Out of 167 independent countries, India was ranked 42nd on the annual Global Democracy Index (GDI) of 2017. Global Democracy Index (GDI) is an index compiled by UK based company Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU). There was a drop of ten places for India in 2017 as compared to the annual compilation of index in the year 2016. In the year 2016 India’s rank on the Global Democracy Index (GDI) was 32nd. India recorded a drop of 0.58 points in its overall score from 7.81 to 7.23 and was classified as a flawed democracy in the year 2017.

Out of the 167 independent countries, 165 countries are the member of the United Nations (UN). First produced in the year 2006 the index is based on 60 indicators which are categorized into five different groups. The five different groups are the electoral process and pluralism, civil liberties, the functioning of government, political participation and political culture. Based on the score from 0 to 10 the countries are categorized as a full democracy, flawed democracy, hybrid regime and authoritarian regime. The score for full democracy lies in the range of 8 to 10. Countries lying in the range of 6 to 8 are termed as a flawed democracy. The score for the hybrid regime lies in the range of 4 to 6. Countries lying in the range of 0 to 4 are termed as the authoritarian regime. The scores are calculated by adding the individual scores of the five groups.

 Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) is a British business within the Economist Group. It was founded in the year 1946. Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) provides advisory and forecasting services through research and analysis. The headquarters of the unit is in London, England with Robin Bew being the Managing Director. The function of the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) is to provide country, industry and management analysis worldwide.