Democracy Index 2019 provides a snapshot of the state of democracy worldwide for 165 independent states and two territories.   2019 index – assesses and records the worst average global score since its inception in 2006. This new low-point was driven by a sharp regression in the average regional scores for Latin America and Sub-Saharan Africa.

The report discusses how a recent trend of democratic backsliding and growing popular distrust in governments and politicians have led to increased political participation. Following the populist revolt in the mature democracies in recent years, an upsurge of protest characterized the developing world in 2019

Other key findings in this year’s report include:

• Only 5.7% of the world’s population lives in a “full democracy” and more than one-third under authoritarian rule.
• The number of “full democracies” increased to 22, as Chile, France and Portugal moved up from the “flawed democracy” category.
• Thailand registered the biggest improvement in score and China the sharpest decline.

The average global score for four out of the five categories of the Democracy Index (electoral process and pluralism; the functioning of government; political culture; civil liberties) declined in 2019. The exception was political participation, the score for which improved worldwide

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