Earlier this month, The Economist published their annual Democracy Index for 2024, which ranks the world’s countries based on how democratic their governments are.
In 2020, Canada ranked as the 5th most democratic country in the world, behind Norway, Iceland, Sweden, and New Zealand.
A year later, however, Canada dropped 7 spots to 12th place, which is where is stayed in 2022. In 2023, it fell one more spot, to 13th place, and it got downgraded again in 2024, to 14th place.
Last year, however, it finally increased. It was still in 9th place, lower than where it was in 2020, but it had jumped 5 spots between 2024 and 2025.
The authors of the report indicate that the two most significant causes for the increase—among the 5 largest increases of the 167 countries included in the report—were the election of Mark Carney’s Liberal Party and the animosity of US president Donald Trump toward the country.
Canada’s improvement reflects a continued recovery from a significant score decline in 2023, which stemmed from rising polarisation and reduced functioning of government. Participation in the April 2025 election, which solidified Mark Carney’s position as prime minister, had the highest participation (69%) since the 1993 federal election, when the issue of Quebec secession was very prominent. It is also possible, ironically, that Mr Trump’s caustic approach towards Europe and his aggressive stance towards Canada created a pathway for the body politic to galvanise around unifying issues such as mutual defence and economic progress.
The country’s democracy index score increased 0.39 points, from 8.69 in 2024 to 9.08 in 2025. In 2020, it was 9.24, so it still has a little way to go to reach where it used to be.
The index scores all countries in 5 areas, with a maximum grade of 10 in each area. This year’s report, for some reason, did not list all thr countries and their scores in each area, but Canada did increase in 3 of the 5 areas: functioning of government, political culture, and civil liberties.
Speaking of civil liberties specifically, it was the only sub-pillar to have a score listed in the 2025 report. Canada’s civil liberties score rose from 8.82 in 2024 to 9.12 in 2025, an improvement but still lower than the 9.41 it was at in 2020.
Here’s a look at how Canada’s ranking has changed since 2006.
