Methodology
Every product on Democratic Market has passed a single objective filter: the country where it was made must score above 6.0 on the EIU Democracy Index.
See the EIU index →The democratic threshold
Countries scoring above 6.0 are classified as «full democracies» or «flawed democracies» by the EIU. Below 6.0 we find hybrid regimes and authoritarian states. We apply this line without exceptions.
When a vendor lists a product, they provide the country where it is manufactured (or, failing that, where the company is headquartered). That country is the one we verify.
We cross-reference the country against the latest edition of the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) Democracy Index. This index scores each country from 0 to 10 across five categories: electoral process, pluralism, government functioning, political participation, and political culture.
We only accept products from countries scoring above 6.0 ("flawed democracy" or better). Below that threshold, a product cannot appear in the catalogue.
The EIU index is published every year. When a new edition is released, we automatically review all active products. If a vendor's country drops below the threshold, the product is removed until the situation changes.
If a product is removed due to a score change, the vendor receives an immediate notification explaining the reason. They can update the country of manufacture if their supply chain has changed.
We ask the vendor to specify the primary country of manufacture (where the highest-value component or final assembly takes place). If a key component comes from a non-democratic country, we reflect that on the product listing.
EIU index verification is automatic. For high-risk categories (electronics, minerals), we supplement this with a manual review of the supply chain as declared by the vendor.
We use the overall score from the annual Democracy Index published by the Economist Intelligence Unit. We do not use sub-indices.
Yes. If the following annual edition shows a score above 6.0 again, vendors from that country can list products once more.
Every product you see has passed this verification. Browse with confidence.
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