NZ 5th on democracy index

The Economist has published their 2012 democracy index.

Our score out of a maximum 10 is 9.26. Norway is top on 9.93. North Korea bottom on 1.08.

25 countries are classified as full democracies, 54 as flawed democracies, 36 as hybrid regimes and 52 states as authoritarian.

In terms of the global population only 11.3% live in a full democracy compared to 37.1% who live in authoritarian regimes.

NZ scores are:

• Electoral process and pluralism 10.00
• Functioning of Government 9.29
• Political participation 8.89
• Political culture 8.13
• Civil liberties 10.00