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Express Tribune
28-02-2025
- Politics
- Express Tribune
Pakistan slips in democracy index
Pakistan has dropped six places to 124th in the Economist Intelligence Unit's (EIU) Democracy Index, ranking among the 10 worst-performing countries in democracy. The EIU report classifies Pakistan as an authoritarian regime, assigning it a low score of 2.84. The report also notes that countries such as Pakistan, Bangladesh, and India face serious threats to democratic processes, with fraud and violence tarnishing elections in the region. The index, which evaluates democracy trends across 165 countries and two territories, categorizes nations based on electoral processes, government functioning, political participation, political culture and civil liberties. The global study noted an overall decline in democracy worldwide, with authoritarian regimes becoming increasingly entrenched. Nearly 40% of the global population now lives under authoritarian rule, with 60 countries classified as such. The index observed a continuous drop in the average score for countries in Asia and Australasia, where Pakistan, along with Bangladesh and South Korea, showed the most significant declines. The report highlighted electoral manipulation, divisive politics, and political unrest as major challenges in South Asia, including Pakistan. It cited allegations of political repression and interference in Pakistan's general election, which occurred in February 2024. Joan Hoey, Director of the Democracy Index, remarked that while authoritarian regimes are gaining strength, democracies around the world are struggling. The report stressed that the future of democracy in South Asia would depend on the strength of civil societies and the willingness of political institutions to adopt inclusive reforms. Overall, the 2024 Democracy Index paints a concerning picture of global democratic health, with many countries, including Pakistan, facing increasing challenges to their democratic frameworks.
Express Tribune
27-02-2025
- Politics
- Express Tribune
Pakistan's democracy ranking drops, listed among worst performers in 2024
People attend a PTI rally taken out in Swabi to protest against alleged rigging in the last year's elections. Photo: Express Listen to article Pakistan's democracy ranking fell six spots in 2024, placing it among the "top 10 worst performers" in the Economist Intelligence Unit's (EIU) Democracy Index. Pakistan ranked 124th globally, scoring 2.84, and was classified as an authoritarian regime. The index, which evaluates democracy trends across 165 countries and two territories, categorizes nations based on electoral processes, government functioning, political participation, political culture, and civil liberties. The global study noted an overall decline in democracy worldwide, with authoritarian regimes becoming increasingly entrenched. Nearly 40% of the global population now lives under authoritarian rule, with 60 countries classified as such. The index observed a continuous drop in the average score for countries in Asia and Australasia, where Pakistan, along with Bangladesh and South Korea, showed the most significant declines. The report highlighted electoral manipulation, divisive politics, and political unrest as major challenges in South Asia, including Pakistan. It cited allegations of political repression and interference in Pakistan's general election, which occurred in February 2024. The report also noted that countries such as Pakistan, Bangladesh, and India faced serious threats to democratic processes, with fraud and violence tarnishing elections in the region. Joan Hoey, Director of the Democracy Index, remarked that while authoritarian regimes are gaining strength, democracies around the world are struggling. The report stressed that the future of democracy in South Asia would depend on the strength of civil societies and the willingness of political institutions to adopt inclusive reforms. Overall, the 2024 Democracy Index paints a concerning picture of global democratic health, with many countries, including Pakistan, facing increasing challenges to their democratic frameworks.
Saudi Gazette
27-02-2025
- Politics
- Saudi Gazette
Europe maintains fragile democratic stability amid global decline, new study finds
LONDON — Despite divisions between east and west, Europe's standards of functioning democracy remain high, even as global standards decline, according to a study released on Thursday by the London-based Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU). The latest Democracy Index shows that after a year of elections worldwide, global democracy has weakened, with 2024 continuing a trend of "democratic malaise", the report finds. 'While autocracies seem to be gaining strength, as shown by the index trend since 2006, the world's democracies are struggling,' Joan Hoey, director for the Democracy Index said in a release. The annual study assesses five categories — electoral process and pluralism, civil liberties, functioning of government, political participation, political culture — giving each country a score out of 10. Based on this, countries are classified as full democracies, flawed democracies, hybrid regimes, or authoritarian regimes. This year, Norway topped the rankings with 9.81, while Afghanistan ranked lowest at 0.25. The sharpest declines were in government functioning and electoral process, with the average for the latter falling by 0.08 points compared to 2023, which the study considers 'was especially disappointing given that so many countries went to the polls in 2024'. Europe presented a mixed picture. Eastern Europe saw a slight decline, while Western Europe improved by a marginal 0.01 points. Nine of the world's top ten democracies are in Europe, with New Zealand the only exception in second place. Western Europe remains the highest-rated region and the only one to recover to pre-pandemic levels. However, the report highlights widespread public discontent, fuelling a shift towards anti-mainstream parties. According to the study, 'this dissatisfaction is fuelling a growing shift towards anti-mainstream parties, a trend widely illustrated by the many elections across the continent in 2024'. It adds that these elections were marked by a clear rejection of incumbent leaders and a surge in support for anti-establishment and populist political forces. There were notable shifts within the region: Portugal was upgraded to a "full democracy", while France slipped into the "flawed" category. Portugal was first downgraded in 2011 and recovered the status of a 'full democracy' in 2019. However, the EUI after considering the limitations on personal freedom resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic downgraded it again in 2020. France has also been close to the threshold score of 8.00 that separates 'full' from "flawed democracies", falling to the second category in 2010-13, 2015-18 and 2020-21, during what the EUI classifies as "periods of political turbulence in which the administration has faced widespread social unrest and/or internal divisions over policy, which undermined governance'. The report concludes that France's downgrade this year reflects a deterioration in the score for confidence in government. Eastern Europe, grouped with Central Asia in the report, saw 'the mildest regression of any region' declining by 0.02 points, to 5.35. This region saw a milestone as the Czech Republic and Estonia were upgraded from 'flawed democracies' to 'full democracies', gaining full democratic rating for the first time since 2013 when Czech Republic fell from the top category. By contrast, this year saw Romania downgraded from 'flawed democracy' to 'hybrid regime' status, after the cancellation of the presidential election resulted in the country dropping 12 places in the ranking. — Euronews
Euronews
27-02-2025
- Politics
- Euronews
Europe maintains fragile democratic stability amid global decline, new study finds
Despite divisions between east and west, Europe's standards of functioning democracy remain high, even as global standards decline, according to a study released on Thursday by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU). The latest Democracy Index shows that after a year of elections worldwide, global democracy has weakened, with 2024 continuing a trend of "democratic malaise", the report finds. 'While autocracies seem to be gaining strength, as shown by the index trend since 2006, the world's democracies are struggling,' Joan Hoey, director for the Democracy Index said in a release. The annual study assesses five categories - electoral process and pluralism, civil liberties, functioning of government, political participation, political culture - giving each country a score out of 10. Based on this, countries are classified as full democracies, flawed democracies, hybrid regimes, or authoritarian regimes. This year, Norway topped the rankings with 9.81, while Afghanistan ranked lowest at 0.25. The sharpest declines were in government functioning and electoral process, with the average for the latter falling by 0.08 points compared to 2023, which the study considers 'was especially disappointing given that so many countries went to the polls in 2024'. Europe presented a mixed picture. Eastern Europe saw a slight decline, while Western Europe improved by a marginal 0.01 points. Nine of the world's top ten democracies are in Europe, with New Zealand the only exception in second place. Western Europe remains the highest-rated region and the only one to recover to pre-pandemic levels. However, the report highlights widespread public discontent, fuelling a shift towards anti-mainstream parties. According to the study, 'this dissatisfaction is fuelling a growing shift towards anti-mainstream parties, a trend widely illustrated by the many elections across the continent in 2024'. It adds that these elections were marked by a clear rejection of incumbent leaders and a surge in support for anti-establishment and populist political forces. There were notable shifts within the region: Portugal was upgraded to a "full democracy", while France slipped into the "flawed" category. Portugal was first downgraded in 2011 and recovered the status of a 'full democracy' in 2019. However, the EUI after considering the limitations on personal freedom resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic downgraded it again in 2020. France has also been close to the threshold score of 8.00 that separates 'full' from "flawed democracies", falling to the second category in 2010-13, 2015-18 and 2020-21, during what the EUI classifies as "periods of political turbulence in which the administration has faced widespread social unrest and/or internal divisions over policy, which undermined governance'. The report concludes that France's downgrade this year reflects a deterioration in the score for confidence in government. Eastern Europe, grouped with Central Asia in the report, saw 'the mildest regression of any region' declining by 0.02 points, to 5.35. This region saw a milestone as the Czech Republic and Estonia were upgraded from 'flawed democracies' to 'full democracies', gaining full democratic rating for the first time since 2013 when Czech Republic fell from the top category. By contrast, this year saw Romania downgraded from 'flawed democracy' to 'hybrid regime' status, after the cancellation of the presidential election resulted in the country dropping 12 places in the ranking.
Associated Press
27-02-2025
- Politics
- Associated Press
EIU's 2024 Democracy Index: trend of global democratic decline and strengthening authoritarianism continues through 2024
LONDON, Feb. 26, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- EIU's 2024 Democracy Index, launched today, sheds light on trends in democracy globally in 2024, with the annual index registering a decline in its total score from 5.23 in 2023 to 5.17 (on a 0-10 scale). The overall global Democracy Index score has fallen from 5.52 in 2006 to an historic low of 5.17 in 2024, when 130 countries of the total 167 covered by the index either registered a decline in their score or made no improvement. More than one-third (39.2%) of the world population live under authoritarian rule. Sixty countries are now classified as 'authoritarian regimes', an increase of one compared with the 2023 index, and an increase of eight from a decade ago in 2014. The categories that have recorded the biggest deterioration since 2008 are civil liberties (-1.00 on a 0-10 scale) and electoral process and pluralism (-0.66), however the global average score for political participation improved by 0.74 between 2008 and 2024. Western Europe has the highest index score of any region, at 8.38, and was the only one to improve its overall score in 2024. The United Kingdom improved its score, moving up the rankings from 18th in 2023 to 17th. The US score remained unchanged in 2024 and the US continues to be classified as a 'flawed democracy,' ranked 28th. It remains to be seen if historical checks and balances will remain in force and serve to improve or worsen the US's ranking in 2025. The Nordic countries (Norway, Iceland, Sweden, Finland and Denmark) continue to dominate the Democracy Index rankings, taking five of the top seven spots, with New Zealand claiming second place and Switzerland moving up to fifth. France's score fell just below the 8.00 threshold to qualify as a 'full democracy' because of a decline in its score for functioning of government. Therefore, France was downgraded from a 'full democracy' to a 'flawed democracy' in 2024. Following the tumultuous political events at the end of 2024, South Korea's score also fell below the 8.00 threshold for classification as a 'full democracy'. Portugal was upgraded to a 'full democracy', as were Estonia (for the first time) and the Czech Republic (for the first time since 2013), the only two east European countries to be classified as 'full democracies'. Democracy Index 2024, by regime type No. of countries % of countries % of world population Full democracies 25.0 15.0 6.6 Flawed democracies 46.0 27.5 38.4 Hybrid regimes 36.0 21.6 15.7 Authoritarian regimes 60.0 35.9 39.2 Note. 'World' population refers to the total population of the 167 geographies (165 countries and 2 territories) covered by the Index. Since this excludes only micro states, this is nearly equal to the entire estimated world population. Source: EIU. 'While autocracies seem to be gaining strength, as shown by the index trend since 2006, the world's democracies are struggling,' says Joan Hoey, Director for the Democracy Index. 'The causes of this protracted democracy recession are complex. In this year's report, we discuss the factors that have fuelled popular dissatisfaction with democratic political systems over the past two decades, resulting in the rise of political insurgents such as Donald Trump, Nigel Farage, Javier Milei and Marine Le Pen. If insurgents come to power and fail to improve governance and deliver tangible improvements for citizens, there is a risk that disaffection and political polarisation will grow.' The decline in the overall index score in 2024 was driven by reversals in every region of the world with the exceptions of Western Europe, whose average index score improved by the smallest margin possible (0.01 points), and North America, whose score stayed the same. The other five regions registered a decline in their average index score, with the biggest regressions occurring in the Middle East and North Africa (-0.11) and Asia and Australasia (-0.10). In 2024, the two index categories that registered the biggest declines were functioning of government and electoral process and pluralism. The latter score declined by 0.08 compared with 2023, which was disappointing given that so many countries went to the polls in 2024. According to our calculations, 75 countries held elections that were national in scope, including eight of the ten most populous countries in the world (Bangladesh, Brazil, India, Indonesia, Mexico, Pakistan, Russia and the US). This 'votequake' delivered some positive outcomes. In many countries, voters ejected governments that had not delivered. However, many elections were not free and fair and other prerequisites of democracy, such as freedom of speech and association, were absent. The score for electoral process and pluralism declined in every region except western Europe and North America. The functioning of government category registered a 0.13-point decline in 2024. This is the lowest- scoring category of the index, with a global average score of 4.53. This poor performance is the result of core weaknesses afflicting democratic systems, developed and developing alike. Gridlock, dysfunction, corruption, insufficient transparency and a lack of accountability have undermined public confidence in governments, political parties and politicians. In many countries, powerful interest groups and the wealthy exert significant influence. Governments outsource decision-making to non-elected bodies. Citizens feel that they do not have control over their governments. As a result, popular trust in democratic institutions has been in decline for many years and helped to deliver an overwhelming rebuke to incumbents in 2024. EIU's Democracy Index 2024 is available at Additional exclusive content and deeper analysis are available through our Country Analysis service. To arrange a demonstration or explore its features and content, please contact us or visit About EIU EIU is the business intelligence arm of The Economist Group, a leading authority on international business and world affairs. Upholding the brand's reputation for uncompromising integrity, rigorous analysis, and trusted insights, EIU offers a forward-looking perspective on the global agenda, providing strategic guidance on emerging trends and challenges at both global and national levels. Founded in 1946, EIU has over 75 years of expertise in helping financial institutions, governments and multinational corporations navigate complex business environments. EIU's SaaS-based solutions deliver comprehensive political, economic and policy forecasts for 200 geographies, including 130 emerging markets and key industries. These insights are enriched by qualitative analysis from a global network of 400 analysts and in-country contributors. By combining robust quantitative data with in-depth qualitative insights, EIU enables organisations to make informed decisions, address emerging challenges and plan for sustainable growth.
