Lithuania retains 39th place in global democracy index

Lithuania has been ranked 39th in the global democracy index for 2023 with a score of 7.31 out of 10, the Central Electoral Commission (VRK) said Wednesday. The country’s position was the same as a year before.

The annual Democracy Index measures the quality of the democracy in a country and is produced by the Economist Intelligence Unit.

In 2023, Lithuania’s electoral process and pluralism has remained stable, scoring 9.58 out of 10, according to the study. The same score has been given to Estonia, the Czech Republic, Latvia, Poland, Slovenia, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Poland.

Experts also gave a high score of 8.82 to civil liberties in Lithuania.

Lithuania scored less in the functioning of the government (6.43), political participation (6.11) and political culture (5.63).

As in the past, the index categorized Lithuania as a „flawed democracy“ in 2023.

The top ten countries with the highest total scores in the Democracy Index are Norway (9.81), New Zealand (9.61), Iceland (9.45), Sweden (9.39), Finland (9.30), Denmark (9.28), Ireland (9.19), Switzerland (9.14), the Netherlands (9) and Taiwan (8.92).

Among Lithuania’s neighbouring countries, Estonia secured the highest place (27th) with a score of 7.96. Latvia was ranked 38th with a score of 7.38 and Poland was 41st with a score of 7.18.

Russia was ranked 144th after scoring 2.22 and Belarus 151st (with a score of 1.99). Both are labelled as authoritarian regimes in the Democracy Index.