Africa is home to only one fully fledged democracy

The African continent is home to only one fully fledged democracy, Mauritius, according to a recently released index from the Economist Intelligence Unit. The list, which takes into account things like electoral procedures, civil liberties, and political participation, classified seven African countries as “flawed democracies,” 13 as “hybrid regimes,” and 23 as authoritarian regimes.

Meanwhile, North Korea, Syria, Chad and the Central African Republic were among the EIU’s authoritarian regimes.

Sub-Saharan Africa’s overall “democracy” score on the index has remained flat for the last five years, according to the EIU index. Improvements in political participation and frequency of elections have been counteracted by crackdowns on civil liberties and media suppression, the report notes.

Though democratic elections were held in almost a dozen African countries last year, most citizens still see their governments as corrupt.  African countries were among the lowest ranked on a new corruption index by Transparency International. Sub-Saharan Africa averaged a score of 31 on a scale of 0 to 100 where 100 is seen as “very clean.” The score, based on citizen attitudes, was much less than the global average of 43, and down from last year’s score of 33. Read more here