OREANDA-NEWS. British company The Economist Intelligence Unit updated the Democracy Index for 2019. When calculating the rating, the experts take into account 60 indicators, grouped in five categories: electoral process and pluralism, functioning of government, political participation, political culture, and civil liberties.

All countries are divided into four groups: full democracies (more than 8 points), flawed democracies (more than 6 points), hybrid regimes (more than 4 points), and authoritarian regimes.

According to the 2019 list, Norway became the leader in the ranking of democracies with the total score of 9.87. In addition, the list of full democracies includes Iceland (9.58), Sweden (9.39), New Zealand (9.26), Finland (9.25), Ireland (9.24), Denmark (9.22 points), Canada (9.22 points), Australia (9.09), Switzerland (9.03), Netherlands (9.01), Luxembourg (8.81), Germany (8.68), Great Britain (8.52), Uruguay (8.38), Austria (8.29), Spain (8.29), Mauritius (8.22), Costa Rica (8.13), France (8.12), Chile (8.08), and Portugal (8.03 points).

Authors of the rating lowered the world’s average assessment of the level of democracy to 5.44 points, which is the worst figure in the history of the Democracy Index which began in 2006.