EIU’s annual index suggests an end to the democracy recession
Apr 7th 2026
Grumbling about the health of democracy can sound abstract. But its decline shows up in wars, coups, contested elections and curbs on civil liberties across the world. EIU, our sister organisation, has tracked that slide since 2006. But the latest update to its democracy index suggests a modest break in the trend: the scores of nearly three-quarters of countries held steady or improved over the past year, and the global index rose by 0.02 points—one of the biggest increases since 2012.
EIU grades 167 countries out of ten according to the state of their democracy, and sorts them into four camps: full and flawed democracies, and hybrid and authoritarian regimes. By that measure, Norway remains the world’s most democratic country—a position it has held for the past 16 years. New Zealand ranks second; the next four places are filled by the other Nordic countries. Most of this year’s improvements came in the middle of the table.
The most improved region was Latin America and the Caribbean. After nine years of decline, scores rose in more than half the region’s countries, helped by higher political participation. That trend may happen elsewhere, too. Asia and sub-Saharan Africa have young populations, and recent protests in Nepal, Kenya and Madagascar have drawn large numbers into politics.
In some countries, higher turnout might owe something to Donald Trump. Elections from Canada to Romania drew unusually large numbers to the polls last year. Canada rose five places to ninth after its highest turnout in over 30 years. Mark Carney’s win was widely regarded as a rebuke to MAGA-style politics. Romania climbed from a hybrid regime to a flawed democracy, boosted by a strong turnout that contributed to the defeat of a nationalist candidate favoured by Mr Trump’s allies. Denmark rose four places to third, helped by its handling of threats towards Greenland, which lifted its score for how well the government functions.
Mr Trump had the opposite effect at home. Efforts to redraw electoral boundaries, the use of the military to quell protests and continued political polarisation weighed on America’s score. The Department of Government Efficiency disrupted the functioning of government, and attempts to muzzle the media hit civil liberties. America lost 0.2 points from last year and remains a flawed democracy. The long decline in global democracy may be easing a little. But in America, it is not abating.■
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I’ve been covering the annual democracy index produced by EIU, our sister organisation, since I moved across from EIU to the newspaper in 2015. That year, it turns out, was “peak democracy” for the 167 countries in the index. It has been pretty much downhill ever since, with coups, covid and contested elections dragging down the global average.
Over the past year things may have turned a corner—thanks, in part, to Donald Trump. Denmark’s score increased after its government deftly handled his threats to take over Greenland. Canada improved too: it avoided becoming America’s 51st state, and Mr Trump’s support for Conservative Pierre Poilievre in its general election boosted turnout—for the other guy. Last weekend Hungary’s authoritarian leader, Viktor Orban, suffered electoral defeat after a ringing endorsement from Mr Trump. Who would have thought that America’s populist president could do so much good for democracy abroad?
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