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Summary

Canada Just Ranked Among The Top Countries In The World For Having The Strongest Democracy

We beat out the U.S by a lot.
Contributor

Canada just ranked as one of the best countries in the world for its democracy.

In fact, our country upped its ranks from previous years too, according to The Economist Intelligence Unit's Democracy Index for 2020. 

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#5 Best country in the world for its democracy 

In the 13th edition of the Democracy Index, Canada came in at number five out of 165 independent states, along with two territories, for its full state of democracy. 

This is up from 2019 when Canada came in at number seven on the list.

According to the report, Canada was "the region’s top performer" in North America for its shift in rankings.

"There has been a reversal of fortunes in the region over the past five years, with Canada improving its standing and the US experiencing a decline," the report read.

The U.S. claimed the 25th ranking and was categorized as a "flawed democracy."

The rankings are based on five different categories including electoral process and pluralism, the functioning of government, political participation, political culture, and civil liberties.

However, 2020's ranking took a different turn as countries were mainly judged on how they behaved during the COVID-19 pandemic.

"It looks at how the pandemic resulted in the withdrawal of civil liberties on a massive scale and fuelled an existing trend of intolerance and censorship of dissenting opinion," the report read.

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    • Osobe Waberi was a Toronto-based Ethiopian-Somali Francophone writer at Narcity Canada. She graduated from the University of Toronto with a specialist degree in journalism and a news media diploma from Centennial College. Before Osobe’s gig as a national trending writer at Narcity, she worked at Toronto Star, The Canadian Press, VICE, and CBC.

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