Democracy Index

WHY IN NEWS?

The latest edition of the Democracy Index spells gloom for India. The world’s biggest democracy slipped 10 places in the 2019 global ranking to 51st place.

ABOUT DEMOCRACY INDEX

• The EIU Democracy Index provides a snapshot of the state of world democracy for 165 independent states and two territories.
• The Democracy Index is based on five categories:
  • electoral process and pluralism
  • civil liberties
  • the functioning of government
  • political participation
  • political culture
• Based on their scores on 60 indicators within these categories, each country is then itself classified as one of four types of regime:
  • full democracy
  • flawed democracy
  • hybrid regime
  • authoritarian regime

2019 Democracy Index

• The twelfth edition of the Democracy Index finds that the average global score has fallen from 5.48 in 2018, to 5.44.
• This is the worst average global score since The Economist Intelligence Unit first produced the Democracy Index in 2006.
• Driven by sharp regressions in Latin America and Sub-Saharan Africa, four out of the five categories that make up the global average score have deteriorated.

Indian case

• The world’s biggest democracy slipped 10 places in the 2019 global ranking to 51st place.
• The survey published on Wednesday attributes the primary cause of “the democratic regression” to “an erosion of civil liberties in the country”.
• India’s overall score fell from 7.23 to 6.9, on a scale of 0-10, within a year (2018-2019) — the country’s lowest since 2006.

Prelims Question

Q. Democracy Index is published by:
a. WEF
b. Economist Intelligence Unit
c. Democracy Without Borders
d. Human Rights Council

Answer to the Prelims Question