The country with the worst ranking out of the 167 included on the list was Afghanistan, which was in the same position last year. Russia showed the sharpest decline, dropping from 132nd to 154th place, its worst ranking ever. Thailand showed the biggest improvement, moving from 74th to 57th. Switzerland, Ireland and the Netherlands also rank among the top ten countries in the index all three improved their scores in 2022,' the report stated. 'These countries boast high scores across all categories, particularly electoral process and pluralism and functioning of government. Iceland moved up from fifth to third, Sweden held in fourth, and Finland fell two spots to fifth. New Zealand, which has always ranked in the top three, stayed in second place.
Norway remained in first place for the 13th consecutive time. The Netherlands has never ranked lower than 12th place, and its highest ranking was third in the first year the Democracy Index was published. The Netherlands moved up two places on the list produced nearly every year by The Economist since 2006. The Netherlands once again ranked among the strongest democracies in the world, winding up in ninth place on the 2022 edition of the Democracy Index.
