Ghana’s democracy is classified as being in need of improvement in the most recent edition of the Economic Intelligence Unit’s (EIU) democracy index study.
A maximum score of 10 was allowed for the survey, which was based on five different measurements. The evaluation factored in the democratic political culture, civil freedoms, political engagement, pluralism in the electoral process, and government operation.
Elections are fair and free, and fundamental civil liberties are upheld, although there may be problems with flawed democracies (e.g. media freedom infringement and minor suppression of political opposition and critics). These countries may have serious flaws in other democratic features, such as a weak political culture, low levels of political involvement, and problems with how the government operates.
DEMOCRACY INDEX SCORE
The report indicated that Ghana scored 6.43 out of 10 which is a 0.07 decrease from the previous 6.5 in 2021. The score according to the report shows that Ghana’s democracy is a flawed one since the score falls within that category.
Ghana’s democracy index has been on a downward trajectory in the last 6 years and has been in the flawed region since 2010.
Ghana however, ranked 4th in Africa and 63rd in the world for the global democracy index. It came behind Botswana (1st), South Africa (2nd), and Namibia (3rd) who scored 7.73, 7.5 and 6.52 respectively.
Global Democracy
The global score increased by 0.01 from 2021 to 5.39 in out of 10 in 2022. According to the report this represents stagnation rather than a reversal of the democratic recession that began in 2016.
The report finds that almost half (45.3%) of the world’s population live in a democracy, while more than a third (36.9%) live under authoritarian rule. The survey rates the state of democracy across 167 countries.
The global score, however, has been on a downward stream and some of the accounts can be attributed to the widespread suppression of individual liberties during the covid-19 outbreak for protection. This was seen in the significant fall in the global score in 2020 and 2021.
