The overall state of democracy in the U.S. declined last year, according to an annual ranking released Wednesday by The Economist’s Intelligence Unit, which cited the continued erosion of confidence in the country’s institutions.
The United States maintained its place as the 25th most democratic nation, out of 167 countries analyzed, but remains in the “flawed democracy” category after being demoted from the “full democracy” group in 2016, said the report.
Norway was the highest ranked democracy, according to The Economist.
The report measures five main categories: electoral process and pluralism; civil liberties; the functioning of government; political participation; and political culture – and assign scores to each.
The overall U.S. score of 7.92 was lower than the previous year’s 7.96. Norway’s score was 9.81 in 2020.
“The overall performance of the United States is hampered by a number of weaknesses, including extremely low levels of confidence in institutions and political parties; deep dysfunction in the functioning of government; growing threats to freedom of expression; and a a certain degree of social polarization that makes consensus on any issue almost impossible to achieve, ”the report said.
The report cited the efforts of the former President Trump
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These efforts, according to the report, follow the growing trends of other countries “to challenge the outcome of elections and referendums and try to discredit the outcome by alleging external interference and giving credibility to conspiracy theories.”
The United States improved its score for political participation, however, as the coronavirus pandemic, racial justice movements, and other key events fueled a high level of turnout in the 2020 elections.
Beyond the U.S. findings, the report recorded the lowest average global democracy score since the index was first published in 2006. The Economist attributed the decline largely to “restrictions imposed.” by the government to individual liberties and civil liberties that occurred around the world in response to the Coronavirus pandemic. “
“Worldwide in 2020, citizens experienced the largest setback of individual freedoms ever assumed by governments during peace,” the report states. “Most people concluded, based on the evidence about a new deadly disease, that avoiding a catastrophic loss of life justified a temporary loss of liberty.”
As of Wednesday, COVID-19 has infected more than 104 million people worldwide, with approximately 2.2 million deaths as a result of the virus, according to data collected by Johns Hopkins University.