Global democracy index: Philippines slightly improves to 52nd

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippines slightly improved in its ranking but remains classified as a “flawed democracy” in the Democracy Index 2022 released yesterday by London-based think tank The Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU).

From 54th in 2021, the country improved to 52nd out of 167 countries and territories included in the annual index. It ranked 55th in 2020, 54th in 2019, 53rd in 2018 and 51st in 2017.

EIU’s Democracy Index measures the state of global democracy based on the ratings for 60 indicators grouped in the five categories: electoral process and pluralism, functioning of government, political participation, political culture and civil liberties.

It classifies countries into four regime types, namely full democracy, flawed democracy, hybrid regimes and authoritarian regimes.

Based on the latest report, the Philippines remains a “flawed democracy,” defined as countries that have free and fair elections and where basic civil liberties are respected, although there are significant weaknesses in some aspects of democracy, including governance, political culture and participation.

According to EIU, the Philippines scored a total of 6.73 out of the highest possible score of 10 in 2022, slightly up from 6.62 the year previous.

Among the indicators used, the country still scored highest in electoral process and pluralism (9.17), followed by political participation (7.78), civil liberties (7.35), functioning of government (5.0) and political culture (4.38).

The Philippines ranked ninth among countries and territories in Asia and Australasia, overtaking Indonesia.

Globally, Norway remained on top spot with a score of 9.81,followed by New Zealand (9.61), Iceland (9.52), Sweden (9.39), Finland (9.29), Denmark (9.28), Switzerland (9.14), Ireland (9.13), Netherlands (9.0) and Taiwan (8.99).

Afghanistan remained at the bottom of the list with a score of 0.32, followed by Myanmar (0.74), North Korea (1.08), Central African Republic (1.35), Syria (1.43), Democratic Republic of Congo (1.48), Turkmenistan (1.66), Chad (1.67), Laos (1.77) and Equatorial Guinea (1.92).

The latest index found that the number of “full democracies” increased from 21 to 24, while “flawed democracies” fell from 53 to 48.

“Hybrid regimes” increased from 34 to 36, while “authoritarian regimes” remained at 59.

Among those that changed categories were Chile, Spain and France (from flawed to democracies) and Papua New Guinea and Peru (from flawed democracies to hybrid regimes).

Meanwhile, four countries improved their category: Moldova, Montenegro and North Macedonia (from hybrid regimes to flawed democracies) and Mauritania (from authoritarian to hybrid).

The latest index focused on the impact of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on the global democracy. Russia was tagged as the worst performer, dropping 22 spots to 146th.

“There can be no democracy without sovereignty. Without having full control of its territory and borders, there is no hope of freedom in Ukraine. Anybody who believes in democracy should be backing Ukraine’s fight for self-determination,” said Joan Hoey, editor of the Democracy Index report.

“Understandably, all eyes are on Ukraine and its fight for self-determination. However, the Asia region is also subject to conflicting territorial claims and geopolitical flashpoints. The challenge for countries in the region is how to navigate old and new threats to sovereignty and maintain a resilient democracy in the long term,” she added.