Democracy index: Phl ranking goes down again

Still classified as a “flawed democracy,” the Philippines has scored and ranked lower in the 2023 Democracy Index released by Londonbased think tank The Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) on Thursday.

- JANVIC MATEO

From 52nd in 2022, the Philippines dropped to 53rd out of 167 countries and territories included in the annual index, which measures the state of democracy across the world.

The Philippines ranked 54th in 2021, 55th in 2020, 54th in 2019, 53rd in 2018 and 51st in 2017.

EIU's Democracy Index is based on the ratings for 60 indicators grouped in the five categories: electoral process and pluralism, functioning of government, political participation, political culture and civil liberties.

It classifies countries into four regime types: full democracy, flawed democracy, hybrid regimes and authoritarian regimes.

Like in previous years, the Philippines remains a "flawed democracy," defined as countries that have free and fair elections and where basic civil liberties are respected, although there are significant weaknesses in some aspects of democracy, including governance, political culture and participation.