In the United States, seven democracy indicators recorded statistically significant declines between 2020 and 2025, including freedom of expression, freedom of the press, access to justice, judicial independence, economic equality and the effectiveness of Congress.
International IDEA's data set covers the period from 1975 to 2025.
The report said 2025 was the 11th consecutive year in which more countries experienced a decline in democratic performance than an improvement.
Globally, the rule of law was "the weakest-performing category overall," with 71 countries, or 41 percent of those assessed, "in the low-performance band," the report said.
Judicial independence was among the areas that deteriorated most. Press freedom declined in 23 percent of countries, while access to justice worsened in 18 percent, according to the report.
International IDEA identified Poland, Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Syria among countries where positive changes were recorded, attributing the improvements to social mobilisation and civil society activity.
Europe remained the highest-performing region in terms of democracy.
Poland and the Czech Republic improved in governance and institutional accountability, while Russia, Georgia and Slovakia recorded declines.
"For decades, the rule of law both domestically and in the international order has underpinned the resilience of democracies," International IDEA Secretary-General Kevin Casas-Zamora said at the report's launch in Stockholm on Tuesday.
"Now, the rapid decline of democracy in the USA is weakening judicial independence and fragmenting the international system—threatening democracy around the world," he added.
The report, titled The Global State of Democracy 2026: Democracy in an Age of Conflict, calls on governments to treat support for democracy as a national security priority. It argues that investment in democratic institutions can contribute to peace and good governance at a lower cost than military responses.
Swedish defence expert Robert Egnell cautioned that this should not mean reducing defence spending. Aid to NGOs cannot stop bombs in Ukraine, he said, as cited by Polish state news agency PAP.
(sp/gs)
Source: PAP, idea.int