With a score of 8.4 out of 10, Mauritius is first in Africa on the Democracy Index 2022. The country ranks 21st in the world. According to the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), the island is a complete democracy with the best score on the continent. To reach this conclusion, 5 criteria are considered, namely the electoral process and pluralism, the functioning of the government, political participation, political culture, and civil liberties.
In the latest edition of the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) Democracy Index, Mauritius was ranked among the 24 countries in the world considered as “full democracy” and is the only state to be classified as such in Africa. Much to the chagrin of the government’s political detractors who do everything to show that we are living in hell. Or those private sector hawks who hide behind so-called transparency agencies, become pseudo-environmentalists or social activists to promote their agendas.
The report, Democracy Index 2022: Frontline democracy and the battle for Ukraine, examined the state of democracy worldwide in 165 independent states in 2022. It is based on each country’s average score in five categories, namely electoral process and pluralism, government functioning, political participation, political culture, and civil liberties.
Countries that score more than 8 out of 10 are considered full democracies. States and territories scoring less than 10 points are classified accordingly as one of three other regime types: ‘flawed democracy’, ‘hybrid regime’ or ‘authoritarian regime’.
Overall, Mauritius ranked 21st and is among the 75 countries that managed to improve their score in 2022, reaching 8.14 points, up from 8.08 in 2021. The breakdown of Mauritius’ score is as follows: 9.17 points for electoral process and pluralism; 7.86 for government functioning; 6.11 for political participation; 8.75 for political culture; and 8.82 for civil liberties.
State of the World’s Democracy
The 2022 EIU Democracy Index estimated that there was stagnation at the global level, with the global average set at 5.29 (on a scale of 0-10), compared to 5.28 in 2021. The regional score for sub-Saharan Africa increased slightly to 4.14 from 4.12 in 2021. According to the index, 72 of the 165 countries and territories, or 43.1% of the total, can be considered democracies.
