The 2019 report was released on Wednesday by The Economist Intelligence Unit and is under the theme “A year of democratic setbacks and popular protest”.

The study highlights that “two Western European countries have moved up from the“ failed democracy ”category to a“ fully democratic country”: France and Portugal.

According to The Economist, “both saw improvements”. “In Portugal, the category increase marks the culmination of a gradual increase in confidence in political parties and the Government”, stresses the study, which links this issue with the setback in the austerity implemented during the financial crisis. The study says that Portugal was already on the threshold of the category of full democracy.

Portugal achieved an overall score of 8.03 (out of 10), placing itself in position 22 in the general classification and 15 in the regional classification.

In the category of electoral process and pluralism, the magazine attributes Portugal 9.58, 7.86 in the functioning of the Government, 6.11 in political participation, 7.50 in political culture and 9.12 with regard to civil liberties.

In the 2018 report, under the theme “Political participation, protest and democracy”, Portugal was awarded an overall score of 7.84 (out of 10). In the area of ​​political participation Portugal has a score of 6.11, in political culture 6.88, in civil liberties 9.12 and in the functioning of government and pluralism 9.58.

In addition to France (8.12) and Portugal (8.03), Chile (8.08) also rose to the highest category in the study, a group comprising 22 countries. At the top of the list is Norway, with an overall score of 9.87 (out of 10). Instead, Malta went down to the category of “failed democracy”.

Only in 2006 and 2008 did Portugal achieve a better score than the current one, with 8.16 and 8.05 respectively.