YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 11, ARMENPRESS. The Economist Intelligence Unit, the research and analysis division of the Economist Group, published its Democracy Index 2021, which also has a data on Armenia.

In the report titled “The China Challenge”, Armenia, like in the past several years, is in the “hybrid regime”, however, with democracy index it is the highest among the countries of the region, passing Georgia, Turkey, Russia, Azerbaijan and Iran.

The Democracy Index is based on five categories: electoral process and pluralism, functioning of government, political participation, political culture, and civil liberties.

Based on its scores on a range of indicators within these categories, each country is then classified as one of four types of regime: “full democracy” (8-10 scores), “flawed democracy” (6-8 scores), “hybrid regime” (4-6 scores) or “authoritarian regime” (4 or lower score).

According to The Democracy Index 2021, Armenia improved its index of 2020 by 0.14 points and is currently ranked 89th with 5.49 score. Armenia’s score in 2020 was 5.35 and in 2019 – 5.54.

Among the regional countries, Georgia is the closest one to Armenia, with 5.12 score, and is ranked the 91st. Turkey is ranked 103rd with 4.35 score, Russia is 124th with 3.24 score, Azerbaijan – 141st, 2.68 score, and Iran – 155th, 1.95 score.

The leading countries are Norway (10 score), New Zealand (10 score) and Finland (10 score).

North Korea, Myanmar and Afghanistan have the worst scores in The Democracy Index 2021.