Democracy Index 2020: Mauritius Ranks 20th With A Score Of 8.14

The Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) has published its 13th edition of the Democracy Index for the year 2020 on Thursday 4th February 2021. The abovementioned index evaluates the state of democracy in 167 countries around the world and it tracks their democratic evolution on a specific area of focus. The Democracy Index 2020 is particularly focused on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on freedom and democracy around the world.

The Democracy Index 2020 has ranked Mauritius 20th with an overall score of 8.14 as compared to the 18th position in the Democracy Index 2019. Notwithstanding this 2-place drop, Mauritius can still boast to be a ‘full democracy’. Mauritius is the only country in the African region to be in this category and it has always topped the list in the entire African region, including Sub-Sahara, North Africa, and the Middle East.

The country is therefore in the same league as the 6 member countries of the G20, namely Australia, Canada, Germany, Japan, South Korea, and the United Kingdom. Interestingly, none of the BRICS countries which are the world’s leading emerging market economies, namely Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa appear in the ‘full democracy’ category.

Sub-Saharan Africa

Many of the nations in Sub-Saharan Africa are concentrated at the bottom of the Democracy Index rankings. The continent has only one “full democracy”—Mauritius—and six “flawed democracies”. The number of countries classed as “hybrid regimes”, at 13, is two less than in the 2019 index, as Burkina Faso and Mali slipped down the ranking to become “authoritarian regimes”, alongside 22 other African states. The overall average regional score fell to 4.16 in 2020, down from 4.26 in 2019—by far the lowest score for the continent since the index began in 2006.

Please click HERE to view to full Democracy Index 2020 report.

Source: The Economist – Intelligence Unit

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