Taiwan received the top score in Asia in the Economist's Global Democracy Index for 2020. Out of 167 countries, Taiwan ranked 11.
The Economist Intelligence Unit called Taiwan Asia's beacon of democracy. Taiwan's ranking improved more than any other country. It went from 31st in 2019 to 11th in 2020 with a score of 8.94, entering for the first time the "full democracy" category of countries that have scores of 8 and over.
Taiwan's higher ranking highlights the progress it has made in democratic politics and law. Political parties have become more financially transparent and judicial reform has helped keep the judiciary free from political interference.
The index is based on five factors: electoral process and pluralism, civil liberties, the functioning of the government, political participation and political culture. Based on their scores in 60 indicators within these categories, each country is then classified as one of four types of governments: full democracy, flawed democracy, hybrid regime, or authoritarian regime.
Out of 167 countries, 116 regressed while 38 improved on the index. The top five countries were Norway, Iceland, Sweden, New Zealand, and Canada while those with the lowest scores were North Korea, the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Central African Republic, Syria, and Chad.
Following Taiwan in Asia were Japan, which ranked 21, and South Korea, which ranked 23. Hong Kong was ranked 87, and China was ranked 151. The US was ranked 25.