Click-baity title considering that this index only started in 2006 and has fluctuated little since. "Global democracy" seems to be going well on any non trivially short period of time (i.e. look at a world map now vs. during the cold war period).<p>In addition:
"<i>France’s score fell just below the 8.00 threshold to qualify as a “full democracy” because of a decline in its score for functioning of government. Therefore, France was downgraded from a ‘full democracy’ to a “flawed democracy” in 2024.</i>"<p>A little ironic considering this is due to democratic elections in which the people could not agree on a majority... So perhaps this index has to be taken with a grain of salt.