Global Democracy Index

By Namit Arora | Nov 2006 | Comments

The Economist magazine's intelligence unit has come up with a Democracy Index that rates 165 states and 2 territories on their democratic character. It examines 60 indicators across 5 broad categories: electoral process and pluralism, functioning of government, political participation, political culture, and civil liberties.

Sweden emerges on top with eight European states in the top ten. USA, the oldest democarcy and its self-awoved messiah, only mustered the 17th spot, partly due to its eroding civil liberties. India, the largest democracy is ranked 35th, scoring its lowest marks on political participation and political culture. Notably, on both civil liberties and electoral process and pluralism, India scores better than the US.

Other notable ranks include Japan (20), UK (23), Italy (34), Brazil (42), Israel (47), Mexico (53), Indonesia (65), Palestine (79), Singapore (84), Turkey (88), Thailand  (90), Russia (102), Pakistan (113), China (138), S. Arabia (159), and N Korea (167). Check out the report, rankings, and the methodology.

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