The map above shows how democratic they feel their government and country to be.
The data comes from the Democracy Perception Index, and is not an objective measure of democracy but a subjective measure of how democratic they perceive their country as being.
Only about half the world (58%) says their country is democratic. Greece is considered the least democratic by its people (43%) out of all countries labeled as “free” democracies by Freedom House.
Most Democratic:
Least Democratic:
And here’s how important democracy is as being:
And here’s how Freedom House defines countries:
Returning to the Democracy Perception Index, “Across the 53 countries surveyed, 40% of people say there is “not enough democracy” in their country, while 46% say there is the “right amount” and only 13% say there is “too much”.”
The feeling that there is “not enough democracy” is highest in Latin America (55%), then Europe (43%), and lowest in Asia (29%).
This ties into how accountable people feel their government is.
Below is a map which shows how many people think their government works for a majority people or only for a “small group of people” (minority).
The countries where people report the highest levels of government accountability – in other words, where the fewest say that their government serves only a minority of people – include a mix of un-democratic countries in Asia (China 9%, Vietnam 17% and Singapore 22%) as well as some of the most robust European social democracies (Switzerland 26%, Norway 27% and Denmark 32%).
Biggest Threat to Democracy
Finally, here’s the biggest perceived threat to democracy in each democratic country around the world.
What do you think? Is your country democratic? And what are the biggest threats it’s facing?
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