🇸🇿 Eswatini Politics - Governance, Freedom & Democracy

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🇸🇿 Eswatini SZ / SWZ #153

Nomad Score 50.0

Cities 5

Region African Union, Africa, Africa, Southern Africa

Currency SZL

📊 GOVERNANCE AT A GLANCE

Government Unitary diarchic

UN Member Yes

Independent Yes

CPI Score (2026) 23/100

Press Freedom (2025) 52.9/100 #98

Electoral Democracy (2025) 0.128

HDI 0.695

Regional Blocs AU

🏛 WORLD GOVERNANCE INDICATORS

Political Stability (2023) 31th pct

Rule of Law (2023) 28th pct

Corruption Control (2023) 25th pct

Govt Effectiveness (2023) 19th pct

Regulatory Quality (2023) 24th pct

Voice & Accountability (2023) 17th pct

Source: World Bank Worldwide Governance Indicators (WGI). Percentile rank among all countries (0=lowest, 100=highest).

🛡 SAFETY & SECURITY

Homicide Rate (2021) 12.5/100k

Traffic Deaths (2019) 33.5/100k

Military Spending (2024) 1.4% of GDP

🏛 GOVERNMENT & LEADERS

Government Type Unitary diarchic

Title	Name
King	Mswati III
Queen Mother	Ntfombi
Prime Minister	Russell Dlamini

💰 CORRUPTION PERCEPTIONS INDEX

CPI Score (2026) 23 / 100

Interpretation High corruption

Source: Transparency International / Corruption Insights API. Higher scores = less corruption.

📰 PRESS FREEDOM INDEX

Overall Score (2025) 52.9 / 100

Global Rank #98 / 180

Rank Change -13 vs previous year

RSF Zone Afrique

Political #91 44.9

Economic #129 34.9

Legal #140 43.4

Social #91 59.6

Safety #79 81.5

Source: Reporters Without Borders (RSF). Higher scores = better press freedom.

📊 PRESS FREEDOM DIMENSIONS

Five dimensions of press freedom tracked over time. Higher = better.

🗳 DEMOCRACY INDEX

Electoral (2025) 0.128

Liberal 0.097

Participatory 0.110

Deliberative 0.064

Egalitarian 0.077

Source: V-Dem (Varieties of Democracy), CC-BY-SA. Scale: 0 (least democratic) to 1 (most democratic).

📋 PRESS FREEDOM HISTORICAL DATA

Year	Score	Rank	Political	Economic	Legal	Social	Safety
2025	52.9	98	44.9	34.9	43.4	59.6	81.5
2024	58.3	85	49.1	41.3	47.3	64.3	89.6
2023	52.7	111	46.6	44.0	45.3	56.0	71.4
2022	46.4	131	41.3	35.0	43.9	50.5	61.4
2021	53.7	141	-	-	-	-	75.2
2020	54.9	141	-	-	-	-	100.0
2019	50.9	147	-	-	-	-	100.0
2018	48.5	152	-	-	-	-	100.0
2017	48.7	152	-	-	-	-	100.0
2016	47.6	153	-	-	-	-	86.1
2015	52.7	155	-	-	-	-	73.6
2014	53.2	156	-	-	-	-	-
2013	53.2	155	-	-	-	-	-
2012	67.0	144	-	-	-	-	-
2010	57.5	155	-	-	-	-	-
2009	52.5	144	-	-	-	-	-
2008	50.5	147	-	-	-	-	-
2007	54.5	138	-	-	-	-	-
2006	40.5	127	-	-	-	-	-
2005	35.0	118	-	-	-	-	-

Source: Reporters Without Borders (RSF) Press Freedom Index