According to the Varieties of Democracy (V-Dem) survey, India ranks between Niger (better) and Ivory Coast (worse), with the country in the bottom 40–50% of the 179 countries examined.
It criticizes the severe autocratization that began in 2013 and ranks India among the top 10 autocratisers of recent years, tearing down democracy to the extent that it existed in 1975. Additionally, “about half of the population living in autocratising countries” is Indian. It states that India has “dropped down to electoral autocracy in 2018” and is still referred to as such.
A “wave of autocratization is observable globally, Autocratisation is ongoing in “42 countries, home to 2.8 billion people, or 35% of the world’s population. India, with 18% of the world’s population, accounts for about half of the population living in autocratising countries.”
According to the paper, “the level of liberal democracy enjoyed by the average human in the (South Asia) region is now down to levels last seen in 1975 – almost half a century ago. That was when the Vietnam War ended and when Indira Gandhi declared a state of emergency in India.” According to the population-weighted measure, autocracy is in place for India’s 1.4 billion people.
India is listed in the report as “one of the worst autocratisers lately.”
Based on the 71 indicators that make up the Electoral Democracy Index (EDI) and the Liberal Component Index (LCI), the V-Dem Liberal Democracy Index (LDI) “captures both liberal and electoral aspects of democracy.” With a score of.28, India is ranked 104th, and this is poorer than it was the previous time. In this perspective, Pakistan ranks 119th with a .21 score.
