This list of democratic countries is recommended for consumers who want to buy products made in a democracy (1). The name of the country where the product was made is on the product's label.

Households (consumers) have powerful control over a country's standard of living and standard of government. Household spending is 70% of the total goods and services bought per year (known as GDP -- Gross Domestic Product -- the most used indicator of an economy's health). The remaining 30% is government and business spending. Paychecks are possible mainly because of household spending. Therefore, consumer (your) choices of products and services are important.

Democracies that are government sanctioned tax havens for secret bank accounts (2) or havens for child prostitution (3) are excluded from the following list.

Andorra, Argentina, Australia, Austria

Belgium, Benin, Brazil, Bulgaria

Canada, Cape Verde, Chile, Croatia, Czech Republic

Denmark

El Salvador

Finland, France

Germany, Ghana, Greece, Guyana

Iceland, India, Ireland, Israel, Italy

Japan

Lithuania

Marshall Islands, Mauritius, Mongolia, Montenegro

Namibia, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway

Palau, Peru, Poland, Portugal

Romania

Saint Kitts and Nevis, San Marino, Sao Tome & Principe, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Suriname, Sweden

Taiwan, Tuvalu

United States

(1) Freedom House. Freedom in the World. Independent Countries. 2012 Edition. (* - Indicates a country's status as an electoral democracy)

(2) OECD (Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development). Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information for Tax Purposes. Tax Transparency 2011: Report on Progress. Recommendations per jurisdiction, p. 38. (Takes 3 to 5 minutes to download.)

(3) U.S. Dept. of State. Trafficking in Persons Report 2011. Tier 2 Watch List and Tier 3.

For a list of U.S. states cutting global warming, see www.madeinstates.net

Send comments/questions to Kathleen P. O'Donnell (Reference Librarian) at: kathleenodonnellko@gmail.com