Least democratic - goodness, several must rank first-equal here. I first tried Saudi Arabia since it doesn't even have elections and is repressive as anything (the latter applies to NK of course too)
Same with Brunei. Despite prosperity, the last elections were held in 1962. Despite a "constitution," all power lies with the Sultan and his immediate family and his cronies. It's effectively an absolute monarchy.
@OffFiddleDiddle a general rule of thumb: if the country's name contains "democratic" and/or "people's", it's usually neither (e.g. North Korea, DPR Congo, China...)
They don't measure their growth in GDP, they do it in GNH, Gross National Happiness. But it really isn't that happy, since people are forced to wear traditional clothing and the Nepalese minority has been treated horrendously, even to the point where most were kicked out in the 1990s and have been living in impoverished tent camps in Nepal ever since.
Got them all, but had a frustrating period where I totally spaced on what the quiz was asking for and kept typing Burj Khalifa, Dead Sea and Mt Everest and wondering why they weren't working. Ended up getting there with 11 seconds to spare when I stopped being an idiot.
I don't understand doubly landlocked because Uzbekistan is not two countries away from a sea. Caspian sea is but one country away from its borders. And you need only go through Kazakhstan to reach it from a sea port.
Democracy is not a measurable quality. Least democratic, isn't a question with a right or wrong answer, it's an opinion.
One person's democracy is another's dictatorship. I guessed North Korea, not because it's the least democratic but because those who make quizzes here tend to have conservative views.
Of course you can measure democracy! It is the way that you measure it may be considered an opinion, but it's still measurable. Fortunately, there is an international standard: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democracy_Index
Some countries are hard to compare as to which are more democratic, but some really stand out in lacking certain things which would be considered demcratic. So it would be hard to put all the countries on an exact scale, but not to difficult to put them in general groups (very, democratic, somewhat democratic, not democratic at all)
I agree that least democratic is a ridiculous question. They even call it the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. We all know better of course, but it is a democracy in theory (although not in practice). Some countries aren't even a democracy in theory (like iran).
Usually the more adjectives in a country's name declaring that it is not a dictatorship (People's, Democratic, Republic), the more of a dictatorship it is. Compare North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) and South Korea (Republic of Korea), or China (People's Republic of China) and Taiwan (Republic of China), or Republic of Congo and Democratic Republic of the Congo.... they're just overcompensating.
North Korea could be considered the most democratic country in the world, since everyone is required to vote ( albeit for the only candidate on the ballot). Either way, as others have stated above, it's too subjective to be genuine.
North Korea is not the only country with mandatory voting. Australia as well as many South American countries have mandatory voting (Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compulsory_voting). Besides, I don't really think forcing people to vote is very democratic.
Being forced to vote is not what democracy is/means. Democracy means ruled by the people, usually by representatives yes (otherwise it would turn into quite the chaos). But voting does not equal democracy and when it is forced I would say even less so. Because then you dont have a say in whether or not you want to have a say in things..
The reason why voting is compulsory in North Korea is that they want to keep track of who is and is not in the country. If anyone genuinely thinks North Korea is the most democratic country in the world they don't know what they're talking about. You might think it wasn't the least, but according to the democracy index it is the least. The argument about compulsory voting is neither here nor there in this case, because forcing people to vote for you specifically (not just forcing them to make up their mind) is totally obviously not democratic.
I am a firm believer that North Korea is very democratic. They have a vote every few years, and Kim Jong Un gets voted back in every time. They have found an efficient way of letting him be reelected, by making him the only candidate, but it is still very democratic
U joking my friend? Being democratic is more than holding elections. More on the lines of a government being controlled by officials from a select variety all could equally choose from. Having a vote with one decision is no vote.
so many countries would apply
http://www.economist.com/blogs/graphicdetail/2013/05/daily-chart-0
One person's democracy is another's dictatorship. I guessed North Korea, not because it's the least democratic but because those who make quizzes here tend to have conservative views.