Democracy Metrics 2024

‘Tis the season for the release of annual democracy, human rights, and governance (DRG) indicators. These metrics capture global, regional, and national trends in democracy and governance over time. Policymakers, advocacy groups, and the media rely upon these data sources to frame their positions on key DRG issues. They are important to monitor as they provide information on local needs and dynamics that may affect ongoing USAID programs. 

This issue of the Learning Digest summarizes lessons from the latest DRG data and the annual reports of prominent DRG sector public policy organizations and examines the following topics:

• Continued Decline Hits Core Democratic Processes
• Zooming Out: What Explains the Two Decade Decline?
• Mastering Metrics: Causal Attribution Without Randomization