The Economist Intelligence Unit has released its 2017 World/Global Democracy Index (GDI) of 167 countries. In its latest GDI, Botswana was ranked 28th in the world with a score of 7.81. This year’s score places Botswana just below the USA (7.85), Portugal (7.84) and Chile (7.84) and just above France (7.80) along with 14 other European Union member states.

This year’s GDI ranking is, moreover, consistent with the generally upward trend enjoyed by Botswana since 2008 when the country was ranked 39 in the world with a score of 7.47.

The Democracy Index further breaks down the overall state of each country’s governance according to various categories, with Botswana continuing to obtain near perfect scores for Electoral Process and Pluralism (9.17) and Civil Liberties (9.12). In a separate Index for “Media Freedom” Botswana was ranked 31 in the world.

Source: Botswana Government Facebook page