This week, the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) released its dramatically titled annual democracy index: ‘Democracy at a standstill.’

New Zealand scored well, as should be expected. According to the EIU, we are the fifth most democratic nation on the planet, being only marginally less democratic than the obligatory Scandinavians: Norway, Sweden, Iceland, and Denmark.

Most of these indices need to be taken with a grain of salt as some employ dodgy methodologies and come up with a single, heavily aggregated figure. But the EIU’s index does not do this. Instead, it scores countries out of ten across five separate categories: 1) electoral process and pluralism; 2) civil liberties; 3) the functioning of government; 4) political participation; and 5) political culture.

The EIU’s measure is useful as it tries to measure how strong a democracy is: the informal processes that make a mature and well-functioning democracy, not just election frequency and fairness.

The results highlight how lucky people living in democratic countries are. A breakdown of the numbers shows that living in a democracy is a luxury relatively few of the world’s nations enjoy.

Only 15% of the world’s countries are classified as full democracies, 32% as flawed democracies, 30.5% as authoritarian regimes, and 22.2% as ‘hybrid regimes.’

Measured by population, the figure is even grimmer for democrats. Some 88.7% of the world’s population does not live in a full democracy. About 37% live under an authoritarian regime and the same number in a flawed democracy.

So all is not well, even in full democracies, where democracy has been in decline. The EIU report cites the Eurozone crisis (elected leaders in Greece and Italy being replaced by European technocrats) and new curbs on civil liberties as eroding confidence and trust in civil institutions. It also notes that harsh austerity measure across Europe affect democratic confidence (although, in reality, such measures are usually neither harsh nor particularly austere).

In essence, the report reminds us how lucky we are to be living in a fully-fledged democracy with Westminster-style institutions that have stood the test of time.

But it is also a salutary warning that the worst thing government can do to undermine democratic processes is to over promise until it can no longer deliver.