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Costa Rica is most democratic

Monday 20 March, 2017


Costa Rica, which two years ago passed from “full democracy” to “flawed democracy”, as its point total fell slightly from 7.96 to 7.88, tops Central American countries in the 2016 Democracy Index of The Economist Intelligence Unit.

Panama is in second place in the region, while last-place Nicaragua, as well as Honduras and Guatemala, are considered as “hybrid regimes”, where poor processes devalue elections.

Norway tops the list of 167 nations with a 9.64 score, while North Korea - considered an authoritarian regime is last with 1,8 points.

Electoral process and pluralism, civil liberties, government functioning, political participation and political culture, are some of the criteria used in the ranking, based on each country’s points.

1            Costa Rica
2            Panama
3            El Salvador
4            Honduras
5            Guatemala
6            Nicaragua