TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Taiwan was ranked as the top "fully democratic" country in Asia and No. 10 in the world, according to the annual Democracy Index published by The Economist Intelligence Business Unit (EIU) on Thursday (Feb. 15).
In its "Democracy Index 2023: Age of Conflict," the EIU listed Taiwan as 10th out of 165 countries and two territories. In Asia, Taiwan came in first, ahead of South Korea and Japan, which were ranked 16th and 22nd, respectively.
The index ranks countries based on five criteria: electoral process and pluralism, civil liberties, the functioning of government, political participation, and political culture. The ranking operates on a scale of zero to ten, with countries receiving a score of eight or higher designated “full democracies.”
With an overall score of 8.92, Taiwan was one of 24 countries that received the "full democracy" designation. Chile, the Czech Republic, Israel, the U.S., Portugal, Italy, and Belgium were among notable nations deemed a "flawed democracy."
Taiwan received a 10 out of 10 for its electoral process and pluralism, matching its score in 2022, and was given a 9.29 for the functioning of government and 9.41 for civil liberties. It was given an 8.13 for political culture and 7.78 for political participation.
For Asia and Australasia, the report listed five "full democracies," including Taiwan, Japan, South Korea, Australia, and New Zealand. However, the overall score for Asia dropped from 5.46 in 2022 to 5.41 in 2023 with 15 of the 28 nations seeing a decline in scores and only eight showing an improvement.
The report said last year was "not an auspicious one for democracy" with the global average index score dropping from 5.29 in 2022 to 5.23 in 2023. It asserted that this follows a trend of regression and stagnation in recent years generating the worst score since the index was first published in 2006.
Much of the backslide has taken place in non-democracies categorized as "hybrid regimes" and "authoritarian regimes," with the former falling by 0.12 points since 2022 and the latter dipping by 0.07. "Full democracies" and "flawed democracies" saw lesser declines of 0.01 and 0.03 points, respectively.
Taiwan ranked 10th among "full democracies." (EIU screenshot)