According to the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), democratic standards witnessed a decline worldwide in 2023 due to the proliferation of conflicts, authoritarian crackdowns, and diminishing trust in mainstream political parties.
An illustrative example is Pakistan, experiencing the most significant regression in the Asian region. Its score plummeted to 3.25, resulting in a downgrade from a ‘hybrid regime’ to an ‘authoritarian regime,’ accompanied by an 11-place decline in the global ranking. Notably, over half of the 28 countries in the region saw a decrease in their scores (15), with only eight showing improvements.
The study, titled “Age of Conflict,” offers insights into the state of democracy across 165 independent states and two territories. Assessing various indicators, each country is classified into one of four regime types: full democracy, flawed democracy, hybrid regime, or authoritarian regime.
Norway, New Zealand, and Iceland secured the top three positions in the index, while North Korea, Myanmar, and Afghanistan ranked at the bottom.
Although the number of countries classified as democracies increased, the global average index score dropped to 5.23 in 2023 from 5.29 the previous year, marking its lowest level since the inception of the study in 2006.
