According to the Democracy Index of 2010, compiled every year by the Economist, Iceland is in second place as the most democratic country in the world.
While Norway tops the list, Iceland follows close behind, followed by Denmark, Sweden and New Zealand. The five least democratic countries in the world are Myanmar, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Chad and North Korea.
One a scale of one to ten in the areas of electoral process and pluralism, functioning of government, political participation, political culture and civil liberties, Iceland scored at least an 8.89 in all areas. Its weakest area was in political participation, possibly influenced by low voter turn-outs.
In a general sense, the report notes overall “a decline in democracy across the world’s regions since 2008. The economic and financial crisis boosted some authoritarian regimes and accentuated existing negative political trends, most notably in Europe, both east and west.”
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