Most democratic: Costa Rica

Costa Rica is the most democratic country in Latin America, having improved in areas such as institutional quality, political efficiency, effective power to govern, and social and human development, with an increase of 18% in its point total over 2011, according to the Democratic Development Index 2012, published by the Konrad Adenauer Foundation of Germany.

Next on the list are Chile and Uruguay, while Venezuela was in last place.

The Index, which covers 18 countries, uses indicators such as political rights and civil liberties (figures in parentheses corresponds to each country’s position in the ranking).

Costa Rica (1)
Panama (4)
El Salvador (9)
Honduras (12)
Guatemala (14)
NIcaragua (16)