Italy: Democracy Index 2023

According to the Democracy Index, Italy classifies as a flawed democracy. As of 2023, Italy's democracy was rated 7.7 and ranked 34th globally, ahead of Cape Verde and before Botswana. The index considers electoral process and pluralism, functioning of government, political participation, culture, as well as civil liberties. The electoral process and pluralism were given a very high score, while the government's functioning performed poorly. Political coalitions have often been at risk of collapse in Italy, and the country has faced situations of political instability several times over the last decade. Indeed, the score decreased between 2010 and 2023, reaching its lowest value of 7.5 in 2019.

The first female Prime Minister

After the 2022 general election, the center-right coalition secured the majority of the seats both in the upper and lower house of the parliament. The major party in the alliance is Brothers of Italy (Fratelli d'Italia), a right-wing political formation founded in 2013 by Giorgia Meloni. The right-wing League (Lega), led by Matteo Salvini, and the Christian-democrat Forza Italia (FI), guided by Antonio Tajani, are FdI's coalition partners. Given the solid parliamentary majority, the President of the Republic Sergio Mattarella appointed Meloni Prime Minister. She became the first woman to head the Italian government.

How deep is your trust in democracy?

The results of different surveys conducted in Italy show that citizens do not uniformly support democracy in the same way. In a survey conducted in 2019, over 60 percent of Italian respondents stated that the political system in Italy had been captured by a corrupt, obsolete, and unreformable elite. Similar worrying answers resulted from a survey that asked Italians if they believed that democracy did not work anymore, and another form of government was necessary. Almost 70 percent of interviewees agreed with this statement.

Democracy Index in Italy from 2010 to 2023

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Release date

2024

More information

Region

Italy

Survey time period

2010 to 2023

Supplementary notes

The source specifies that "the Democracy Index measures the extent to which citizens can choose their political leaders in free and fair elections, enjoy civil liberties, prefer democracy over other political systems, can and do participate in politics, and have a functioning government that acts on their behalf. It ranges from 0 to 10 (most democratic)."

The index categorizes countries within four possible types of regime:

Full democracies: scores greater than eight;
Flawed democracies: scores greater than six, and less than or equal to eight;
Hybrid regimes: scores greater than four, and less than or equal to six;
Authoritarian regimes: scores less than or equal to four.

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