In 2023, Switzerland slipped one place in the EIU democracy ranking to eight place behind Norway, New Zealand, Iceland, Sweden, Finland, Denmark and Ireland.
Overall, only 24 (14%) out of the 167 nations surveyed were classified as full democracies. The relatively small populations of these flag bearers of democracy means only 8% of the global population lives in a fully functioning democracy. Nearly 55% of the world lives under authoritarian or hybrid rule, which includes large nations such as China and Russia and nearly all of the Middle East and much of Africa. A further 38% of the global population lives in a flawed democracy, most notably the US, India, South Africa and most of Latin America.
Switzerland didn’t backslide in 2023. It’s score of 9.14 out of 10 remained the same as 2022. It’s ranking fell due to improvements made by Ireland – it jumped from a score of 9.13 to 9.19 placing it ahead of Switzerland.
As in previous years, Switzerland’s weakness was participation. On this measure it only scores 8.33 out of a possible 10. This includes measures such a voter participation rates, which are often quite low in Switzerland. This might reflect voter overload. Swiss are typically called to vote on various proposals four times a year in addition to periodic cantonal and federal government elections. It might also reflect a degree of complacency born from how smoothly and predictably the nation operates. But these are guesses.
More on this:
EIU report (in English)
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