Costa Rica is most democratic

Though characterized as a “flawed democracy”, Costa Rica is first in the Isthmus and second in Latin America in the 2017 Democracy Index of The Economist Intelligence Unit.

Globally, Costa Rica ranked 23rd.

Panama and El Salvador, in 45th and 65th place, respectively, are also flawed democracies, while Honduras, Nicaragua and Guatemala are considered hybrid regimes.

In Latin America, only Uruguay quailifies as a “complete democracy”.

Norway placed first among 167 countries, while North Korea is last.

Electoral process, pluralism, government functions, political culture and civil liberties were analyzed to make the list (numbers in brackets indicate the global position of each country).

1 Costa Rica (23)

2 Panama (45)

3 El Salvador (65)

4 Guatemala (80)

5 Honduras (82)

6 Nicaragua (105)