Netflix subscribers worldwide

Between 2012 and 2023, global democracy declined while Netflix subscribers multiplied, producing an inverse correlation of -0.9647 that suggests the world is trading political participation for streaming entertainment at a mathematically precise rate. The theory that autocrats are bribing their populations with content libraries has not been formally tested, but the correlation is suggestive. One imagines a dictator reviewing the numbers: for every 0.1 point drop in the Democracy Index, Netflix gains 20 million subscribers. The exchange rate is unflattering to both parties. Freedom is expensive; a streaming subscription is $15.99.

The Economist Democracy Index world average declined from roughly 5.52 in 2012 to 5.29 by 2023, driven by democratic backsliding in major countries, pandemic-era emergency powers, and erosion of civil liberties. Netflix grew through the same period via international expansion, reaching markets in both democratic and authoritarian states. The inverse correlation reflects the coincidence of democratic decline and entertainment globalization occurring during the same decade, driven by entirely separate political and commercial forces.

Democratic backsliding and entertainment globalization are two of the defining trends of the 2010s, and they happen to move in opposite directions. The correlation captures the zeitgeist of a decade in which the world got more entertained and less free, but one did not cause the other.