Panayiotis Rougalas
Cyprus not only remains in the category of a "flawed democracy", in The Economist's Democracy Index but ranked worse in 2021 compared to 2020.
The Democracy Index, which is published by The Economist and began in 2006, provides a snapshot of the state of democracy worldwide in 165 independent states and two territories. It covers almost the entire population of the world and the vast majority of the world’s states (microstates are excluded). The Democracy Index is based on five categories: electoral process and pluralism, functioning of government, political participation, political culture, and civil liberties. Based on its scores on a range of indicators within these categories, each country is then classified as one of four types of regime: “full democracy”, “flawed democracy”, “hybrid regime” or “authoritarian regime”.
"Other countries that held elections in 2021, including Cyprus, have failed to form majority coalitions and are led by parties that need to negotiate support for legislation on a bill-by-bill basis"
Research of the Economist Intelligence Unit "shows that Cyprus ranked as a 'flawed democracy' for 2021 and is in 37th position compared to 167 countries. At the same time, based on the Economist table, Cyprus reached a total score of 7.43 for 2021, while in 2020 it was 7.56.
From 2016 until today (until 2021, to be precise), there is a downward trend in the rating of Cyprus that brings it deeper into the "flawed democracy" category. In 2016 the score was 7.65 and in 2017 until 2019 it was stable at 7.59. In previous years, Cyprus scored high at 7.70 2008. In 2012 it fell to 7.29 where it remained in the same rating until 2013. In 2014 it rose to 7.40 and in 2015 to 7.53.
According to the data of 2021, Cyprus' biggest problem was in the field of "government operations" where it received a score of only 5.36. The country was given a 6.88 in the field of "political culture", which is the second-worst recorded score, and 7.22 in the field of "political participation". Cyprus scored high in the fields of "political freedoms" at 8.53, and "electoral process and pluralism" at 9.17.
In the multi-page report, the Economist Intelligence Unit makes special reference to Cyprus during its 2021 parliamentary elections. "Other countries that held elections in 2021, including Norway and Cyprus, have failed to form majority coalitions and are led by parties that need to negotiate support for legislation on a bill-by-bill basis," it said.
74 out of 167 countries are considered democracies
According to the Economist's measure of democracy, less than half (45.7%) of the world's population currently live in a "hybrid" democracy, a significant drop from 2020 (49.4%). Even fewer (6.4%) live in "full democracy", as this level is slightly lower than 6.8% in 2020 after two countries (Chile and Spain) were downgraded to "flawed democracies". Virtually more than a third of the world's population (37.1%) live under authoritarian rule, with a large share being in China.
In the Economist's 2021 Democracy Index, 74 of the 167 countries and territories covered by the survey, or 44.3% of the total, are considered democracies. The number of "full democracies" decreased to 21 in 2021, from 23 in 2020. The number of "flawed democracies" increased by one, to 53. Of the remaining 93 countries in the Economist index, 59 are "authoritarian regimes", from 57 in 2020 and 34 are classified as "hybrid regimes", down from 35 in 2020.
With information from The Economist.
