Global Democracy Index-2019
The Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) has recently released a Global Democracy Index for the year 2019. India has slipped 10 places to 51st in the Global List of Democracy Index for 2019 by EIU. This index provides a blueprint for the current state of democracy in 167 countries.
According to the report, India’s democracy scores have declined due to lack of civil liberties. India’s marks in the year 2018 were 7.23, which has come down to 6.90. The Global Democracy Index is based on the functioning of government, election process and pluralism, political participation, political culture and civil liberties.
Key facts related to the report
• This global list provides a blueprint of the current state of democracy in 165 independent countries and 02 regions.
• According to the report, Pakistan is ranked 108 in the list with a total of 4.25 points. Similarly, Sri Lanka is 69th with 6.27 points and Bangladesh is 80th with 5.88 points.
• China is now at 153rd position in 2019 with 2.26 points. It is close to the bottom rung in the global ranking.
• Among other emerging economies, Brazil is at 52nd place with 6.86 points and Russia is at 134th place in the list with 3.11 points.
• Norway tops the list while North Korea is at the bottom with 167th place.
India in Democracy Index-2019
According to the list, India’s total score in the year 2018 was 7.23, which has now come down to 6.90. According to the report, the status of freedom of citizens in India has reduced in a year. This decline in the democratic list has come due to lack of civil liberties in the country.
The Economist started releasing the Democracy Index in 2006. This is India’s lowest democracy score in 13 years since then. It was India’s highest in the year 2014, at 7.92.
Top Ten Countries in Democracy Index
| Rank | Country |
| 1 | Norway |
| 2 | Iceland |
| 3 | Sweden |
| 4 | New zealand |
| 5 | Finland |
| 6 | Ireland |
| 7 | Denmark |
| 8 | Canada |
| 9 | Australia |
| 10 | Switzerland |
EIU index based on five categories
The EIU’s index is based on five categories, including electoral process and pluralism, government functioning, political participation, political culture and civil liberties. The governance of any country is divided into four categories based on the total marks of these five categories.
Ranking criteria
According to the EIU, countries are classified into four types of governance based on their total scores. These four categories – “full democracy” (scoring more than 8 points), flawed democracy (scoring more than 6 but less than 8 or 8), hybrid governance (more than 4 but scoring 6 or less than 6) ) And authoritarian rule (having 4 or less points).
