# DE-Democracy-Metrics — Source Documentation

## Overview

Unlike DE-Common-Metrics (which uses live APIs), DE-Democracy-Metrics is manually maintained from annual institutional reports. Most democracy indicators are produced yearly by research institutes with no machine-readable API.

**Update rhythm:** Annual (typically February–April for prior year data)

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## Primary Sources

### EIU Democracy Index (The Economist Intelligence Unit)
- **URL:** https://www.eiu.com/n/campaigns/democracy-index/ (annual report)
- **Wikipedia:** https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demokratieindex_(The_Economist)
- **Auth:** Report purchase required for full data; summary/rankings publicly available
- **Format:** PDF report + press release tables
- **Metrics:** Overall score (0–10), 5 sub-indices: Electoral process & pluralism, Functioning of government, Political participation, Political culture, Civil liberties
- **Categories:** Full Democracy (≥8.0), Flawed Democracy (6.0–7.9), Hybrid Regime, Authoritarian
- **Germany status:** Full Democracy, typically ranked #12–18 globally
- **Frequency:** Annual (published January for prior year)
- **Key insight:** Score trends matter more than absolute rank — Germany has been slowly declining from ~9.0+ in early 2010s

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### V-Dem Institute (Varieties of Democracy)
- **URL:** https://v-dem.net/data/the-v-dem-dataset/
- **Auth:** Free download, registration required
- **Format:** CSV / Excel (annual dataset)
- **Metrics:** Liberal Democracy Index, Electoral Democracy Index, ~400 further indicators
- **Lag:** ~12–18 months (2024 data published early 2025)
- **Key series:** `v2x_libdem` (Liberal Democracy), `v2x_polyarchy` (Electoral Democracy)

### Reporters Without Borders — Press Freedom Index
- **URL:** https://rsf.org/en/index
- **Auth:** None (public)
- **Format:** Web table + downloadable CSV
- **Metrics:** Press Freedom Score (0–100), Rank (180 countries)
- **Frequency:** Annual (published May)

### ARD-DeutschlandTREND
- **URL:** https://www.infratest-dimap.de/umfragen-analysen/bundesweit/ard-deutschlandtrend/
- **Auth:** None (public)
- **Format:** PDF press releases + web tables
- **Metrics:** Party support, institutional trust, issue salience
- **Frequency:** Monthly

### More in Common — "Die andere deutsche Teilung"
- **URL:** https://www.moreincommon.com/media/fhlhxtgb/moreincommon_studie2024_dieandereteilung.pdf
- **Auth:** None (public)
- **Format:** PDF report
- **Metrics:** Societal segmentation (6 groups), attitudinal profiles
- **Frequency:** Ad hoc (2024 study; prior study 2019)

### Bundeswahlleiter — Federal Returning Officer
- **URL:** https://www.bundeswahlleiter.de/bundestagswahlen/2025.html
- **Auth:** None (public)
- **Format:** CSV / Excel download + web tables
- **Metrics:** Voter turnout, vote shares by party, constituency results
- **Frequency:** Per election

### Bertelsmann Stiftung — Transformation Index / Democracy Report
- **URL:** https://bti-project.org/ and https://www.bertelsmann-stiftung.de/
- **Auth:** None (public)
- **Format:** PDF + online database
- **Metrics:** Democracy status, governance quality, political participation
- **Frequency:** Biennial (BTI), annual (democracy reports)

### Eurobarometer (EU Commission)
- **URL:** https://europa.eu/eurobarometer/surveys/browse/all
- **Auth:** None (public)
- **Format:** SPSS/CSV microdata + PDF toplines
- **Metrics:** Trust in EU institutions, trust in national governments, democracy satisfaction
- **Frequency:** Biannual (Standard Eurobarometer)

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## Manual Update Process

Since no live API is available, updates require:

1. Check V-Dem release page for new annual dataset
2. Download RSF press freedom CSV (published May each year)
3. Pull latest ARD-DeutschlandTREND for trust metrics
4. Update Bundeswahlleiter data after elections
5. Update `DE-Democracy-Metrics.md` with new values and dates
6. Append row to `de-democracy-current.csv` if maintained

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## Potential Future Automation

Some metrics could be partially automated:
- Eurobarometer has a REST-like data API: https://europa.eu/eurobarometer/api/
- Bundeswahlleiter publishes structured CSVs after elections
- V-Dem could be queried via their API after registration

Full automation would require a dedicated `update.ts` script similar to `DE-Common-Metrics`.