EIU Democracy Index 2020

The Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) recently released its report titled “Democracy in sickness and in health?” and also published the Democracy Index 2020.

Key Findings

• The Democracy Index report 2020 by the covers the 167 countries.
• It has classified the economies in categories such as flawed democracies, full democracies, hybrid regimes, and authoritarian regimes.
• The report highlights that, 23 countries are full democracies, 52 are flawed democracies, 35 countries are hybrid regimes while 57 countries are authoritarian regimes out of total 167 countries.
• In the Democracy Index, Norway has topped.
• The 2^nd 3^rd 4^th and the 5^th ranks have been secured by Iceland, Sweden, New Zealand and Canada respectively in the index.
• India’s rank has degraded by two places from the previous year ranking. This year India has been ranked at 53rd place.
• Sri Lanka was placed at 68th position. It is also classified as a flawed democracy.
• Pakistan was ranked at 105th position. It has been classified as a ‘hybrid regime’.
• Other Hybrid regime countries include Bangladesh which has been ranked at 76^th position and Bhutan which has been ranked at 84^th
• Afghanistan has been ranked at 139^th position and it has been classified as an ‘authoritarian regime’.

Why India’s rank has declined?

The report highlights that, multiple instances of “crackdowns” on civil liberties and the “democratic backsliding” by authorities has degraded the India’s ranking. However, India was ranked higher than most of its neighbouring nations. In the index, India has been classified as a ‘flawed democracy’. The other flawed democracies include U.S., France, Brazil and Belgium.

Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU)

The EIU has been headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It is the leading resource that provides the forecasting and advisory services through the  economic and business research across the world.

Month: Current Affairs - February, 2021