Democracy Index by Country 2024

The Economist Intelligence Unit compiles and publishes an annual report referred to as the Democracy Index, which measures the state of democracy across the world.

The index uses certain indicators to decipher the democracy score for each country, including electoral process and pluralism, whether they have a functioning government, political participation of its citizens, political culture and environment, and civil liberties.

An index score of 8.01 to 10 (out of 10) indicates a full democracy, while countries that fall between 6.01 and 8.01 are considered flawed democracies. Countries that score lower on the index than 6.01 are not considered democracies.

The United States has a democracy index score of 7.92, which qualifies it as a flawed democracy. While the US scored high on electoral process/Pluralism (9 out of 10), the country scored low on functioning government (6.79) and political culture (6).

Norway has the highest democracy score in the world, with a 9.81, with a perfect 10 in electoral process, participation, and political culture.

Second on the list is Iceland, at 9.37 out of 10, which makes it a full democracy.

Sweden comes in third on the democracy index with a score of 9.26, with a score of 10 regarding political culture.

New Zealand scores slightly lower at 9.25 due to lower political participation and culture scores.

A little below that is Canada, with a democracy score of 9.24 out of 10. The slightly lower score is due to the way the government functions.

As a full democracy, Finland ranks sixth on the index with a score of 9.2.

Denmark's lack of political participation lowers the democracy index score to 9.15.

Ireland has an index score of 9.05 because of a 7.86 out of 10 regarding a functioning government.

Rounding out the top ten are Australia and the Netherlands, with both scoring lower in terms of political participation and culture.