EIU’s 2024 Democracy Index Released for 167 Countries
Norway Ranked 1st for 16 Consecutive Years…Nordic Countries Dominate Top Spots
South Korea Drops to 32nd…’Full Democracy’ Rank Lost After 5 Years
“President Yoon Suk-yeol Plunged the Nation into Crisis with Martial Law Declaration”, ‘[Reported by Bang Seong-hoon from Edaily] Norway has been ranked as the most democratic country in the world for 16 consecutive years up to last year. South Korea was ranked 32nd.’,
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, ‘The Economist Intelligence Unit, an economic analysis arm of the British weekly magazine The Economist, announced the “2024 Global Democracy Index” on the 27th (local time). Although there was significant interest as it was a “year of elections” with over 1.65 billion people participating in elections in more than 70 countries, the global average score was 5.17, the lowest on record.’,
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, ‘Since 2006, EIU has assessed 167 countries across five areas—electoral process and pluralism, the functioning of government, political participation, political culture, and civil liberties—to calculate the level of democratic development as a score.’,
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, ‘With a maximum of 10 points, a score above 8 is classified as “Full democracy,” more than 6 to 8 as “Flawed democracy,” more than 4 to 6 as “Hybrid regime,” and below 4 as “Authoritarian regime.”‘,
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, ‘Norway retained the 1st place for the 16th straight year with a score of 9.81. It was followed by New Zealand (9.61), Sweden (9.39), Iceland (9.38), Switzerland (9.32), Finland (9.30), Denmark (9.28), Ireland (9.19), the Netherlands (9.00), and Luxembourg (8.88) from 2nd to 10th place. Excluding New Zealand, nine out of the top 10 countries are located in Europe, with Nordic countries sweeping the highest ranks.’,
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, ‘South Korea was classified as a “Full democracy” from 2020 to 2023 for four consecutive years, but last year slipped to 32nd place with a score of 7.75. The Economist explained that “President Yoon Suk-yeol quickly rescinded the martial law declaration, but it plunged the country into crisis,” elaborating on the reason for the drop from the full democracy category.’,
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, ‘Looking at other major countries, the USA was ranked 28th with 7.85 points, Canada 14th with 8.69, Japan 16th with 8.48, Australia 11th with 8.85, the UK 17th with 8.34, France 26th with 7.99, Germany 13th with 8.73, and Taiwan 12th with 8.78. France, in particular, drew attention as it was downgraded from full democracy to flawed democracy.’,
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, ‘China (2.11 points), Russia (2.03), and North Korea (1.08) ranked 145th, 150th, and 165th respectively, all falling into the authoritarian regime category. Iran (1.96) ranked 154th. The least democratic country globally was Afghanistan (0.25), ranked last for four consecutive years since 2021.’,
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, ‘By category, only 6.6% qualified as full democracies, almost half of the 12.5% ten years prior. Furthermore, it was found that 2 in 5 of the world’s population are part of an authoritarian regime. A more positive note, according to EIU, is that the number of countries scoring 8 or above rose by one to 25 compared to a year ago.’,
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, ‘The Economist stated, “The USA remains a flawed democracy from last year, and might face bigger issues this year,” noting that “Already in the first month of Donald Trump’s second term, issues around the political independence of civil servants were raised, and executive orders challenging legal authority were issued one after another.” It anticipated, “Next year, how newly elected leaders will govern will be the next test.”‘,
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