Where Does Canada Rank Among The World Democracies?

According to The Democracy Index, Canada ranks 12 among democratic nations

Canada has one of the most robust democracies in the world, according to the annual rankings. As it has done since the first Democracy Index edition in 2006, Canada ranks as North America’s best democracy. The Index categorizes Canada as a full democracy, one of 20 countries that achieve this distinction. 

The annual rankings offer snapshots of democracy status across the globe, spanning 165 independent states and two territories. To produce its democracy index, The Economist Intelligence Unit has a scoring system whereby a variety of experts are asked to answer 60 questions and assign a number for each response, with the weighted average driving ranking. As described in the report, The Democracy Index. It is a weighted average based on 60 indicators clustered into five distinct categories, measuring electoral process and pluralism, civil liberties, functioning of government, political participation, and political culture. 

The lower two categories in the democracy index are reserved for countries which score poorly to qualify as democracies.

A new report by The Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), The Democracy Index, attempts to rank countries according to how close they are to democratic ideals. The Economist published its annual Democracy Index for 2021, ranking countries worldwide according to the degree of democracy in their governments. 

Canada’s 2021 Ranking out of 10

• Electoral process and pluralism – 10
• Civil liberties – 9.12
• Functioning of government – 8.21
• Political participation – 8.89
• Political culture – 8.13

Based on the rankings, Canada ranks 12 worldwide for democratic governments.

Ranking ahead of Canada in the democracy index, from first place to fifth, are Norway, Iceland, Sweden, New Zealand, and Denmark. North America (Canada and United States) was the highest-ranking region on the Democracy Index, at 8.36 points, but that had fallen substantially since the score of 8.58 in 2020.

The new report ranks countries one through 10, with an average score for the world falling to 5.37, compared with 5.44 – the worst average globally since the Index began. The report’s lowered rating of Canada was affected by that nation’s results in a World Values Survey in 2017-20, conducted last summer. Of the two countries, 74 (44%) saw a decrease in democracy scores.

Nearly 70% of countries recorded a decrease in their overall democracy score. Almost 70 percent of countries covered by the Democracy Index recorded a decline in their total scores, as a majority imposed lockdowns in response to the COVID-19 pandemic and the arrests of journalists and citizens accused of spreading misinformation about COVID-19. COVID-19 appears to have had the most substantial effect on Canada’s Democracy Score, according to the report.