The health of global democracy is regressing to Cold War-era levels. For the average global citizen, democracy is now back where it was in 1978, according to new research assessing more than 200 countries.
The 10th edition of the V-Dem report, released today, shows the level of democracy for the average citizen in Western Europe and North America is at its lowest level in more than 50 years, primarily because the United States is becoming more autocratic.
In fact, under the metrics used in this report, the US is no longer considered a liberal democracy. It’s instead been demoted to an “electoral democracy”.
