According to a study, democracy is in decline worldwide, the Economist index shows. The increasing occurrence of violent conflict has severely affected the global value of democracy.
Two European states and New Zealand shine in the ranking for democratic development. North Korea, Myanmar and Afghanistan were at the bottom of the list. The study scored five categories from 1 to 10: electoral processes and pluralism, functioning of government, political participation, political culture and civil liberties. The global average value fell from 5.29 in the previous year to a low of 5.23 points.