Sweden makes a #CaseForDemocracy

It has been a week full of interesting, high level democracy events.

US President Biden held the second #SummitForDemocracy , summing up the "Year of Action". Ulf Kristersson participated virtually delivering a speech in the part Democracy Delivering Strong Institutions. You can find the recording of the first Plenary Day, with the speech by Mr Kristersson, via this link.

On 24 March, Minister for Foreign Affairs Tobias Billström co-hosted the event “Promoting Equitable Gender Norms to Foster Democratic Resilience”. He presented the policy recommendations within the working group on gender equality and democracy during the Year of Action. Watch back via this link.

Our colleauges in Washington organised the side-event "Making a Case for Democracy". Minister for International Development Cooperation and Foreign Trade Johan Forssell presented Sweden's case with the words: "Sweden has a long tradition of supporting democracy actors and is one of the world’s leading donors and voices for global democracy, human rights and the rule of law. We believe all persons have equal worth and undeniable human rights."  Photo's here.  The event was co-hosted by V-Dem, whose reports on democracy are available here. 

Secretary Blinken opened the session “The Status of Women is the Status of Democracy”, where Sweden's Ambassador for Gender Equality Sofia Calltorp took part in a panel on Advancing Women’s Political and Civic Participation. 

On the second day of the summit, the Dutch government organised a very interesting summit on media freedom. Parisa Liljestrand, Minister of Culture and represented Sweden virtually. Watch back here. 

These are the 10 reasons why Sweden makes a #CaseforDemocracy:

1. Peace, security and stability

• Democracies do not fight wars against each other.
• Democracies experience less internal violence.

2. Fighting poverty and creating growth

• A transition to democracy on average increases GNP per capita by 20%.
• Democracies invest more in combating poverty than autocracies.

3. Global health

• Democratisation increases life expectancy by 3% and reduces child mortality by 94%.
• Democracies have better universal health coverage and invest more in health care.

4: Democracy improves welfare

• Transitioning to democracy leads on average to an increase of at least 100% in social protection spending.
• 28 of the top 30 countries in the UN Human Development Report are democracies.

5: Improved literacy and access to education

• Democratisation increases school enrolment by 70% and leads to greater investment in education.
• A democratisation process increases the length of schooling by 1.3 years.

6: Democracy improves gender balance

• Democratisation makes the political culture more inclusive and increases women’s political participation over time.
• Flawed democracy leads to substantially lower levels of egalitarian gender attitudes.

7: Democracy combats climate change

• Democracies make stronger commitments in the #ParisAgreement than non-democracies.
• Higher levels of democracy improve air quality in cities.

8: Trust and social cohesion

• Democracy builds trustful relations in society and facilitates social cohesion.
• In democracies, people cooperate more for the common good.

9: More transparency and data quality

• Democratisation increases the amount of data sent to @‌worldbankdata.
• Democracies produce more accurate and reliable statistics.
• Voters in democracies are 70% better informed on policy decisions.

10: Delivers public goods and social services

• Democracies provide more safe water access and more immunisation to young children.
• Democracies have a 300% higher internet penetration rate compared to autocracies.

Research from Varieties of Democracies. Download the full reports on their website.