Your trusted source

In the 2019 edition of The Economist Intelligence Unit’s (EIU) annual Democracy Index, which provides a snapshot of the state of democracy worldwide, the average global score fell from 5.48 in 2018 to 5.44 on a scale of 0-10.

This is the worst score since the index was first produced in 2006. The 2019 result is even worse than that recorded in 2010, in the wake of the global economic and financial crisis.

The Democracy Index is based on five categories: electoral process and pluralism; civil liberties; the functioning of government; political participation; and political culture.

Based on their scores on 60 indicators within these categories, each country is then itself classified as one of four types of regime: full democracy, flawed democracy, hybrid regime and authoritarian regime.

According to the report almost one-half (48.4%) of the world’s population live in a democracy of some sort, although only 5.7% reside in a “full democracy”.

There were ten changes of regime category, six positive and four negative. Three countries –Chile, France and Portugal – moved from the flawed democracy category to become full democracies.

Among the 167 countries ranked, 22 were categorised as full democracies, encompassing 5.7% of the world population.

Meanwhile, 54 countries were categorised as “flawed democracies”. 37 countries were named “hybrid regimes” and 54 came under the “authoritarian regime” category, the agency said.

Armenia climbed 17 spots from 103rd in 2018 to 86th in 2019 in the Democracy Index, being categorized as a “hybrid regime”.

“Armenia’s score in the Democracy Index rose from 4.11 in 2017 to 4.79 in 2018, as government accountability and transparency improved and public confidence in the political system grew; it rose further, to 5.54 in 2019, as these improvements were consolidated and peaceful political activity became possible without government interference,” the report said.

According to the OSCE, the 2018 snap parliamentary elections in Armenia were in line with democratic standards, The Economist report reminded.

Neighbouring Georgia and Turkey are also included in the “hybrid regime” category, ranking 89th and 110th respectively. Azerbaijan came146th and is listed among “authoritarian regimes”.