[Salon] The Economist Democracy Index 2022

[Chas Freeman <cwfresidence@gmail.com>]

With thanks to Héctor Luisi

The Economist, the prestigious British magazine (although they describe themselves as a newspaper), have just released their 2022 Democracy Index.  They rank 167 countries around the world, from the most democratic, Norway, to the least democratic, Afghanistan.  They divide countries into four categories: Full Democracies, Flawed Democracies, Hybrid Regimes, and Authoritarian Regimes.  

Only 24 countries qualify as Full Democracies, which in descending order, are Norway, New Zealand, Iceland, Sweden, Finland, Denmark, Switzerland, Ireland, Netherlands, Taiwan, Uruguay, Canada, Luxembourg, Germany, Australia, Japan, Costa Rica, United Kingdom, Chile, Austria, Mauritius, France, Spain, and South Korea. The top score of these 24, Norway, is 9.81/10; the median score, Canada, is 8.88/10; and the low score, South Korea, is 8.03/10.

Of the 24 Full Democracies four (in descending order), Uruguay, Canada, Costa Rica, and Chile, are from the Americas; three (in descending order), Taiwan, Japan, and South Korea, from Asia; two (in descending order), New Zealand and Australia, from Oceania; and one, Mauritius, from Africa.  The other 14 are from Europe.

The 24 least democratic countries, all of them Authoritarian Regimes, in descending order are Sudan, Guinea, Russia, Venezuela, Burundi, Uzbekistan, Saudi Arabia, Libya, Eritrea, Belarus, Iran, Yemen, China, Tajikistan, Equatorial Guinea, Laos, Chad, Turkmenistan, DR Congo, Syria, Central African Republic, North Korea, Myanmar, and Afghanistan. The top score of these 24, Sudan, is 2.47/10; the median score, Yemen, is 1.95/10; and the low score, Afghanistan, is 0.32/10.

The United States, Argentina, and Brazil, all three Flawed Democracies, rank 30th, 50th, and 51st, respectively, with scores of 7.85/10, 6.85/10, and 6.78/10, respectively