Bertelsmann Stiftung: More Autocracies Worldwide – But Democratic Resistance Is Growing

Democracy continues to lose ground globally. This is the central finding of our Transformation Index BTI 2026. When the BTI was first published 20 years ago, democracies still outnumbered autocracies. Today, 56% of the 137 countries assessed are governed autocratically. Yet autocratic rule rarely translates into better governance. The BTI findings challenge the notion of authoritarian efficiency, showing that autocracies are more prone to corruption and less capable of effective, consensus-based policymaking than democracies. Cases such as Poland and Brazil demonstrate that societal resistance to authoritarian overreach, combined with reform-oriented political leadership, can reopen pathways toward democratic renewal.