2021 Global Democracy Index: Indonesia Still Rated Weak

The Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) has just released its latest World Democracy Index report.

According to the report, the country with the highest democracy index in 2021 was Norway. This makes Norway the "democracy champion" for two consecutive years, as it also received the same title last year.

Here are the top 10 countries with the highest democracy index in the world in 2021:

1. Norway: score 9.75
2. New Zealand: score 9.37
3. Finland: score 9.27
4. Sweden: score 9.26
5. Iceland: score 9.18
6. Denmark: score 9.09
7. Ireland: score 9.00
8. Taiwan: score 8.99
9. Australia: score 8.90
10. Switzerland: score 8.90

The EIU classifies countries into four regime categories: full democracy, flawed democracy, hybrid regime, and authoritarian regime.

The highest-scoring countries mentioned above are categorized as full democracies, namely countries with good government control systems, good judicial and law enforcement systems, good government performance, and diverse and independent mass media.

Indonesia's Democracy 'Flawed', Ranked 52nd in the World

In the EIU index, Indonesia ranks 52nd in the world with a score of 6.71. The EIU also classifies Indonesia as a country with flawed democracy.

According to the EIU, countries with flawed democracies generally have free and fair electoral systems and respect basic civil liberties.

However, countries in this "flawed" group still have fundamental problems such as low press freedom, an anti-criticism political culture, weak citizen political participation, and suboptimal government performance.

Despite still being classified as "flawed," Indonesia's democracy index has risen 12 places from the previous year, when it was ranked 64th in the world.

The EIU Democracy Index is calculated based on five indicators: electoral process and pluralism, government functioning, political participation, political culture, and civil liberties.

This index attempts to provide an overview of the state of democracy in 165 countries, covering almost the entire global population and most of the world's nation-states.

(See also: These 10 Countries Have the Fastest Mobile Internet, Indonesia Lags Far Behind)