THE Economist Intelligence Unit’s 2023 Democracy Index put the Philippines in 53rd place, down one spot from the previous year.

The London-based think tank evaluated the degree of democracy in 165 nations and two territories by rating each one’s electoral process and pluralism, functioning of government, political participation, political culture, and civil liberties on a ten-point scale.

After that, it divides them into four categories: full democracies, flawed democracies, hybrid regimes, and authoritarian regimes.

With a score of 6.6, the Philippines continued to be classified as a “flawed democracy.”

The Philippines received a score of 9.17 in electoral process and pluralism; 4.64 in functioning of government; 7.78 in political participation; 4.38 in political culture; and 7.35 in civil liberties.

Forty-nine countries were also categorized as ”flawed democracies,” where fundamental civil liberties are respected and free and fair elections are held, although there might be issues in some aspects. 

Norway is still the top-ranked country in the Democracy Index with a score of 9.81, followed by New Zealand (9.61), Iceland (9.45), Sweden (9.39), and Finland (9.30). 

Taiwan placed 10th, the highest among Asian states and territories, scoring 8.92.

Afghanistan (0.26), Myanmar (0.85), and North Korea (1.08) are the bottom three in the rankings.

”The good news is that the number of countries classified as democracies increased by two, to 74, in 2023,” the report said.

”However, measured by other metrics, the year was not an auspicious one for democracy. The global average index score fell to 5.23, down from 5.29 in 2022. This is in keeping with a general trend of regression and stagnation in recent years, and it marks a new low since the index began in 2006,” it added.