There is worrying news coming on this front from all corners but a new article from Swissinfo by Domhnall O’Sullivan and Renat Kuenzi has the latest:

Numbers living under autocratic systems have risen to 1990 levels, but it’s not time to sound democracy’s death knell, writes a major international research project.

Mixed messages emerge from this year’s Varieties of Democracy report, an annual analysis of the health of democracy around the world (to be released publicly on May 22).

On one hand, the so-called “third wave” of autocratisation continues its surge, with around one-third of the planet’s population now living in countries undergoing autocratisation – a process whereby power is gradually concentrated in the limited hands of one strong leader.

Problems in large populous states like the US, India, Brazil and Turkey have contributed to the regression in overall terms, while negative signs in countries like Hungary and Poland reinforce the sense that “traditional” democracies are in decline.

See the full article at Swissinfo, produced by the Swiss public broadcasting association.