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Democracy Index: conflict and polarisation drive a new low for global democracy

EIU’s Democracy Index, launched today, sheds light on trends in democracy globally in 2023, as war and conflict spread across the globe, reinforcing existing negative trends in many countries. The annual index, which provides a snapshot of the state of global democracy, registered a decline in its total score from 5.29 in 2022 to 5.23. The increasing incidence of violent conflict has badly dented the global democracy score.

According to EIU’s measure of democracy, almost half of the world’s population live in a democracy of some sort (45.4%), but only 7.8% reside in a “full democracy” (scores above 8.00). Substantially more than one-third of the world’s population live under authoritarian rule (39.4%). The good news is that the number of democracies increased by two in 2023, with Paraguay and Papua New Guinea being upgraded from “hybrid regimes” to “flawed democracies”. Greece became a “full democracy”, but Chile was reclassified as a “flawed democracy”. Pakistan was downgraded to an “authoritarian regime”, while Angola was upgraded to a “hybrid regime”.

Three years after the covid-19 pandemic, which led to a rollback of freedoms around the globe, the results for 2023 point to a continuing democratic malaise and lack of forward momentum. Only 32 countries improved their index score in 2023, while 68 countries registered a decline. The scores for 67 countries stayed the same, painting a global picture of stagnation and regression. Most of the regression globally occurred among non-democracies, as “authoritarian regimes” became more entrenched and countries classified as “hybrid regimes” struggled to democratise.

Joan Hoey, Editor of EIU’s Democracy Index REPORT

The decline in the overall index score was driven by reversals in every region of the world except for western Europe, whose average index score improved by the smallest margin possible (0.01 points). The biggest regressions occurred in Latin America and the Caribbean, and the Middle East and North Africa. Countries in the Sahel and West Africa were also among the worst performers in the 2023 index, as coups and conflicts spread across the region. Adverse developments in Canada drove a decline in North America’s score to 8.27, below that of western Europe (8.37), marking the first time that North America has not placed as the world’s highest-scoring region since the Democracy Index launched in 2006. 

EIU’s Democracy Index report analyses the relationship between democracy, war and peace and looks at the geopolitical drivers of conflict. It also provides an explanation of the changes in the global rankings and an in-depth regional overview. The report is available free of charge at eiu.com/democracy-index

The analysis and forecasts featured in this report can be found in EIU’s Country Analysis service. This integrated solution provides unmatched global insights covering the political and economic outlook for nearly 200 countries, enabling organisations to identify prospective opportunities and potential risks.