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Korea ranked 17th in liberal democracy, tops in Asia
Source
KOREA.net
Date
2022.12.14

Korea ranks 17th worldwide in the liberal democracy index, according to the latest rankings released on July 19 by the global statistics website Our World in Data. (Screen capture from Our World in Data)

Korea ranks 17th worldwide in the liberal democracy index, according to the latest rankings released on July 19 by the global statistics website Our World in Data. (Screen capture from Our World in Data)



Korea is ranked 17th worldwide in the liberal democracy index.

According to the index's map released on July 19 by the U.K.-based global statistics website Our World in Data, the country was 17th last year among 177 countries with an index of 0.789. Korea thus topped Asia on the list as Japan was second in the region at 27th with 0.736.

Sweden topped the global rankings with 0.878, followed by Denmark (0.877) and Norway (0.86).

The map presents the index of liberal democracy through colors, with a darker-colored country being more democratic. Based on eight related types of data including the V-Dem (Varieties of Democracy) index of the Sweden-based University of Gothenburg, the figure reflects liberty of elections, fairness and freedom of speech.

Quoting the institute, the website said, "In the 1990s especially, democratic institutions expanded across the world," adding, "A considerable number of countries in Africa became fairly democratic (such as Ghana and Senegal) or largely democratic (like Botswana) in the decades after gaining independence."

"And while many countries in Asia and the Middle East remained decidedly undemocratic, some countries in these regions expanded democratic rights, such as India, Indonesia, Turkey, and South Korea."

Calling liberal democracy "an even more recent achievement," the site classified liberal democracies by age group to reflect how long they have been democratic. Chile, Estonia and Korea were deemed "democracies the age of children or young adults," Costa Rica, Israel and the U.S. "middle-aged democracies," and France, Germany and Japan "democracies the age of senior citizens."


By Yoon Sojung
arete@korea.kr