Economist survey shows democracy in Greece improved in 2022
The quality of democracy in Greece recovered in 2022 after a decade of decline due the economic crisis, and despite the recent wiretapping case, according to the annual report of the Economist Intelligence Unit based on the Democracy Index.
The report divides states into full democracies, flawed democracies, hybrid regimes, and authoritarian regimes. Greece remains in the “flawed democracies” category, but its score for 2022 rose to 7.97 (with a perfect score of 10) from 7.56 in 2021.
It was the best performance for Greece since 2010, when it scored 7.92. Greece moved up nine places to 25th in the world (and 15th in Western Europe behind France [8.07] and Great Britain [8.28]).
At the opposite end of the scale is Turkey (4.35).
The survey rates the state of democracy on the basis of electoral process and pluralism, the functioning of government, political participation, democratic political culture and civil liberties.
On the downside, the survey also noted there is evidence to suggest that journalists are not free to investigate, with significant censorship of issues related to the police, the military and the Church.
Journalists are also sometimes treated with threats and violence.
