Economist: Only 13% of World's Population Live in Full Democracies
The Economist Intelligence Unit’s index of Democracy measures the current state of democracy worldwide based on five categories: electoral process and pluralism, civil liberties, the functioning of government, political participation and political culture.
According to the index almost half the world’s countries are democracies of some sort but only a small percentage are considered to be ‘full democracies’.
The index ranks all of the world’s countries in order under the headings ‘full democracies’, ‘flawed democracies’, ‘hybrid regimes’ and ‘authoritarian regimes’.
The results of the index show that almost 40% of the world’s population lives under authoritarian rule and this proportion is unlikely to decrease significantly in the near future.
Economist Intelligence Unit Democracy Index 2006
Ten Highest ranking full democracies
1. Sweden
2. Iceland
3. Netherlands
4. Norway
5. Denmark
6. Finland
7. Luxembourg
8. Australia
9. Canada
10. Switzerland
Ten Lowest ranking authoritarian regimes
1. Guinea-Bissau
2. Saudi Arabia
3. Uzbekistan
4. Libya
5. Turkmenistan
6. Myanmar
7. Togo
8. Chad
9. Central Africa
10. North Korea
A full list can be found at Economist, 2007
