Recently, the latest edition of Democracy Report was released by the V-Dem Institute at Sweden’s University of Gothenburg.
The study was titled ‘Democracy Report 2022: Autocratisation Changing Nature?’
The report classifies countries into four regime types based on their score in the Liberal Democratic Index (LDI): Liberal Democracy, Electoral Democracy, Electoral Autocracy, and Closed Autocracy.
Major Findings: The level of democracy enjoyed by the average global citizens in 2021 is down to 1989 levels.
The last 30 years of democratic advances are now eradicated.
The democratic decline is especially evident in Asia Pacific, Eastern Europe and Central Asia, as well as in parts of Latin America and the Caribbean.
While Sweden topped the LDI index, other Scandinavian countries such as Denmark and Norway, along with Costa Rica and New Zealand make up the top five in liberal democracy rankings.
In South Asia, India was ranked 93rd which is below- Sri Lanka (88), Nepal (71), and Bhutan (65) and above Pakistan (117) in the LDI.