Democratic freedoms curtailed by almost 70% globally in 2020 due to the restrictions imposed in the context of the fight against of a coronavirus pandemic, according to a survey by The Economist released today.
“The coronavirus pandemic has led to a major retreat in democratic freedoms,” stresses the research published by the British magazine's research team.
The phenomenon is global, but particularly acute in countries of the Africa or of Middle East with authoritarian regimes, but the survey underlines that “the most notable in 2020 was the restriction of individual freedoms in advanced democracies”.
“The voluntary surrender of fundamental freedoms by millions of people may be one of the most remarkable events of this unprecedented year (...) but we cannot conclude that the high rate of acceptance of restrictive measures means that citizens value freedom less,” commented Joan Hoey, the researcher in charge of the survey.
“They simply assessed, on the basis of the evidence (...) that the avoidance of deaths justified the temporary loss of liberty,” he added.
The countries with the most democratic freedoms are Norway, Iceland, Sweden, Iceland, New Zealand and Canada. At the opposite end of the ranking is North Korea, followed by the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Central African Republic, Syria and Chad.
Ο democracy index (democracy index) calculated each year by the Economist Intelligence Unit and is based on 60 criteria, which are divided into five categories: the electoral process and pluralism in politics, individual freedoms, the functioning of government, political participation and political culture.
