Mexico falls in The Economist’s Democracy Index; it qualifies as a “hybrid regime”.

In the Index corresponding to 2021, released on Wednesday, February 9, The Economist places Mexico in 86th place, out of a total of 167 analyzed, with a rating of 5.57, out of a total of 10

(MEXICO – The Economist) – Mexico fell in the Democracy Index of The Economist, which ranked it in the category of “hybrid regimes,” one step lower than that of “authoritarian regimes.”

In the Index corresponding to 2021, The Economist places Mexico in 86th place, out of 167 analyzed, with a rating of 5.57, out of 10.

“Mexico’s president, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, continued his efforts to concentrate power in the executive branch. In August, López Obrador said he would seek a total reform of the country’s electoral authorities, considering them biased against his government, and said they are at the service of anti-democracy,” the publication noted in its analysis of the Mexican situation.

The British media pointed out that the president “increased his attacks against the media and has become increasingly intolerant of his critics, including allies. In addition, the high levels of cartel violence impacted the mid-term elections in June and posed increasing risks to Mexican democracy”.

While López Obrador maintains high approval ratings, The Economist notes that Mexicans express low levels of trust in the government. “The categorization of Mexico as a ‘hybrid regime’ rather than ‘poor democracy,’ together with the trends noted, suggest that further erosion of democracy in Mexico is likely as the 2024 elections approach.

The country thus ranks with Bangladesh, Ecuador, Paraguay, Senegal, Tunisia, and Ukraine.
A hybrid regime means that the country has features that prevent it from being considered a democracy (albeit a deficient one, the range in which Mexico had been placed in recent years), but not an autocracy.

The Economist uses five categories to rate democracy in the countries evaluated: electoral process and pluralism; government functioning; political participation; political culture, and civil liberties. Depending on the rating, a country can be considered a flat democracy, a poor democracy, a hybrid regime, or an autocracy.

The magazine detected that democracy fell globally, from 5.37% in 2020 to 5.28% in 2021, the most significant annual decline since 2010. Moreover, 21 countries of the 167 evaluated, only 47 registered improvements, and Chile or Spain fell to “deficient democracies.”

More than a third of the world’s population lives under autocratic regimes, which includes countries such as China, Libya, Afghanistan, Venezuela, and Cuba.

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