in a “full democracy”; this level is slightly down from 6.8% in 2020, after two countries (Chile and Spain) were downgraded to “flawed democracies”. Substantially more than a third of the world’s population (37.1%) live under authoritarian rule, a large share of which are in China.
The China challenge is the title of the latest Democracy Index report. China has not become more democratic as it has become richer. On the contrary, it has become less free. The report takes a close look at China’s governance regime.
There were 13 changes of regime type—nine negative and four positive. Chile and Spain were downgraded from “full democracies” to “flawed democracies”. Three east European countries—Moldova, Montenegro and North Macedonia—improved their status from “hybrid regimes” to “flawed democracies”. Ecuador, Mexico, Paraguay and Tunisia were all relegated from “flawed democracies” to “hybrid regimes”. Mauritania was promoted from the “authoritarian” classification to that of “hybrid regime”. The Kyrgyz Republic slipped eight places and was demoted from a “hybrid regime” to an “authoritarian regime”. Haiti followed the same path, as did Lebanon.
The majority of countries registered a deterioration in their average score or stagnated in 2021, with only 47 (28.1%) of a total of 167 recording an improvement. About 74 (44.3%) recorded a decline in their total score compared with 2021. The other 46 (27.5%) stagnated, with their scores remaining unchanged from 2020. There were a few improvements and some dramatic declines, with Moldova and Indonesia registering the biggest improvements, measured by the change in their overall scores, and Afghanistan, Myanmar and Tunisia the biggest declines. A large number of Latin American countries recorded steep falls in their overall scores.
EIU’s Democracy Index 2021 is available free of charge at: eiu.com/democracy-index