As the 2012 election season comes into full swing, it’s a good time to reflect on the state of democracy in America. How well do you think this country scored on the Democracy Index?
Answer: Not great.
The Democracy Index is an index compiled by the Economist Intelligence Unit that measures democracy in 167 countries around the world. It is based on indicators in the categories of electoral process and pluralism, civil liberties, functioning of government, political participation and political culture.
The highest score, 9.80 out of 10, went to Norway. Next was Iceland with 9.65, then Denmark with 9.52, Sweden with 9.50, and New Zealand was 5th on the list with a score of 9.26.
The United States was 17th on the list, with a score of 8.16.
We also checked out some other countries represented by the Humantific team:
Canada was 8th (score: 9.08), Spain was 25th (score: 8.02), and Italy was 31st (score: 7.74).
Who scored the worst? You guessed it: North Korea, with a score of 1.08.
VisBit 9: Mobile Phones per Capita
VisBit 8: Life Expectancy
VisBit 7: Education and Earnings
Source: Democracy Index 2011 Rankings
