Democracy Ranking by Country 2024

Countries around the world can vary dramatically when it comes to the political freedoms afforded to citizens. From ultra-restrictive authoritarian regimes to strong, diverse democracies, there's no shortage of governing situations out there. To provide a basis for comparison, The Economist's Intelligence Unit created the Democracy Rankings, which combines factors like the functioning of government, civil liberties, electoral processes and pluralism, and political culture and participation.

For 2023, Norway received the highest score overall with a 9.81, including perfect ten rankings in electoral processes, political culture, and political participation. New Zealand isn't far behind with a 9.61, boasting perfect rankings of its own on civil liberties, electoral processes, and political participation. In third place, Iceland scores a 9.45, followed by Sweden at 9.39 and Finland at 9.30, rounding out the top five democracies. A little over two dozen countries around the world, including Canada (8.69), Germany (8.8), Australia (8.66), and the United Kingdom (8.28) are classified as full democracies according to the 2023 Democracy Index.

More than four dozen countries are ranked as flawed democracies. These include the United States, with a score of 7.85, which suffers from low scores in the functioning of government and political culture. Other flawed democracies include Israel (7.8), Italy (7.69), Belgium (7.64), Brazil (6.68), and Singapore (6.18.) In terms of sheer numbers, many consider India to be the world's largest democracy, based on its ranking as a "flawed democracy" and population of nearly 1.5 billion.

Nearly three dozen more are characterized with the next step down as hybrid regimes. Hybrid regimes range from Bangladesh, with a 5.87 score, to Mauritania, with a 4.14. Fifty-seven countries receive the lowest ranking, authoritarian nations. Afghanistan has the lowest democracy ranking at just 0.26, followed by Myanmar (0.85), North Korea (1.08), and the Central African Republic (1.18).

Naturally, democracy rankings may change as the political situation evolves. Montenegro (a flawed democracy with a 6.67 score) and Zimbabwe (3.04) took the largest jumps in the recent rankings, rising 9 and 10 spots since the previous year, respectively. Rwanda, UAE, and Kazakhstan have notably increased their rankings, as well, having jumped 9, 8, and 7 spots, respectively, though they're all still ranked as authoritarian. Niger (authoritarian, 0.33) fell the most, dropping 29 places. Gabon fell by 28 places and Mali by 18, remaining ranked as authoritarian. Flawed democracies Thailand (6.35) and Sri Lanka (6.17) also fell notably, 8 and 10 spots, respectively.