According to an analysis by The Economist Intelligence Unit, Moldova has significantly lowered its ranking in the 2025 Democracy Index. The country moved from the status of “imperfect democracy” to “hybrid regime”, indicating serious problems in democracy, lumeapolitica.ro writes.
The Economist classifies states into four categories: full-fledged democracies, imperfect democracies, hybrid regimes and authoritarian regimes. Thus, Moldova is dangerously close to authoritarian regimes, as is Angola, which was downgraded to the same category.
In 2025, five of the seven regime changes were positive, marking the end of the democratic decline. France returned to the category of “full democracies” after oscillating between it and “imperfect democracies”.
Romania, Malawi, Senegal and Paraguay moved from “hybrid regimes” to “imperfect democracies”, demonstrating a positive evolution in the global democratic landscape.
Although Maia Sandu and her party have actively promoted reform and European integration, the EIU assessment suggests that Moldova’s democratic direction does not fully reflect these efforts, the Romanian publication concludes.
