Canada Is Ranked The 6th Freest Country In The World
International love for Canada continues to show in 2017. A recent ranking has put Canada in the top ten for having one of the freest democracies in the world.
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The Economist Intelligence Unit examined the state of democracy in 165 countries and ranked them based on a Democracy Index for 2016 . The index based the rankings on five main categories: 1) electoral process and pluralism, 2) civil liberties, 3) functioning of government, 4) political participation, and 5) political culture.
Based on each country's score within these categories, they are classified within four types of regime: 1) full democracy, 2) flawed democracy, 3) hybrid regime and 4) authoritarian regime.
Canada received a score of 9.15 out of 10, which landed it in the 6th spot overall. This is Canada's highest ranking yet, having previously stayed at a consistent ranking of 9.08.
Here are the top 10 freest democracies in the world:
1. Norway
2. Iceland
3. Sweden
4. New Zealand
5. Denmark
6. Canada
7. Ireland
8. Switzerland
9. Finland
10. Australia
In contrast to Canada's high rankings, the USA fell rather short, landing below Japan in the 21st spot. This is the first year that the USA has been classified within the "flawed democracy" regime, and such is said to be a result of a persistent deterioration of the people's trust in government.
You can download the full report here .
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