Global democracy showed signs of stabilising in 2025, challenging the view that it remains in uninterrupted retreat.

That is according to the latest Democracy Index from the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), the research arm of the British newspaper, The Economist, which tracks the state of democracy in 167 countries each year.

The index scores countries out of 10, across electoral process, functioning of government, civil liberties, and political participation. It then places them into four categories. Countries scoring above eight are classified as full democracies, those between six and eight as flawed democracies, those between four and six as hybrid regimes, and those below four as authoritarian regimes.

The EIU said the global average score rose by 0.02 points in 2025 to 5.19, from 5.17 in 2024, making it one of the strongest annual improvements since 2012.

South Africa ranked 41st and remained a flawed democracy, with a score of 7.16, unchanged from 2024. It had the third-highest score in Africa, behind Mauritius and Botswana.

The highest-ranked democracies in the world were Norway, New Zealand, Denmark, Iceland, and Finland. At the bottom of the index were Guinea-Bissau, Central African Republic, North Korea, Myanmar, and Afghanistan.

Among major democracies, the United States (US) recorded one of the sharpest declines, with its score falling from 7.85 in 2024 to 7.65 in 2025. The Economist said, “Efforts to redraw electoral boundaries, the use of the military to quell protests and continued political polarisation weighed on America’s score. The Department of Government Efficiency disrupted the functioning of government, and attempts to muzzle the media hit civil liberties.”

While many observers may be tempted to think that the fall in the US ranking relates to the tenure of President Donald Trump, that would not be correct, and The Economist in fact dropped the US out of the ranks of full democracies during the presidency of Barack Obama.

Constance Hunter, the EIU’s chief economist, said the latest results offered the first credible sign in nearly a decade that the democratic recession may be pausing. She described the US as a major negative outlier and said that, if it were excluded, the wider picture looked notably stronger, with more than 85% of full and flawed democracies either holding steady or improving.

Hunter also pointed to encouraging developments elsewhere. Latin America ended nine consecutive years of regional decline, with more than half of the countries in the region improving, helped by Bolivia’s first free and fair elections in nearly 20 years. In the hybrid regime category, Kenya, Nepal, and Madagascar improved after youth-led protests forced political change.

She said, “The data show the first credible indication that the downward trajectory of recent years has lost momentum. The question for policymakers and businesses alike is whether this pause marks a genuine inflection point, or merely an interlude.”

Hunter also warned that rising political participation on its own is not enough. She said, “[W]hile political participation is a positive sign, it is important to remember that participation without reform is combustible. For business leaders, this is not abstract. Institutional strength determines regulatory predictability, policy coherence and the likely return on capital. In the least democratic countries, hybrid and authoritarian regimes, political shocks are more likely to translate into abrupt regulatory change, operational disruption and capital risk.”

Overall, the latest index suggests that the long downward drift in global democracy may be slowing. Whether this proves to be a real turning point, or merely a pause, remains to be seen.