The police are monitoring compliance with the curfew in Nice, January 30, 2021. -

SYSPEO / SIPA

In 2020, democratic freedoms have taken a big hit.

In nearly 70% of the countries of the world, they have ebbed, because of the restrictions caused by the fight against the pandemic, according to a study by the British group

The Economist

published Wednesday.

"The coronavirus pandemic has caused a huge decline in democratic freedoms, driving the average score of the index to an all-time low", according to this study published by the research unit of the British weekly.

The phenomenon is global, particularly marked in autocratic regimes in Africa or the Middle East, but the "suppression of individual freedoms in advanced democracies was the most striking fact of 2020", notes the study.

France, "failing democracy"

“The voluntary surrender of fundamental freedoms by millions of people was perhaps one of the most remarkable occurrences of this extraordinary year (…) but we cannot conclude that the high level of acceptance of the containment measures means that people devalue freedom, ”commented Joan Hoey, head of the study.

“They simply judged, on the basis of the evidence (…), that avoiding catastrophic deaths justified a temporary loss of freedom,” she said.

France comes in 24th place out of 167 countries.

It is thus relegated to the category of "failing democracies", with a democracy index standing at 7.99 out of 10, against 8.12 last year.

Belgium is also in this category with a score of 7.51.

For researchers from the British group, France has lost points due to "restrictions on freedom of movement" through "several lockdowns and national curfews", they write in their report.

The worst average in 15 years

Above 8, countries are considered “full democracies”.

This category includes the top 23 countries, the first being Norway with an index of 9.81.

Switzerland or Canada are included.

In the last decade, France had appeared twice in this group: in 2019 and in 2014.

The democracy index is calculated annually by the research unit of the British group

The Economist

.

It is calculated in base 10 according to 60 criteria, grouped into five evaluation categories: electoral process and pluralism, civil liberties, functioning of government, political participation and political culture.

With a world result of 5.37, it is "the worst world average since the index was created in 2006".

The biggest drop concerns Mali, while Taiwan records the biggest increase.

The lowest-ranked country in 2020 is North Korea, with a Democracy Index of 1.08, ranked among “authoritarian regimes”.

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