The United States continues its consolidation as a "flawed democracy", falling further in its global ranking, from 21st to 25th place this year.

Democracy rankings 2018

This is according to the latest Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) global democracy rankings in 2018, now in its 11th edition.

The EIU is the research and analysis branch of the venerable Economist.

The US fell below the threshold of a "full democracy" for the first time in 2016, primarily owing to a serious decline in public trust in US institutions that year.

The Democracy Index provides a snapshot of global democracy by scoring countries on five categories: Electoral process and pluralism; civil liberties; the functioning of government; political participation; and political culture.

For the first time in three years, the global score for democracy remained stable.

Singapore more democratic than Hong Kong

While still a "flawed democracy" in EIU's eyes, Singapore's 2018 rating is among its best performance in 11 years.

This year's score tied with its best score in 2016.

Hong Kong is a place frequently held up against Singapore.

And there is the perception that Hong Kong is more free, with high profile departures of opinion-leaders from Singapore to Hong Kong.

But the "democratic gap" between Singapore and Hong Kong has increased.

In 2017, Singapore was ranked 69th with a score of 6.32, while Hong Kong was ranked 71st, with a score of 6.31.

In 2018, Singapore is now 66th with a score of 6.38, while Hong Kong has fallen behind at 73rd, with a score of 6.15.

Across the Causeway, Malaysia experienced a jump in its rankings, from 59th to 52nd.

A key factor was its General Election in May, where voter turnout was close to 80 percent, and it delivered a surprise upset for the incumbent party.

Countries at the top are Norway (9.87), Iceland (9.58) and Sweden (9.39).

Singapore's ratings rose because of improved civil liberties

Singapore's rankings rose from 69th to 66th, with its ratings improving from 6.32 (2017) to 6.38 (2018).

So, what counted for the slight rise?

Our scores for electoral process and pluralism (4.33); the functioning of government (7.86); political participation (6.11); and political culture (6.25) were exactly the same as 2017.

But EIU judged that civil liberties in Singapore has increased, rising from 7.06 to 7.35.

Let's guess why our civil liberties ratings have increased in 2018.

Was it because we organised the Trump-Kim Summit and gave free food to the foreign media?

Was it because we were the country of choice for Crazy Rich Asians?

Or could it be the fact that our media now report more freely on Malaysian politics?

Who knows?