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Democracy's global recession continues

Shanghai skyline at night
The Economist's report says that a large share of those living under autocratic rule are in China. Photo: Artur Widak / NurPhoto via Getty Images

"A decade has passed since Larry Diamond, a political scientist at Stanford University, put forward the idea of a global 'democratic recession.' The tenth edition of the Economist Intelligence Unit’s Democracy Index suggests that this unwelcome trend remains firmly in place," The Economist writes.

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  • "[L]ess than 5% of the world’s population currently lives in a 'full democracy.' Nearly a third live under authoritarian rule, with a large share of those in China."
  • "89 of the 167 countries assessed in 2017 received lower scores than they had the year before."
  • "Norway remains the most democratic country in the ranking, a position it has held since 2010, and western Europe accounts for 14 of the 19 'full democracies' that make up the ranking’s top tier."
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