The Economist Intelligence Unit, the research department of The Economist, released a Democracy Index 2022 study. Its main topic is Ukraine and the impact of events in our country on democracies around the world.

Democracy Index 2022 is an annual classification of 167 countries of the world compiled by the Economist Intelligence Unit according to the level of development of democracy. When compiling the index, 60 indicators are taken into account, grouped into 5 categories: elections and pluralism, civil liberties, government activity, political engagement of the population, and political culture. The index was compiled for the first time in 2007, and since 2010 it has become annual.

According to the report for 2022, only 8% of the Earth’s population lives in a so-called “full democracy”, that is, in countries with a Democracy Index of 8 or more points. The list of countries with “full democracy” includes only 24 countries. The best figure in Norway is 9.81.

Countries of “full democracy”, by rating
Norway – 9.81
New Zealand – 9.61
Iceland – 9.52
Sweden – 9.39
Finland – 9.29
Denmark – 9.28
Switzerland – 9.14
Ireland – 9.13
Netherlands – 9.00
Taiwan – 8.99
Uruguay – 8.91
Canada – 8.88
Luxembourg – 8.81
Germany – 8.80
Australia – 8.71
Japan – 8.33
Costa Rica – 8.29
Great Britain – 8.28
Chile – 8.22
Austria – 8.20
Mauritius 8,14
France – 8.07
Spain – 8.07
South Korea – 8.03

It is a bit strange to see in this list countries that were totalitarian in the past, such as Uruguay, Costa Rica, and Chile, and not to see, for example, the USA. Thus, the United States occupies only 31 place in the Democracy Index 2022 ranking, inferior to the Czech Republic, Greece, Estonia, Portugal, and Israel in addition to the above-mentioned countries. On the other hand, the fact that countries that were once ruled by a military junta were able to achieve true democracy is truly inspiring.

It is clear that almost all countries with “full” or “limited democracy” support Ukraine, while the countries that occupy the last positions of the “Democracy Index 2022”, that is, authoritarian states, are on the side of the Russian aggressors.

Least democratic countries in the world, by rating
Russia – 2.28
Venezuela – 2.23
Burundi – 2.13
Uzbekistan – 2.12
Saudi Arabia – 2.08
Libya – 2.06
Eritrea – 2.03
Belarus – 1.99
Iran – 1.96
Yemen – 1.95
China – 1.94
Tajikistan – 1.94
Equatorial Guinea – 1.92
Laos – 1.77
Chad – 1.67
Turkmenistan – 1.66
Democratic Republic of Congo – 1.48
Syria – 1.43
Central African Republic – 1.35
North Korea – 1.08
Myanmar – 0.74
Afghanistan – 0.32

As for our country, it is exactly in the middle of the Democracy Index 2022 rating. Ukraine with a score of 5.42 belongs to the so-called “hybrid regimes” and ranks 87th out of 167. We are slightly lower than Tunisia and Liberia, but higher than Hong Kong, Mexico and Georgia. During the year of the war, Ukraine lost only one place in the ranking.