According to the Democracy Index released by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) released on 31st January 2018, Mauritius ranks 16th out of 167 countries worldwide, and 1st in Africa.

Thus, Mauritius gains two ranks this year compared to the previous year, when the country ranked 18th worldwide, 1st in Africa.

On a scale of 1-10, Mauritius scored an average of 8.22. Mauritius’ scores in the individual criteria are as follows: electoral process and pluralism (9.17), functioning of Government (8.21), political participation (5.56), political culture (8.75) and civil liberties (9.4).

It is to be noted that countries having scored above 8 points, which includes Mauritius, are classified as ‘full’ democracies and only 19 countries worldwide (representing 5% of the world population) fall into this category. Mauritius is also the only country in Africa to have entered this category and the country has made giant progress ahead of countries such Spain, the United States and Italy in terms of democracy.

On top of the index list at a global level are the Scandinavian countries, with Norway in the first place with a score of 9.87, followed by Iceland and Sweden. The United States, on its part, has been ranked as “flawed democracy", next to Japan and Italy.

The full Democracy Index report of the Economic Intelligence Unit can be accessed here