Belgium has been labelled a “failing democracy” in the latest Democracy Index, a study by The Economist.
The country is ranked 36th (out of 167) in the index with a score of 7.51, and while Belgium performed poorly by their metrics, few countries did well. The 2021 overall Democracy Index fell from 5.37 in 2020 to 5.28, the largest annual decline since 2010.
Only 21 of the 167 countries on the index achieved “full democracy” status, meaning that only a fraction of the world's population lived in a democracy in 2021, according to the ranking.
“Popular dissatisfaction with democratic political systems is driving support for political reform as well as a search for alternatives to democratic governance,” the report found, citing an October 2021 Pew study.
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That study found that a median of 56% of people interviewed across 17 advanced economies believed that their political system needed to be completely reformed or required major changes.
The percentages were much higher in Belgium (72%), Italy (89%), Spain (86%), the US (85%), South Korea (84%), Greece (80%) and France (73%).
Little confidence that political systems can be reformed
The Economist’s study also revealed that people have little confidence that the system will be reformed.
“There are many reasons for the rise in popular disaffection with democratic systems, but the main drivers are dissatisfaction with economic performance, disappointment with the lack of equality and fairness in politics and economics, cynicism about the commitment of political elites to represent voter interests, frustration with not being consulted about the issues that affect their lives, and anger about corruption and vested interests,” the report said.
The pandemic exacerbated a trend towards political fragmentation.
“Some countries have found it more difficult to form governments, with the four parties that comprised the previous ruling coalition in the Netherlands taking a record 299 days to renew their agreement after the March 2021 election,” the report found.
“Others comprise an unusually large number of parties— seven, in Belgium’s case.”
European countries top rankings
Top of the table are Norway, Finland and Sweden alongside the likes of New Zealand, Mauritius or Costa Rica.
Among the "authoritarian regimes" are Algeria, Egypt, Russia, Rwanda, Vietnam, and China. At the bottom of the ranking, Afghanistan, taken over by the Taliban six months ago, is now the country ranked as the least democratic in the world.
