The 10 most democratic countries in the world

Sweden

OK, from here on out it’s all Scandinavia. Big surprise. And our final Nordic dominance of this list begins with Sweden, a country that gave us Volvo, Ikea, and ultra-violent thrillers starring feminist heroes. Yep, Europe’s conscience is exactly as committed to upholding democratic principles as you’d expect (i.e. very). Incredibly, this actually represents a slide from its previous position. Back in 2006, Sweden was #1 in the entire world. Gee guys, what happened? You start excluding women from the Ikea canteens or something?Interestingly, despite its democratic credentials, Sweden is home to one of the most openly corrupt instances of botched investigation in history. Prime Minister Olof Palme was gunned down exiting a theater one freezing night in 1986, and the culprit was never found. An enduring conspiracy theory has it that the police – who were slow to respond and bungled the investigation – were involved. Hmm. That’d knock Sweden down a few pegs on these rankings, if it was ever proven.