It is not easy to build a sturdy democracy. Even in long-established ones, democracy can corrode if not nurtured and protected.
The democracy index measures the state of democracy in 167 countries worldwide.
The index is based on 60 indicators grouped in five different categories:
- electoral process and pluralism,
- civil liberties,
- functioning of government,
- political participation,
- political culture.
In addition to a numeric score and a ranking, the index categorizes countries as on of four regime types full democracies, flawed democracies, hybrid regimes, and authoritarian regimes.
The index was first produced for 2006, with updates for 2008, 2010, 2011, 2012 and 2013. In the final rating, all the countries are classified by four categories: - Full democracy. - Insufficient democracy. - Hybrid regime. - Authoritarian regime.
Here are the top ten global democracies, as per December 2012:
1. Norway
2. Sweden
3. Iceland
4. Denmark
5. New Zealand
6. Australia
7. Switzerland
8. Canada
9. Finland
10. The Netherlands
All in all 25 countries are considered as full democracies, 54 — insufficient democracies. 37 states combine the elements of democracy and authoritarian rule (hybrid regime) and 51 countries are named as authoritarian regimes.
Nigeria ranks 120th, right between Kuwait (119) and Jordan (121), which is right at the beginning of the authoritarian regimes part of the list. Surely, there is a long way to go for improving the county's democracy, however, the good news is that we are just few positions away from the hybrid regimes group. So, in less then a year we will find out whether we join it, or go deeper to the authoritarian part.

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