The Economist Intelligence Unit’s (EIU) Democracy Index 2023, released this evening, ranks Mauritius at the 20th place with an overall index score of 8.14. As per the Democracy Index, Mauritius remains the only African country classed as “full democracy”.

The country moves one rank up compared to last year in this edition of the Democracy Index which examines the state of global democracy in 2023 and provides a snapshot of the state of democracy in 165 independent states and two territories.

The title of this year’s Democracy Index report is Age of Conflict. According to the EIU’s measure of democracy, almost half of the world’s population, that is 74 of the 167 countries and territories, live in a democracy of some sort. However, only 7.8% reside in a “full democracy” and the percentage has gone down from 8.9% in 2015. This percentage fell after the United States was demoted from a “full democracy” to a “flawed democracy” in 2016. The number of “flawed democracies” increased from 48 in 2022 to 50 in 2023.

The 2023 Democracy Index highlights that more than one-third of the world’s population, that is 39.4%, live under authoritarian rule, a share that has been creeping up in recent years. Of the remaining 95 countries in the index, 34 are classified as “hybrid regimes”, combining elements of formal democracy and authoritarianism, and 59 are classified as “authoritarian regimes”.