In the category of “full democracy” for the first time since 2008, the “Economist” magazine upgraded Greece in the annual report “Democracy Index” for 2023bringing our country one category above the United States and European Union member states such as Italy, Belgium and Portugal, which are considered as “flawed democracies”.

Greece was rated 8.14 out of 10, ranking 20th out of a total of 167 countries and regions examined by the Economist’s Intelligence Unit. “The birthplace of democracy has reason to celebrate,” the report states.

Our country was one of the few democracies that improved their grade compared to 2022, by 0.17 points. It even scored a perfect 10 in the election and pluralism sub-category, an achievement shared by only a dozen other countries, and an 8.82 in the civil liberties sub-category.

In practice this means that Greece belongs to a particularly small category of countries that have the best democratic performance, as less than 8% of the population of the countries assessed live in a “full democracy”. In contrast, almost 40% reside in countries that have authoritarian regimes.

Greece’s performance for 2023 is the best since the “Democracy Index”, 18 years ago. The worst ratings of our country, between 7.23 and 7.29, were recorded during the SYRIZA-ANEL government, in the three years between 2016 and 2018.

Greece’s upgrade gains even more value given that it comes at a time when democracy is under pressure worldwide, with the “Economist” noting that on all continents except Europe the readings are worse compared to 2022.

The average global score for 2023 was 5.23, the worst average level in the index’s history.

Western Europe, which includes Greece, remains the most democratic region in the world, with 71% of its countries considered “full democracies”. Turkey, which ranks among the “hybrid regimes”, is the tail in our region.

The Economist makes a special reference to the introduction of postal voting, highlighting in particular that Greeks in the diaspora are facilitated to vote at their place of residence, while previously they would have to travel to Greece on election day to exercise their right to vote.