Sweden - Ranked No. 1 in world democracy ranking

The Economist magazine has come out with the list of world democracy rankings. Sweden (map) tops the list. The democracy index is based on five categories: electoral process and pluralism; civil liberties; the functioning of government; political participation and political culture.

Surprisingly United States scored low and was ranked 17th behind Germany(13), Austria(14), Malta(14), Spain (16).

Italy(34) and India(35) fall into a "flawed democracy list"

North Korea(167) tops the list in the Authoritarian regimes category.

According to the Economist:

The United States and Great Britain are near the bottom of full democracy category, but for somewhat different reasons. America falls down on some aspects of governance and civil liberties. Despite low election turnouts, political participation in the United States is comparitively high. In Britain low political participation (the lowest in the developed world) is a major problem, and to a lesser extent, for now, so are eroding civil liberties.