129 years - that is the figure placed on the apparent birth of democracy in Luxembourg.
Now, I am certain many historians can (and will) argue with the finer points but this is the amount of years attributed to the Grand Duchy‘s democratic history in a study carried out by The World Economic Forum, more of which you can read here.
According to the study’s findings, here are the TOP TEN Oldest Democracies
Luxembourg places at number six with democracy being set in place somewhere around 1890 (or 1919 according to a separate study by Philippe Poirier).
Luxembourg comes in behind the United Kingdom, for whom the democratic process is proving to be notion with a fair amount of flexibility. This may also signify, as an early indicator, that things may go a little Bir-shaped in fiver-years time.
According to Visual Capitalist and their stat fans whom put together the lovely infographic you see below, democracy is still a relatively new concept, with some of the modern world’s newest democracies being less than half a century old.
Democracy in historical terms is oft related to Ancient Athens, when in 6th Century BC landowners were first permitted to speak at legislative assemblies.
Of course there are numerous discrepancies in timelines in the collated data (please refer to the study’s ‘A Common Set Of Criteria Section), Turkey is missing for example, Iceland and the Isle of Man are anomalies and there’s the rather important consideration of suffrage to consider as well.
You can read much more on Luxembourg History in Nathalie Lodhi’s columns, the first of which is found right this way....
Mapped: The world’s oldest democracies
World Economic Forum Homepage
