In the latest edition of the Economist Intelligence Unit’s (EIU) Democracy Index, Mauritius was ranked among the 24 countries in the world considered as ‘full democracy’ and is the sole State to be classified as such in Africa.
The report, entitled Democracy Index 2022: Frontline democracy and the battle for Ukraine, examined the state of democracy across the world in 165 independent states in 2022. It is based on the average count obtained by each country in five categories, namely electoral process and pluralism, functioning of government, political participation, political culture, and civil liberties. Countries scoring more than 8 points out of 10 are classified as full democracies. States and territories recording less than 10 points are classed accordingly as one of the three other types of regime: ‘flawed democracy’, ‘hybrid regime’, or ‘authoritarian regime’.
Overall, Mauritius ranked 21 and featured among the 75 countries that managed to improve their result in 2022, attaining 8.14 points, compared to 8.08 in 2021. The breakdown of the score of Mauritius is as follows: 9.17 points regarding electoral process and pluralism; 7.86 concerning functioning of government; 6.11 as regards political participation; 8.75 for political culture; and 8.82 pertaining to civil liberties.
Democratic situation worldwide
The EIU Democracy Index 2022 deemed that there was a stagnation worldwide with the global average score set at 5.29 (on a 0-10 scale), in comparison with 5.28 in 2021. The regional score for Sub-Saharan Africa slightly increased to 4.14, compared to 4.12 in 2021. According to the Index, 72 of the 165 countries and territories, that is 43.1% of the total, can be considered to be democracies.
