Batanai Matsika 
THE Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) recently published its 2020 Democracy Index Report titled, In sickness and in health?. The report has interesting insights given that it provides a snapshot of the state of democracy worldwide in 165 independent states.
This covers almost the entire population of the world and most territories. The index is based on five categories; electoral process and pluralism, the functioning of government, political participation, political culture, and civil liberties. Based on its scores on a range of indicators within these categories, each country is then classified as one of four types of regime: “full democracy”, “flawed democracy”, “hybrid regime” or “authoritarian regime.
The focus of the 2020 report was to assess the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on democracy and freedom around the world. According to report, only 49,4 percent of the world’s population live in a democracy of some sort while 8,4 percent reside in a “full democracy”. More than one-third of the world’s population live under authoritarian rule, with a large share being in China.
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