Democracy is on the move. I calculated the number
of nations in 1900 and the number of democracies and did the same thing for 2000 to see how far we have
come in a century.
There were 70 distinct nations in 1900. The reason the number is low is that many future nations were colonies in 1900. That was true for most of Africa and many parts of South Asia including India. Of the 70 nations 15 were clearly democracies with elective governments.
By the year 2000 there were 170 nations based on UN membership. The reality is that there are 124 nations based on the Phillips criteria: more population than San Francisco and a GDP greater than Disneyland. Of the 124 nations 69 are democracies with elective governments.
No matter how you look at it, growing from 15 in 70 to 69 of 124 is dramatic growth. I would estimate that those 69 democracies have three quarters of the global productive economic output and 90% of the global middle class.