The latest democracy index published by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) of The Economist, paints a sorry picture of the condition of global democracy. The report says that democracy is in worse shape than at any point in the index’s nearly two-decade history which started ranking in 2006. It has scored 167 countries and territories on a scale of zero to ten.

For the 16th consecutive year, Norway has been declared the world’s most democratic country, scoring 9.81 points, followed by New Zealand and Sweden.

South Asian countries like Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan fared very poorly in EIU’s Democracy Index 2024 and the ranking of these countries has declined showing that democratic values ​​are facing serious challenges here.

Apart from the three Indian Neighbours, the report puts other Asian countries like Myanmar (166), North Korea (165), China (145), Laos (160), Vietnam (133) etc on a very low pedestal of the Index ranking with Afghanistan remaining at the bottom of the index, securing only 0.25 points.

Afghanistan has been ranking low since 2021 as the democratic processes have virtually collapsed under Taliban rule. Suppression of civil rights, restrictions on women’s education and participation in the workplace, and the lack of free media have made it one of the least democratic countries in the world.

Meanwhile, Pakistan’s ranking in the index has fallen by six places in the EIU’s ranking........

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