The number of democracies in the Americas remains the same as two years ago despite the Covid-19 pandemic. In addition, most of the democracies in the region demonstrated great resilience in the face of the pandemic. Parliaments, the judiciary and the media of most democracies in the region managed to adapt and continue to exercise their control functions, even in the midst of numerous restrictions that hampered their work. However, despite the resilience that the region’s democracies displayed during the pandemic, the quality of democracy continues to deteriorate in the Americas. More than half of the democracies in Latin America and the Caribbean show signs of democratic erosion, and Brazil’s democracy has been undergoing a process of democratic decline since 2016.

The State of Democracy in the Americas 2021 offers political and civil actors, as well as the international community, analysis, lessons learned and recommendations to face the challenges that democracy presents, and to consolidate and reinforce its resilience.

International IDEA’s Global State of Democracy Reports review the state of democracy around the world. Access the digital version to download PDFs or read online. The 2021 edition covers developments in 2020 and 2021, with democratic trends since 2015 used as a contextual reference. This report has on the Americas is one of four regional reports that provide more in-depth analysis of trends and developments in Africa and the Middle East; Asia and the Pacific; and Europe which along with the Global Report complement and cross-reference each other. There are also three thematic papers that allow more in-depth analysis and recommendations on how to manage electoral processes and emergency law responses, and how democracies and non-democracies fared based on lessons learned from the pandemic. The reports draw on data from the Global State of Democracy (GSoD) Indices and lessons learned from International IDEA’s on-the ground technical assistance to understand the current democracy landscape. The 2021 reports also draw heavily on data collected by International IDEA’s Global Monitor of Covid-19’s Impact on Democracy and Human Rights.

A summary of global and regional key facts and findings is available in Arabic, English, French and Spanish.