Morocco Ranks 95th in Global Democracy Index, 3rd in MENA Region

Morocco is 95th out of 167 countries, according to the report titled "Democracy Index 2021: The China Challenge". The kingdom records a score of 5.04 out of 10, on par with Bosnia and Herzegovina. At the MENA regional level, it ranks third behind Israel (23rd global rank with 7.97) and Tunisia (75th global rank with 5.99). On the other hand, it surpasses Egypt (132nd), Algeria (113) and Libya (154th).

Based on the democracy index, Tunisia and Morocco are classified as "hybrid regimes", while Israel is the only "flawed democracy" at the top of the regional ranking. The other 17 countries in the region are under "authoritarian regimes", the EIU added. Morocco’s score is calculated based on five indicators: it scored 5.25 out of 10 for the electoral process and pluralism, 4.12 for civil liberties, 5.56 for political participation, 4.64 for government functioning and 5.63 for political culture.

The score of the MENA region "has fallen almost every year since 2012 [...] The region suffers from a concentration of absolute monarchies, authoritarian regimes and war-torn countries, and it is the lowest ranked of all the regions covered by the democracy index, with an average score of 3.41".

Globally, the Covid-19 pandemic undermined the progress of democratization processes in 2021, notes the EIU, adding that 50% of the world’s population lives under authoritarian regimes while only 6.4% "enjoy full democracy". As a result, the global democracy score fell from 5.37 to 5.28, corresponding to the equivalent of the scores of 2006 and 2010 recorded after the global financial crises.