Thailand is still a "flawed democracy" as it ranks 72 out of 167 countries, the same level as the previous year, according to The Economist's Democracy Index 2021.
In Southeast Asia, the kingdom ranked below Malaysia (39), Indonesia (52), the Philippines (54) and Singapore (66), but above Vietnam (131), Cambodia (134) and Myanmar (second to bottom, below North Korea and above Afghanistan).
The five most democratic countries in the world, the report said, are Norway, New Zealand, Finland, Sweden and Iceland.
The Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), which produces the index, said it is based on 60 indicators and places countries into four categories: full democracies, flawed democracies, hybrid regimes and authoritarian regimes.
Democratic standards across the world fell again in 2021 amid the pandemic and growing support for authoritarianism to leave just over 45% of the world's population living in a democracy, the EIU said.
As in 2020, less than half of the world's population is living in a democracy but the trend has deteriorated further, the London-based analysis group said.
Its annual index "sheds light on continued challenges to democracy worldwide, under pressure from the coronavirus pandemic and increasing support for authoritarian alternatives", the group said.
The index, which provides a gauge of the state of global democracy, registered its biggest fall since 2010 and set "another dismal record" for the worst global score since it was first produced in 2006.
In Europe, Spain was downgraded to a "flawed democracy", reflecting a deterioration in its score for judicial independence.
The EIU said the UK also dropped in the rankings following controversies over political party financing and a series of scandals, but remains a "full democracy".
Less than half, or 45.7%, of the world's population now live in a democracy of some sort, a decline from 2020 where the figure was 49.4%.
Even fewer (about 6.4%) reside in a "full democracy" after Chile and Spain were downgraded to "flawed democracies".
More than a third of the world's population live under authoritarian rule, a large proportion of which are in China.
"China has not become more democratic as it has become richer. On the contrary, it has become less free," the EIU said.
Along with Tunisia, Myanmar and Afghanistan recorded the biggest declines in the index following the military coup and Taliban takeover in those countries, respectively.