South Korea Ranks 22nd in World Democracy Index, Japan 16th, North Korea 165th

Last year, South Korea’s democracy index ranked 22nd out of 167 countries worldwide. This is a two-step rise from a year ago. Japan ranked higher than Korea at 16th, the United States at 29th, and North Korea at 165th.

According to the Democracy Index 2023 announced by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), a subsidiary economic analysis institute of the UK The Economist, on the 15th (local time), the ranking of Korea’s democracy index last year was two steps higher than a year ago (24th), recording 22nd.

The total score of Korea’s democracy index was 8.09 out of 10, 0.05 points higher than last year’s 8.03. Since 2006, the EIU has been calculating the score of the level of democratic development by evaluating five areas for 167 countries. Based on this, countries that exceed 8 points are classified as “full democracy,” over 6 points to less than 8 points as “flawed democracy,” over 4 points to less than 6 points as “hybrid regime,” and less than 4 points as “authoritarian regime.”

Korea scored 9.58 in the election process and pluralism, 8.57 in government function, 7.22 in political participation, 6.25 in political culture, and 8.82 in civil liberties. The remaining items were the same as the previous year, but the civil liberties item increased by 0.29 points.

Norway (9.81) ranked first, as it did last year. Norway has been in first place for 16 consecutive years since 2008. This was followed by New Zealand (9.61), Iceland (9.45), Sweden (9.39), Finland (9.30), Denmark (9.28), Ireland (9.19), Switzerland (9.14), and the Netherlands (9.00).

Among the Asian countries, Taiwan (8.92) was the highest at 10th, and Japan (8.40) maintained the same 16th place as last year.

The United States scored 7.85, ranking 29th, one step higher than last year, but it was classified as a flawed democracy for eight consecutive years. North Korea (1.08) maintained the same rank as last year, 165th, the third from the bottom. Among the 167 countries surveyed, the countries ranked lower than North Korea were Myanmar (166th, 0.85) and Afghanistan (167th, 0.26).