By: Staff Writer
September 16, 2025
The International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (International IDEA) in their latest report, “The Global State of Democracy 2025: Democracy on the Move,” said that democratic institutions are declining due to inequalities in ethnic makeup, gender, race and income.
The report also said: “Eighteen of 27 countries in the region score in the mid-range; only Canada, Costa Rica and Uruguay are high-performing. The remaining six countries—El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti, Nicaragua, Paraguay and Venezuela—are all among the bottom 25 per cent globally. This lagging performance reflects the profound economic inequality in Latin America and the Caribbean, as well as in the USA.
“The intersection of ethnic, racial, gender and income inequalities—particularly as they affect educational and job opportunities—continues to widen the gap between social groups throughout the Americas.
“These inequalities are compounded by pervasive structural discrimination against Indigenous, Afro-descendant and migrant people, which in turn undermines countries’ democratic performance.”
It added: “The Global state of Democracy’s Social Group Equality index measures the extent of such equality in each country. Eighteen of 27 countries in the region score in the mid-range; only Canada, Costa Rica and Uruguay are high-performing. The remaining six countries—El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti, Nicaragua, Paraguay and Venezuela—are all among the bottom 25 per cent globally. This lagging performance reflects the profound economic inequality in Latin America and the Caribbean, as well as in the USA.
The report also analysed the 27 countries on indicators such as press freedom, political participation, rule of law, and social equality. In El Salvador, there has been “a sharp decline in freedoms” and “a deterioration” of the rule of law and judicial independence.
In addition, “tricks” have been used — as in other countries — “to consolidate authoritarian regimes through indefinite reelections.” “The Bukele model has not been without devastating costs. El Salvador currently has the highest incarceration rate in the world,” the report notes, with 85,000 prisoners in a country of six million inhabitants, including thousands of minors.
It also ranks among the “most serious” cases of loss of judicial independence, alongside Afghanistan, Chad, Myanmar, and Tunisia. “Torture, forced disappearances, deaths in custody, and police abuse and intimidation are also common,” the report adds.