Global Democracy Index
The Global Democracy Index is an index complied and published annually by the Global Freedom Network, a Gjorkan based non profit that conducts research, analysis, and advocacy on democracy and human right across the globe. The Index measures the state of democracy in a country based on a variety of factors including civil liberties, political culture, and electoral process among others. Each nation is then categorized in one of four regime types: Full democracies, Flawed democracies, Hybrid regimes, and Authoritarian regimes based on their index score.
Contents
Methodology
The Index is based on a weighted average produced by expert analysis on a variety of factors impacting democracy in a country. Based on how experts score each country in each category, a score is produced to give a numerical answer for the state of democracy in the country at the time. The pool of experts the Global Freedom Network draws is reviewed carefully each year to determine fairness in the reporting.
The five general categories expert's score each country on are:
- electoral process and pluralism
- civil liberties
- functioning of government
- political participation
- political culture
The Index is widely cited in academic journals and peer-reviewed studies.
Definitions
Full democracies are nations where civil liberties and fundamental political freedoms are not only respected but also reinforced by a political culture conducive to the thriving of democratic principles. These nations have a valid system of governmental checks and balances, an independent judiciary whose decisions are enforced, governments that function adequately, and diverse and independent media. These nations have only limited problems in democratic functioning.
Flawed democracies are nations where elections are fair and free and basic civil liberties are honored but may have issues (e.g. media freedom infringement and minor suppression of political opposition and critics). These nations have significant faults in other democratic aspects, including underdeveloped political culture, low levels of participation in politics, and issues in the functioning of governance.
Hybrid regimes are nations with regular electoral frauds, preventing them from being fair and free democracies. These nations commonly have governments that apply pressure on political opposition, non-independent judiciaries, widespread corruption, harassment and pressure placed on the media, anemic rule of law, and more pronounced faults than flawed democracies in the realms of underdeveloped political culture, low levels of participation in politics, and issues in the functioning of governance.
Authoritarian regimes are nations where the electoral process is nonexistent or severely limited. These nations are often absolute monarchies or dictatorships, may have some conventional institutions of democracy but with meagre significance, infringements and abuses of civil liberties are commonplace, elections (if they take place) are not fair or free (including sham elections), the media is often state-owned or controlled by groups associated with the ruling regime, the judiciary is not independent, and censorship and suppression of governmental criticism are commonplace.
By regime type
| Type of regime | Score | Countries | Proportion of World population (%) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Number | (%) | |||
| Full democracies | 9.01–10.00 8.01–9.00 |
9 | ?% | ?% |
| Flawed democracies | 7.01–8.00 6.01–7.00 |
8 | ?% | ?% |
| Hybrid regimes | 5.01–6.00 4.01–5.00 |
6 | ?% | ?% |
| Authoritarian regimes | 3.01–4.00 2.01–3.00 1.01–2.00 0.00–1.00 |
10 | ?% | ?% |
By region
| Rank | Region | Countries | Authoritarian | Hybrid regime | Flawed democracy | Full democracy | Average score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Northern Ecros | 10 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 6 | 8.39 |
| 2 | Ostlandet | 12 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 6.30 |
| 3 | Southern Ecros | 4 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 4.99 |
| 4 | Sur | 7 | 5 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 3.06 |
By country
| Region | 2024 rank | Country | Regime type | 2024 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Northern Ecros | 1 |  Entropan
|
Full democracy | 9.42 |
| Ostlandet | 2 |  Monsilva
|
Full democracy | 9.25 |
| Northern Ecros | 3 |  Eleutherios
|
Full democracy | 9.08 |
| Northern Ecros | 4 |  Majocco
|
Full democracy | 9.03 |
| Northern Ecros | 5 |  Jackson
|
Full democracy | 9.00 |
| Northern Ecros | 6 |  Kivu
|
Full democracy | 8.92 |
| Ostlandet | 7 |  Hapatmitas
|
Full democracy | 8.83 |
| Ostlandet | 8 |  Girisko
|
Full democracy | 8.75 |
| Ostlandet | 9 |  Baltanla
|
Full democracy | 8.74 |
| Northern Ecros | 10 |  Tirol
|
Full democracy | 8.50 |
| Ostlandet | 11 |  Gjorka
|
Full democracy | 8.17 |
| Ostlandet | 12 |  Paleocacher
|
Full democracy | 8.08 |
| Ostlandet | 13 |  Uulgadzar
|
Flawed democracy | 7.92 |
| Northern Ecros | 14 |  Reykanes
|
Flawed democracy | 7.83 |
| Northern Ecros | 15 |  Groffenord
|
Flawed democracy | 7.58 |
| Northern Ecros | 16 |  Quebecshire
|
Flawed democracy | 7.51 |
| Northern Ecros | 17 |  Montesayette
|
Flawed democracy | 7.50 |
| Northern Ecros | 18 |  Abersiania
|
Flawed democracy | 7.49 |
| Southern Ecros | 19 |  Sconia
|
Flawed democracy | 6.58 |
| Ostlandet | 20 |  Ajakanistan
|
Flawed democracy | 6.34 |
| Southern Ecros | 21 |  Tumland
|
Flawed democracy | 6.33 |
| Ostlandet | 22 |  New Gandor
|
Flawed democracy | 6.17 |
| Ostlandet | 23 |  Akvarelusus
|
Flawed democracy | 6.16 |
| Ostlandet | 24 |  Storosnova
|
Hybrid regime | 5.92 |
| Sur | 25 |  Sequoyah
|
Hybrid regime | 5.83 |
| Ostlandet | 26 |  Tranquillia
|
Hybrid regime | 4.83 |
| Sur | 27 |  Lurjize
|
Hybrid regime | 4.51 |
| Southern Ecros | 28 |  Pavulturilor
|
Hybrid regime | 4.50 |
| Southern Ecros | 29 |  New Illyricum
|
Hybrid regime | 4.33 |
| Ostlandet | 30 |  Zloveshchiy
|
Authoritarian regime | 3.75 |
| Sur | 31 |  El Salvador
|
Authoritarian regime | 3.50 |
| Sur | 32 |  State of the Church
|
Authoritarian regime | 3.00 |
| Ostlandet | 33 |  Rakhman
|
Authoritarian regime | 2.83 |
| Southern Ecros | 34 |  Terranihil
|
Authoritarian regime | 2.58 |
| Sur | 35 |  Creeperopolis
|
Authoritarian regime | 1.83 |
| Sur | 36 |  Rakeo
|
Authoritarian regime | 0.58 |
States with limited recognition
| Region | Country | Regime type | 2022 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sur |  Noundures
|
Authoritarian regime | 2.75 |
| Sur |  Deltino
|
Authoritarian regime | 0.67 |
Criticism
The Index is scrutinized heavily in Gjorka by the members of the Gjorkan right who argue the index is biased towards leftists. During the Presidencies of Joe Wallace and Roman Vanderburg, the Index's score for Gjorka went up, while during the presidencies of Joseph Marnell and Carter Morris went down. President Keaton Owens of the Global Freedom Network has defended these moves in the past citing Marnell's "dictatorial tendencies" and Morris's "lack of popular support" as the reasoning for the Index's change.
See also
- Armorial of sovereign states
- Capital punishment by country
- Global Democracy Index
- Languages of Terraconserva
- LGBT rights by country
- List of aircraft carriers
- List of country calling codes
- List of countries and dependencies by area
- List of countries by GDP (nominal)
- List of countries by GDP (nominal) per capita
- List of countries by income equality
- List of countries by intentional homicide rate
- List of countries by population
- List of countries by population density
- List of countries by system of government
- List of countries by Human Development Index
- List of current heads of state and government
- List of current state leaders by date of assumption of office
- List of designated terrorist organizations
- List of flags of sovereign states
- List of ongoing armed conflicts
- List of sovereign states
- World Press Freedom Index
