The Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) has recently released the 2020 Democracy Index report. The EIU report is titled “Democracy in sickness and in health?”
Key Points
EIU has released the 2020 Democracy Index report covering 167 countries.
The index has classified economies as full democracies, flawed democracies, hybrid regimes, and authoritarian regimes.
As per the report, out of 167 nations, 23 countries are full democracies, 35 are hybrid regimes, 52 are flawed democracies, and 57 are authoritarian regimes.
Norway has topped this EIU Democracy Index report.
Iceland, Sweden, New Zealand and Canada are ranked 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th on the index.
India has fell two places from the previous year ranking to rank at 53rd place.
As per the report, “crackdowns” on civil liberties and the “democratic backsliding” by authorities has led to the decline in India’s ranking.
However, India has been ranked higher than most of the neighboring nations.
India has been classified as a ‘flawed democracy’ along with nations like France, the U.S., Brazil and Belgium.
Sri Lanka has been placed at 68th rank and is classified as a flawed democracy.
Pakistan has been ranked 105th and classified as a ‘hybrid regime’ along with Bangladesh (76) and Bhutan (84).
Afghanistan has been classified as an ‘authoritarian regime’ and has been ranked 139th.
Region-wise Report
The Asia and Australasia region comprises New Zealand (4th) and North Korea which has been placed at the bottom of the index at 167th place. The overall score of the region has decreased in 2020, but it now has 5 “full democracies” with improvement in the rankings of Japan, Taiwan, and South Korea in comparison to 2019.
EIU
The Economist Intelligence Unit (The EIU) is the leading resource for economic and business research, forecasting, and analysis in the world. It is headquartered in London, United Kingdom.
