Freedom in the World








Country ratings from Freedom House's Freedom in the World 2018 survey, concerning the state of world freedom in 2017[1]
  Free   Partially Free   Not Free






   Countries designated "electoral democracies" in Freedom House's 2019 survey "Freedom in the World", covering the year 2018[2][3][4]



Freedom in the World is a yearly survey and report by the U.S.-based[5]non-governmental organization Freedom House that measures the degree of civil liberties and political rights in every nation and significant related and disputed territories around the world.




Contents






  • 1 Origin and use


  • 2 Country rankings


    • 2.1 World


    • 2.2 Related and disputed territories




  • 3 Trends


  • 4 Evaluation


    • 4.1 Ideological bias or neutrality


    • 4.2 Use and conceptual analysis


    • 4.3 Time series




  • 5 See also


  • 6 Notes


  • 7 References


  • 8 External links





Origin and use


Freedom in the World was launched in 1973 by Raymond Gastil. It produces annual scores representing the levels of political rights and civil liberties in each state and territory, on a scale from 1 (most free) to 7 (least free). Depending on the ratings, the nations are then classified as "Free", "Part(ial)ly Free", or "Not Free".[6] The report is often used by researchers in order to measure democracy and correlates highly with several other measures of democracy such as the Polity data series.[7]


The Freedom House rankings are widely reported in the media and used as sources by political researchers. Their construction and use has been evaluated by critics and supporters.[8]



Country rankings


The rankings below are from the Freedom in the World 2010,[9] 2011,[10] 2012,[11] 2013,[12] 2014,[13] 2015,[14] 2016,[15] 2017[16], 2018[17], and 2019[18] surveys, each reflecting findings covering the previous year. Each pair of political rights and civil liberties ratings is averaged to determine an overall status of "Free" (1.0–2.5), "Part(ial)ly Free" (3.0–5.0), or "Not Free" (5.5–7.0).[19]


An asterisk (*) indicates countries which are "electoral democracies". To qualify as an "electoral democracy", a state must have satisfied the following criteria:



  1. A competitive, multiparty political system;

  2. Adult suffrage for all citizens without criminal convictions (some states may further punish and subjugate people with criminal convictions by disenfranchising them from the democratic process);

  3. Regularly contested elections conducted in conditions of ballot secrecy, reasonable ballot security, and the absence of massive voter fraud that yields results that are unrepresentative of the public will; and

  4. Significant public access of major political parties to the electorate through the media and through generally open political campaigning.


An electoral democracy must have a score of 7 or more out of 12 in political rights subcategory A (Electoral Progress), an overall aggregate score of 20 in their political rights rating and an overall aggregate score of 30 in their civil liberties rating.[20]


Freedom House's term "electoral democracy" differs from "liberal democracy" in that the latter also implies the presence of a substantial array of civil liberties. In the survey, all Free countries qualify as both electoral and liberal democracies. By contrast, some Partly Free countries qualify as electoral, but not liberal, democracies.[19]



World



*: Electoral democracies (as described above), PR: Political Rights, CL: Civil Liberties



















































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































 
2010
2011
2012
2013
2014
2015
2016
2017
2018
2019
Country
PR
CL
Free
PR
CL
Free
PR
CL
Free
PR
CL
Free
PR
CL
Free
PR
CL
Free
PR
CL
Free
PR
CL
Free
PR
CL
Free
PR
CL
Free

 Afghanistan
6 6 Not 6 6 Not 6 6 Not 6 6 Not 6 6 Not 6 6 Not 6 6 Not 6 6 Not 5 6 Not 5 6
Not

 Albania*
3 3 Partly 3 3 Partly 3 3 Partly 3 3 Partly 3 3 Partly 3 3 Partly 3 3 Partly 3 3 Partly 3 3 Partly 3 3
Partly

 Algeria
6 5 Not 6 5 Not 6 5 Not 6 5 Not 6 5 Not 6 5 Not 6 5 Not 6 5 Not 6 5 Not 6 5
Not

 Andorra*
1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1
Free

 Angola
6 5 Not 6 5 Not 6 5 Not 6 5 Not 6 5 Not 6 5 Not 6 6 Not 6 6 Not 6 6 Not 6 5
Not

 Antigua and Barbuda*
3 2 Free 3 2 Free 3 2 Free 2 2 Free 2 2 Free 2 2 Free 2 2 Free 2 2 Free 2 2 Free 2 2
Free

 Argentina*
2 2 Free 2 2 Free 2 2 Free 2 2 Free 2 2 Free 2 2 Free 2 2 Free 2 2 Free 2 2 Free 2 2
Free

 Armenia
6 4 Partly 6 4 Partly 6 4 Partly 5 4 Partly 5 4 Partly 5 4 Partly 5 4 Partly 5 4 Partly 5 4 Partly 4 4
Partly

 Australia*
1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1
Free

 Austria*
1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1
Free

 Azerbaijan
6 5 Not 6 5 Not 6 5 Not 6 5 Not 6 6 Not 6 6 Not 7 6 Not 7 6 Not 7 6 Not 7 6
Not

 Bahamas*
1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1
Free

 Bahrain
6 5 Not 6 5 Not 6 6 Not 6 6 Not 6 6 Not 7 6 Not 7 6 Not 7 6 Not 7 6 Not 7 6
Not

 Bangladesh
3 4 Partly 3 4 Partly 3 4 Partly 3 4 Partly 3 4 Partly 4 4 Partly 4 4 Partly 4 4 Partly 4 4 Partly 5 5
Partly

 Barbados*
1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1
Free

 Belarus
7 6 Not 7 6 Not 7 6 Not 7 6 Not 7 6 Not 7 6 Not 7 6 Not 7 6 Not 6 6 Not 7 6
Not

 Belgium*
1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1
Free

 Belize*
1 2 Free 1 2 Free 1 2 Free 1 2 Free 1 2 Free 1 2 Free 1 2 Free 1 2 Free 1 2 Free 1 2
Free

 Benin*
2 2 Free 2 2 Free 2 2 Free 2 2 Free 2 2 Free 2 2 Free 2 2 Free 2 2 Free 2 2 Free 2 2
Free

 Bhutan*
4 5 Partly 4 5 Partly 4 5 Partly 4 5 Partly 3 4 Partly 3 4 Partly 3 4 Partly 3 4 Partly 3 4 Partly 3 4
Partly

 Bolivia*
3 3 Partly 3 3 Partly 3 3 Partly 3 3 Partly 3 3 Partly 3 3 Partly 3 3 Partly 3 3 Partly 3 3 Partly 3 3
Partly

 Bosnia and Herzegovina
4 3 Partly 4 3 Partly 4 3 Partly 3 3 Partly 3 3 Partly 4 3 Partly 4 3 Partly 4 4 Partly 4 4 Partly 4 4
Partly

 Botswana*
3 2 Free 3 2 Free 3 2 Free 3 2 Free 3 2 Free 3 2 Free 3 2 Free 3 2 Free 3 2 Free 3 2
Free

 Brazil*
2 2 Free 2 2 Free 2 2 Free 2 2 Free 2 2 Free 2 2 Free 2 2 Free 2 2 Free 2 2 Free 2 2
Free

 Brunei
6 5 Not 6 5 Not 6 5 Not 6 5 Not 6 5 Not 6 5 Not 6 5 Not 6 5 Not 6 5 Not 6 5
Not

 Bulgaria*
2 2 Free 2 2 Free 2 2 Free 2 2 Free 2 2 Free 2 2 Free 2 2 Free 2 2 Free 2 2 Free 2 2
Free

 Burkina Faso*
5 3 Partly 5 3 Partly 5 3 Partly 5 3 Partly 5 3 Partly 6 3 Partly 4 3 Partly 4 3 Partly 4 3 Partly 4 3
Partly

 Burundi
4 5 Partly 5 5 Partly 5 5 Partly 5 5 Partly 5 5 Partly 6 5 Not 7 6 Not 7 6 Not 7 6 Not 7 6
Not

 Cambodia
6 5 Not 6 5 Not 6 5 Not 6 5 Not 6 5 Not 6 5 Not 6 5 Not 6 5 Not 6 5 Not 6 5
Not

 Cameroon
6 6 Not 6 6 Not 6 6 Not 6 6 Not 6 6 Not 6 6 Not 6 6 Not 6 6 Not 6 6 Not 6 6
Not

 Canada*
1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1
Free

 Cape Verde*
1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1
Free

 Central African Republic
5 5 Partly 5 5 Partly 5 5 Partly 5 5 Partly 7 7 Not 7 7 Not 7 7 Not 7 7 Not 7 7 Not 7 7
Not

 Chad
7 6 Not 7 6 Not 7 6 Not 7 6 Not 7 6 Not 7 6 Not 7 6 Not 7 6 Not 7 6 Not 7 6
Not

 Chile*
1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1
Free

 China
7 6 Not 7 6 Not 7 6 Not 7 6 Not 7 6 Not 7 6 Not 7 6 Not 7 6 Not 7 6 Not 7 6
Not

 Colombia*
3 4 Partly 3 4 Partly 3 4 Partly 3 4 Partly 3 4 Partly 3 4 Partly 3 4 Partly 3 3 Partly 3 3 Partly 3 3
Partly

 Comoros
3 4 Partly 3 4 Partly 3 4 Partly 3 4 Partly 3 4 Partly 3 4 Partly 3 4 Partly 3 4 Partly 3 4 Partly 4 4
Partly

Democratic Republic of the Congo Congo, Democratic Republic of
6 6 Not 6 6 Not 6 6 Not 6 6 Not 6 6 Not 6 6 Not 6 6 Not 7 6 Not 7 6 Not 7 6
Not

Republic of the Congo Congo, Republic of
6 5 Not 6 5 Not 6 5 Not 6 5 Not 6 5 Not 6 5 Not 6 5 Not 7 5 Not 7 5 Not 7 5
Not

 Costa Rica*
1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1
Free

 Croatia*
1 2 Free 1 2 Free 1 2 Free 1 2 Free 1 2 Free 1 2 Free 1 2 Free 1 2 Free 1 2 Free 1 2
Free

 Cuba
7 6 Not 7 6 Not 7 6 Not 7 6 Not 7 6 Not 7 6 Not 7 6 Not 7 6 Not 7 6 Not 7 6
Not

 Cyprus*
1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1
Free

 Czech Republic*
1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1
Free

 Denmark*
1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1
Free

 Djibouti
5 5 Partly 6 5 Not 6 5 Not 6 5 Not 6 5 Not 6 5 Not 6 5 Not 6 5 Not 6 5 Not 6 5
Not

 Dominica*
1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1
Free

 Dominican Republic*
2 2 Free 2 2 Free 2 2 Free 2 2 Free 2 3 Free 2 3 Free 3 3 Partly 3 3 Partly 3 3 Partly 3 3
Partly

 East Timor*
3 4 Partly 3 4 Partly 3 4 Partly 3 4 Partly 3 4 Partly 3 3 Partly 3 3 Partly 3 3 Partly 2 3 Free 2 3
Free

 Ecuador*
3 3 Partly 3 3 Partly 3 3 Partly 3 3 Partly 3 3 Partly 3 3 Partly 3 3 Partly 3 4 Partly 3 3 Partly 3 3
Partly

 Egypt
6 5 Not 6 5 Not 6 5 Not 5 5 Partly 6 5 Not 6 5 Not 6 5 Not 6 5 Not 6 6 Not 6 6
Not

 El Salvador*
2 3 Free 2 3 Free 2 3 Free 2 3 Free 2 3 Free 2 3 Free 2 3 Free 2 3 Free 2 3 Free 2 3
Free

 Equatorial Guinea
7 7 Not 7 7 Not 7 7 Not 7 7 Not 7 7 Not 7 7 Not 7 7 Not 7 7 Not 7 7 Not 7 7
Not

 Eritrea
7 7 Not 7 7 Not 7 7 Not 7 7 Not 7 7 Not 7 7 Not 7 7 Not 7 7 Not 7 7 Not 7 7
Not

 Estonia*
1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1
Free

 Ethiopia
5 5 Partly 6 6 Not 6 6 Not 6 6 Not 6 6 Not 6 6 Not 7 6 Not 7 6 Not 7 6 Not 6 6
Not

 Fiji*
6 4 Partly 6 4 Partly 6 4 Partly 6 4 Partly 6 4 Partly 3 4 Partly 3 3 Partly 3 4 Partly 3 3 Partly 3 3
Partly

 Finland*
1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1
Free

 France*
1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 2 Free 1 2 Free 1 2
Free

 Gabon
6 5 Not 6 5 Not 6 5 Not 6 5 Not 6 5 Not 6 5 Not 6 5 Not 6 5 Not 7 5 Not 7 5
Not

 Gambia
5 5 Partly 5 5 Partly 6 5 Not 6 6 Not 6 6 Not 6 6 Not 7 6 Not 6 6 Not 4 5 Partly 4 5
Partly

 Georgia*
4 4 Partly 4 3 Partly 4 3 Partly 3 3 Partly 3 3 Partly 3 3 Partly 3 3 Partly 3 3 Partly 3 3 Partly 3 3
Partly

 Germany*
1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1
Free

 Ghana*
1 2 Free 1 2 Free 1 2 Free 1 2 Free 1 2 Free 1 2 Free 1 2 Free 1 2 Free 1 2 Free 1 2
Free

 Greece*
1 2 Free 1 2 Free 2 2 Free 2 2 Free 2 2 Free 2 2 Free 2 2 Free 2 2 Free 2 2 Free 1 2
Free

 Grenada*
1 2 Free 1 2 Free 1 2 Free 1 2 Free 1 2 Free 1 2 Free 1 2 Free 1 2 Free 1 2 Free 1 2
Free

 Guatemala*
4 4 Partly 4 4 Partly 3 4 Partly 3 4 Partly 3 4 Partly 3 4 Partly 4 4 Partly 4 4 Partly 4 4 Partly 4 4
Partly

 Guinea
7 6 Not 5 5 Partly 5 5 Partly 5 5 Partly 5 5 Partly 5 5 Partly 5 5 Partly 5 5 Partly 5 5 Partly 5 4
Partly

 Guinea-Bissau
4 4 Partly 4 4 Partly 4 4 Partly 6 5 Not 6 5 Not 5 5 Partly 5 5 Partly 5 5 Partly 5 5 Partly 5 4
Partly

 Guyana*
2 3 Free 2 3 Free 2 3 Free 2 3 Free 2 3 Free 2 3 Free 2 3 Free 2 3 Free 2 3 Free 2 3
Free

 Haiti
4 5 Partly 4 5 Partly 4 5 Partly 4 5 Partly 4 5 Partly 5 5 Partly 5 5 Partly 5 5 Partly 5 5 Partly 5 5
Partly

 Honduras
4 4 Partly 4 4 Partly 4 4 Partly 4 4 Partly 4 4 Partly 4 4 Partly 4 4 Partly 4 4 Partly 4 4 Partly 4 4
Partly

 Hungary*
1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 2 Free 1 2 Free 1 2 Free 2 2 Free 2 2 Free 3 2 Free 3 2 Free 3 3
Partly

 Iceland*
1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1
Free

 India*
2 3 Free 2 3 Free 2 3 Free 2 3 Free 2 3 Free 2 3 Free 2 3 Free 2 3 Free 2 3 Free 2 3
Free

 Indonesia*
2 3 Free 2 3 Free 2 3 Free 2 3 Free 2 4 Partly 2 4 Partly 2 4 Partly 2 4 Partly 2 4 Partly 2 4
Partly

 Iran
6 6 Not 6 6 Not 6 6 Not 6 6 Not 6 6 Not 6 6 Not 6 6 Not 6 6 Not 6 6 Not 6 6
Not

 Iraq
5 6 Not 5 6 Not 5 6 Not 6 6 Not 5 6 Not 6 6 Not 5 6 Not 5 6 Not 5 6 Not 5 6
Not

 Ireland*
1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1
Free

 Israel*
1 2 Free 1 2 Free 1 2 Free 1 2 Free 1 2 Free 1 2 Free 1 2 Free 1 2 Free 1 3 Free 2 3
Free

 Italy*
1 2 Free 1 2 Free 1 1 Free 2 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1
Free

 Ivory Coast
6 5 Not 7 6 Not 6 6 Not 5 5 Partly 5 4 Partly 5 4 Partly 4 4 Partly 4 4 Partly 4 4 Partly 4 4
Partly

 Jamaica*
2 3 Free 2 3 Free 2 3 Free 2 3 Free 2 3 Free 2 3 Free 2 3 Free 2 3 Free 2 3 Free 2 2
Free

 Japan*
1 2 Free 1 2 Free 1 2 Free 1 2 Free 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1
Free

 Jordan
6 5 Not 6 5 Not 6 5 Not 6 5 Not 6 5 Not 6 5 Not 6 5 Not 5 5 Partly 5 5 Partly 5 5
Partly

 Kazakhstan
6 5 Not 6 5 Not 6 5 Not 6 5 Not 6 5 Not 6 5 Not 6 5 Not 7 5 Not 7 5 Not 7 5
Not

 Kenya
4 4 Partly 4 3 Partly 4 3 Partly 4 4 Partly 4 4 Partly 4 4 Partly 4 4 Partly 4 4 Partly 4 4 Partly 4 4
Partly

 Kiribati*
1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1
Free

 Kosovo*
5 4 Partly 5 4 Partly 5 4 Partly 5 4 Partly 5 4 Partly 4 4 Partly 3 4 Partly 3 4 Partly 3 4 Partly 3 4
Partly

 Kuwait
4 4 Partly 4 5 Partly 4 5 Partly 5 5 Partly 5 5 Partly 5 5 Partly 5 5 Partly 5 5 Partly 5 5 Partly 5 5
Partly

 Kyrgyzstan
6 5 Not 5 5 Partly 5 5 Partly 5 5 Partly 5 5 Partly 5 5 Partly 5 5 Partly 5 5 Partly 5 5 Partly 5 4
Partly

 Laos
7 6 Not 7 6 Not 7 6 Not 7 6 Not 7 6 Not 7 6 Not 7 6 Not 7 6 Not 7 6 Not 7 6
Not

 Latvia*
2 1 Free 2 2 Free 2 2 Free 2 2 Free 2 2 Free 2 2 Free 2 2 Free 1 2 Free 2 2 Free 2 2
Free

 Lebanon
5 3 Partly 5 3 Partly 5 4 Partly 5 4 Partly 5 4 Partly 5 4 Partly 5 4 Partly 5 4 Partly 6 4 Partly 5 4
Partly

 Lesotho*
3 3 Partly 3 3 Partly 3 3 Partly 2 3 Free 2 3 Free 2 3 Free 3 3 Partly 3 3 Partly 3 3 Partly 3 3
Partly

 Liberia*
3 4 Partly 3 4 Partly 3 4 Partly 3 4 Partly 3 4 Partly 3 4 Partly 3 4 Partly 3 4 Partly 3 3 Partly 3 3
Partly

 Libya
7 7 Not 7 7 Not 7 6 Not 4 5 Partly 4 5 Partly 6 6 Not 6 6 Not 7 6 Not 7 6 Not 7 6
Not

 Liechtenstein*
1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 2 1 Free 2 1 Free 2 1
Free

 Lithuania*
1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1
Free

 Luxembourg*
1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1
Free

 Macedonia
3 3 Partly 3 3 Partly 3 3 Partly 3 3 Partly 3 3 Partly 4 3 Partly 4 3 Partly 4 3 Partly 4 3 Partly 4 3
Partly

 Madagascar*
6 4 Partly 6 4 Partly 6 4 Partly 6 4 Partly 5 4 Partly 4 4 Partly 3 4 Partly 3 4 Partly 3 4 Partly 3 4
Partly

 Malawi*
3 4 Partly 3 4 Partly 3 4 Partly 3 4 Partly 3 4 Partly 3 4 Partly 3 3 Partly 3 3 Partly 3 3 Partly 3 3
Partly

 Malaysia
4 4 Partly 4 4 Partly 4 4 Partly 4 4 Partly 4 4 Partly 4 4 Partly 4 4 Partly 4 4 Partly 4 4 Partly 4 4
Partly

 Maldives
3 4 Partly 3 4 Partly 3 4 Partly 5 4 Partly 4 4 Partly 4 4 Partly 4 5 Partly 5 5 Partly 5 5 Partly 5 5
Partly

 Mali
2 3 Free 2 3 Free 2 3 Free 7 5 Not 5 4 Partly 5 4 Partly 5 4 Partly 5 4 Partly 5 4 Partly 4 4
Partly

 Malta*
1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 2 1
Free

 Marshall Islands*
1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1
Free

 Mauritania
6 5 Not 6 5 Not 6 5 Not 6 5 Not 6 5 Not 6 5 Not 6 5 Not 6 5 Not 6 5 Not 6 5
Not

 Mauritius*
1 2 Free 1 2 Free 1 2 Free 1 2 Free 1 2 Free 1 2 Free 1 2 Free 1 2 Free 1 2 Free 1 2
Free

 Mexico*
2 3 Free 3 3 Partly 3 3 Partly 3 3 Partly 3 3 Partly 3 3 Partly 3 3 Partly 3 3 Partly 3 3 Partly 3 3
Partly

Federated States of Micronesia Micronesia*
1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1
Free

 Moldova*
3 4 Partly 3 3 Partly 3 3 Partly 3 3 Partly 3 3 Partly 3 3 Partly 3 3 Partly 3 3 Partly 3 3 Partly 3 4
Partly

 Monaco*
2 1 Free 2 1 Free 2 1 Free 2 1 Free 2 1 Free 2 1 Free 2 1 Free 3 1 Free 3 1 Free 3 1
Free

 Mongolia*
2 2 Free 2 2 Free 2 2 Free 1 2 Free 1 2 Free 1 2 Free 1 2 Free 1 2 Free 1 2 Free 1 2
Free

 Montenegro*
3 2 Free 3 2 Free 3 2 Free 3 2 Free 3 2 Free 3 2 Free 3 3 Partly 3 3 Partly 3 3 Partly 4 3
Partly

 Morocco
5 4 Partly 5 4 Partly 5 4 Partly 5 4 Partly 5 4 Partly 5 4 Partly 5 4 Partly 5 4 Partly 5 5 Partly 5 5
Partly

 Mozambique
4 3 Partly 4 3 Partly 4 3 Partly 4 3 Partly 4 3 Partly 4 3 Partly 4 4 Partly 4 4 Partly 4 4 Partly 4 4
Partly

 Myanmar
7 7 Not 7 7 Not 7 6 Not 6 5 Not 6 5 Not 6 6 Not 6 5 Not 5 5 Partly 5 5 Partly 5 5
Partly

 Namibia*
2 2 Free 2 2 Free 2 2 Free 2 2 Free 2 2 Free 2 2 Free 2 2 Free 2 2 Free 2 2 Free 3 2
Free

 Nauru*
1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 2 Free 2 2 Free 2 2 Free 2 2 Free 2 2
Free

   Nepal
4 4 Partly 4 4 Partly 4 4 Partly 4 4 Partly 4 4 Partly 3 4 Partly 3 4 Partly 3 4 Partly 3 4 Partly 3 4
Partly

 Netherlands*
1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1
Free

 New Zealand*
1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1
Free

 Nicaragua
4 4 Partly 4 4 Partly 5 4 Partly 5 4 Partly 4 3 Partly 4 3 Partly 4 3 Partly 5 4 Partly 5 4 Partly 6 5
Not

 Niger
5 4 Partly 5 4 Partly 3 4 Partly 3 4 Partly 3 4 Partly 3 4 Partly 3 4 Partly 4 4 Partly 4 4 Partly 4 4
Partly

 Nigeria
5 4 Partly 4 4 Partly 4 4 Partly 4 4 Partly 4 4 Partly 4 5 Partly 4 5 Partly 3 5 Partly 3 5 Partly 3 5
Partly

 North Korea
7 7 Not 7 7 Not 7 7 Not 7 7 Not 7 7 Not 7 7 Not 7 7 Not 7 7 Not 7 7 Not 7 7
Not

 Norway*
1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1
Free

 Oman
6 5 Not 6 5 Not 6 5 Not 6 5 Not 6 5 Not 6 5 Not 6 5 Not 6 5 Not 6 5 Not 6 5
Not

 Pakistan
4 5 Partly 4 5 Partly 4 5 Partly 4 5 Partly 4 5 Partly 4 5 Partly 4 5 Partly 4 5 Partly 4 5 Partly 5 5
Partly

 Palau*
1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1
Free

 Panama*
1 2 Free 1 2 Free 1 2 Free 1 2 Free 2 2 Free 2 2 Free 2 2 Free 2 2 Free 2 2 Free 1 2
Free

 Papua New Guinea*
4 3 Partly 4 3 Partly 4 3 Partly 4 3 Partly 3 3 Partly 4 3 Partly 4 3 Partly 3 3 Partly 3 3 Partly 4 3
Partly

 Paraguay*
3 3 Partly 3 3 Partly 3 3 Partly 3 3 Partly 3 3 Partly 3 3 Partly 3 3 Partly 3 3 Partly 3 3 Partly 3 3
Partly

 Peru*
2 3 Free 2 3 Free 2 3 Free 2 3 Free 2 3 Free 2 3 Free 2 3 Free 2 3 Free 2 3 Free 2 3
Free

 Philippines*
4 3 Partly 3 3 Partly 3 3 Partly 3 3 Partly 3 3 Partly 3 3 Partly 3 3 Partly 3 3 Partly 3 3 Partly 3 3
Partly

 Poland*
1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 2 Free 1 2 Free 2 2
Free

 Portugal*
1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1
Free

 Qatar
6 5 Not 6 5 Not 6 5 Not 6 5 Not 6 5 Not 6 5 Not 6 5 Not 6 5 Not 6 5 Not 6 5
Not

 Romania*
2 2 Free 2 2 Free 2 2 Free 2 2 Free 2 2 Free 2 2 Free 2 2 Free 2 2 Free 2 2 Free 2 2
Free

 Russia
6 5 Not 6 5 Not 6 5 Not 6 5 Not 6 5 Not 6 6 Not 6 6 Not 7 6 Not 7 6 Not 7 6
Not

 Rwanda
6 5 Not 6 5 Not 6 5 Not 6 6 Not 6 5 Not 6 6 Not 6 6 Not 6 6 Not 6 6 Not 6 6
Not

 Saint Kitts and Nevis*
1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 2 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1
Free

 Saint Lucia*
1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1
Free

 Saint Vincent and the Grenadines*
2 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1
Free

 Samoa*
2 2 Free 2 2 Free 2 2 Free 2 2 Free 2 2 Free 2 2 Free 2 2 Free 2 2 Free 2 2 Free 2 2
Free

 San Marino*
1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1
Free

 São Tomé and Príncipe*
2 2 Free 2 2 Free 2 2 Free 2 2 Free 2 2 Free 2 2 Free 2 2 Free 2 2 Free 2 2 Free 2 2
Free

 Saudi Arabia
7 6 Not 7 6 Not 7 7 Not 7 7 Not 7 7 Not 7 7 Not 7 7 Not 7 7 Not 7 7 Not 7 7
Not

 Senegal*
3 3 Partly 3 3 Partly 3 3 Partly 2 3 Free 2 2 Free 2 2 Free 2 2 Free 2 2 Free 2 2 Free 2 3
Free

 Serbia*
2 2 Free 2 2 Free 2 2 Free 2 2 Free 2 2 Free 2 2 Free 2 2 Free 3 2 Free 3 2 Free 3 3
Partly

 Seychelles*
3 3 Partly 3 3 Partly 3 3 Partly 3 3 Partly 3 3 Partly 3 3 Partly 3 3 Partly 3 3 Partly 3 3 Partly 3 3
Partly

 Sierra Leone*
3 3 Partly 3 3 Partly 3 3 Partly 2 3 Free 3 3 Partly 3 3 Partly 3 3 Partly 3 3 Partly 3 3 Partly 3 3
Partly

 Singapore
5 4 Partly 5 4 Partly 4 4 Partly 4 4 Partly 4 4 Partly 4 4 Partly 4 4 Partly 4 4 Partly 4 4 Partly 4 4
Partly

 Slovakia*
1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 2
Free

 Slovenia*
1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1
Free

 Solomon Islands*
4 3 Partly 4 3 Partly 4 3 Partly 4 3 Partly 4 3 Partly 3 3 Partly 3 3 Partly 3 2 Free 3 2 Free 2 2
Free

 Somalia
7 7 Not 7 7 Not 7 7 Not 7 7 Not 7 7 Not 7 7 Not 7 7 Not 7 7 Not 7 7 Not 7 7
Not

 South Africa*
2 2 Free 2 2 Free 2 2 Free 2 2 Free 2 2 Free 2 2 Free 2 2 Free 2 2 Free 2 2 Free 2 2
Free

 South Korea*
1 2 Free 1 2 Free 1 2 Free 1 2 Free 2 2 Free 2 2 Free 2 2 Free 2 2 Free 2 2 Free 2 2
Free

 South Sudan
7 7 Not 7 7 Not 6 5 Not 6 5 Not 6 6 Not 7 6 Not 7 6 Not 7 7 Not 7 7 Not 7 7
Not

 Spain*
1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1
Free

 Sri Lanka*
4 4 Partly 5 4 Partly 5 4 Partly 5 4 Partly 5 4 Partly 5 5 Partly 4 4 Partly 3 4 Partly 3 4 Partly 3 4
Partly

 Sudan
7 7 Not 7 7 Not 7 7 Not 7 7 Not 7 7 Not 7 7 Not 7 7 Not 7 7 Not 7 7 Not 7 7
Not

 Suriname*
2 2 Free 2 2 Free 2 2 Free 2 2 Free 2 2 Free 2 2 Free 2 3 Free 2 3 Free 2 2 Free 2 3
Free

 Swaziland
7 5 Not 7 5 Not 7 5 Not 7 5 Not 7 5 Not 7 5 Not 7 5 Not 7 5 Not 7 6 Not 7 6
Not

 Sweden*
1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1
Free

  Switzerland*
1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1
Free

 Syria
7 6 Not 7 6 Not 7 7 Not 7 7 Not 7 7 Not 7 7 Not 7 7 Not 7 7 Not 7 7 Not 7 7
Not

 Taiwan*
1 2 Free 1 2 Free 1 2 Free 1 2 Free 1 2 Free 1 2 Free 1 2 Free 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1
Free

 Tajikistan
6 5 Not 6 5 Not 6 5 Not 6 6 Not 6 6 Not 6 6 Not 7 6 Not 7 6 Not 7 6 Not 7 6
Not

 Tanzania
4 3 Partly 3 3 Partly 3 3 Partly 3 3 Partly 3 3 Partly 3 3 Partly 3 4 Partly 3 4 Partly 4 4 Partly 4 5
Partly

 Thailand
5 4 Partly 5 4 Partly 4 4 Partly 4 4 Partly 4 4 Partly 6 5 Not 6 5 Not 6 5 Not 6 5 Not 7 5
Not

 Togo
5 4 Partly 5 4 Partly 5 4 Partly 5 4 Partly 4 4 Partly 4 4 Partly 4 4 Partly 4 4 Partly 4 4 Partly 5 4
Partly

 Tonga*
5 3 Partly 3 3 Partly 3 3 Partly 3 2 Free 2 2 Free 2 2 Free 2 2 Free 2 2 Free 2 2 Free 2 2
Free

 Trinidad and Tobago*
2 2 Free 2 2 Free 2 2 Free 2 2 Free 2 2 Free 2 2 Free 2 2 Free 2 2 Free 2 2 Free 2 2
Free

 Tunisia*
7 5 Not 7 5 Not 3 4 Partly 3 4 Partly 3 3 Partly 1 3 Free 1 3 Free 1 3 Free 2 3 Free 2 3
Free

 Turkey
3 3 Partly 3 3 Partly 3 3 Partly 3 4 Partly 3 4 Partly 3 4 Partly 3 4 Partly 4 5 Partly 5 6 Not 5 6
Not

 Turkmenistan
7 7 Not 7 7 Not 7 7 Not 7 7 Not 7 7 Not 7 7 Not 7 7 Not 7 7 Not 7 7 Not 7 7
Not

 Tuvalu*
1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1
Free

 Uganda
5 4 Partly 5 4 Partly 5 4 Partly 5 4 Partly 6 4 Partly 6 5 Not 6 5 Not 6 5 Not 6 4 Partly 6 5
Not

 Ukraine*
3 2 Free 3 3 Partly 4 3 Partly 4 3 Partly 4 3 Partly 3 3 Partly 3 3 Partly 3 3 Partly 3 3 Partly 3 4
Partly

 United Arab Emirates
6 5 Not 6 5 Not 6 6 Not 6 6 Not 6 6 Not 6 6 Not 6 6 Not 6 6 Not 7 6 Not 7 6
Not

 United Kingdom*
1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1
Free

 United States*
1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 2 1 Free 2 1
Free

 Uruguay*
1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1 Free 1 1
Free

 Uzbekistan
7 7 Not 7 7 Not 7 7 Not 7 7 Not 7 7 Not 7 7 Not 7 7 Not 7 7 Not 7 7 Not 7 6
Not

 Vanuatu*
2 2 Free 2 2 Free 2 2 Free 2 2 Free 2 2 Free 2 2 Free 2 2 Free 2 2 Free 2 2 Free 2 2
Free

 Venezuela
5 4 Partly 5 5 Partly 5 5 Partly 5 5 Partly 5 5 Partly 5 5 Partly 5 5 Partly 6 5 Not 6 5 Not 7 6
Not

 Vietnam
7 5 Not 7 5 Not 7 5 Not 7 5 Not 7 5 Not 7 5 Not 7 5 Not 7 5 Not 7 5 Not 7 5
Not

 Yemen
6 5 Not 6 5 Not 6 6 Not 6 6 Not 6 6 Not 6 6 Not 7 6 Not 7 6 Not 7 6 Not 7 6
Not

 Zambia
3 4 Partly 3 4 Partly 3 4 Partly 3 4 Partly 3 4 Partly 3 4 Partly 3 4 Partly 4 4 Partly 4 4 Partly 4 4
Partly

 Zimbabwe
6 6 Not 6 6 Not 6 6 Not 6 6 Not 5 6 Not 5 6 Not 5 5 Partly 5 5 Partly 6 5 Not 5 5
Partly


Related and disputed territories



Key: - Related territory, - Disputed territory, PR - Political Rights, CL - Civil Liberties, Free Status: Free, Partly Free, Not Free














































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































 
2010
2011
2012
2013
2014
2015
2016
2017
2018
Country
PR
CL
Free
PR
CL
Free
PR
CL
Free
PR
CL
Free
PR
CL
Free
PR
CL
Free
PR
CL
Free
PR
CL
Free
PR
CL
Free

 Abkhazia‡ (Georgia)
5
5

Partly
5
5

Partly
5
5

Partly
4
5

Partly
4
5

Partly
4
5

Partly
4
5

Partly
4
5

Partly
4
5

Partly

 Crimea‡ (Ukraine/Russia)
3
2

Free
3
3

Partly
4
3

Partly
4
3

Partly
4
3

Partly
7
6

Not
7
6

Not
7
6

Not
7
6

Not

 Gaza Strip‡ (PA)
6
6

Not
6
6

Not
6
6

Not
6
6

Not
7
6

Not
7
6

Not
7
6

Not
7
6

Not
7
6

Not

 Hong Kong† (China)
5
2

Partly
5
2

Partly
5
2

Partly
5
2

Partly
5
2

Partly
5
2

Partly
5
2

Partly
5
2

Partly
5
2

Partly

 Jammu and Kashmir‡ (India)
4
4

Partly
4
5

Partly
4
4

Partly
4
4

Partly
4
4

Partly
4
4

Partly
4
4

Partly
4
4

Partly
4
4

Partly

 Azad Kashmir‡ (Pakistan)
6
5

Not
6
5

Not
6
5

Not
6
5

Not
6
5

Not
6
5

Not
6
5

Not
6
5

Not
6
5

Not

 Nagorno-Karabakh‡ (Azerbaijan)
5
5

Partly
6
5

Not
6
5

Not
5
5

Partly
5
5

Partly
5
5

Partly
5
5

Partly
5
5

Partly
5
5

Partly

 Northern Cyprus‡ (Cyprus)*
2
2

Free
2
2

Free
2
2

Free
2
2

Free
2
2

Free
2
2

Free
2
2

Free
2
2

Free
2
2

Free

 Puerto Rico† (United States)*
1
1

Free
1
1

Free
1
2

Free
1
2

Free
1
2

Free
1
2

Free
1
1

Free[21]







 Somaliland‡ (Somalia)
5
5

Partly
4
5

Partly
4
5

Partly
4
5

Partly
4
5

Partly
4
5

Partly
5
5

Partly
5
5

Partly
4
5

Partly

 South Ossetia‡ (Georgia)
7
6

Not
7
6

Not
7
6

Not
7
6

Not
7
6

Not
7
6

Not
7
6

Not
7
6

Not
7
6

Not

 Tibet ‡ (China)
7
7

Not
7
7

Not
7
7

Not
7
7

Not
7
7

Not
7
7

Not
7
7

Not
7
7

Not
7
7

Not

 Transnistria‡ (Moldova)
6
6

Not
6
6

Not
6
6

Not
6
6

Not
6
6

Not
6
6

Not
6
6

Not
6
6

Not
6
6

Not

 West Bank‡ (PA)
6
6

Not
6
5

Not
6
5

Not
6
5

Not
6
5

Not
6
5

Not
6
5

Not
7
5

Not
7
5

Not

 Western Sahara‡ (Morocco)
7
6

Not
7
6

Not
7
7

Not
7
7

Not
7
7

Not
7
7

Not
7
7

Not
7
7

Not
7
7

Not


Trends


According to Freedom House, a quarter of all declines of freedom in the world in 2016 took place in Europe.[22]


Percentage of countries in each category, from the 1973 through 2014 reports:






Freedom in the World graph 1973-2014.svg

1973–2014

  Not Free
  Partly Free
  Free




















































































































Year

Free

Partly
Free

Not
Free

Electoral
Democracies
1975 41 (27%) 48 (32%) 63 (41%)
1980 51 (32%) 54 (33%) 56 (35%)
1985 53 (32%) 59 (35%) 55 (33%)
1990 61 (37%) 44 (26%) 62 (37%) 69 (41%)
1995 76 (40%) 61 (32%) 54 (28%) 113 (59%)
2000 85 (44%) 60 (31%) 47 (25%) 120 (63%)
2005 89 (46%) 54 (28%) 49 (26%) 119 (62%)
2010 89 (46%) 58 (30%) 47 (24%) 116 (60%)
2011 87 (45%) 60 (31%) 47 (24%) 115 (59%)
2012 87 (45%) 60 (31%) 48 (25%) 117 (60%)
2013 90 (46%) 58 (30%) 47 (24%) 117 (60%)
2014 88 (45%) 59 (30%) 48 (25%) 122 (63%)
2015 89 (46%) 55 (28%) 51 (26%) 125 (64%)
2016 86 (44%) 59 (30%) 50 (26%) 125 (64%)
2017 87 (45%) 59 (30%) 49 (25%) 123 (63%)


Sources: Country Status and ratings overview 1973–2016,[23] Number and percentages of electoral democracies 1989–2016,[24]Freedom in the World 2018 report covering 2017.[25]


Notes:



  • The years shown in the map and table above are the year the survey was released, the data shown covers the prior calendar year.

  • The chart and table above do not include data for related/disputed territories.





Evaluation



There is some debate over the neutrality of Freedom House and the methodology used for the Freedom in the World report, which has been written by Raymond D. Gastil and his colleagues.[6] The neutrality and biases of human-rights indices have been discussed in several publications by Kenneth A. Bollen.[26] Bollen wrote that "Considered together these criticisms suggest that some nations may have been incorrectly rated on Gastil's measures. However, none of the criticisms have demonstrated a systematic bias in all the ratings. Most of the evidence consists of anecdotal evidence of relatively few cases. Whether there is a systematic or sporadic slant in Gastil's ratings is an open question" (Bollen, 1986, p. 586).[6] The freedom index of Freedom in the World has a very strong and positive (at least an 80%) correlation with three other democracy-indices studied in Mainwaring (2001, p. 53).[27]



Ideological bias or neutrality


In his 1986 study, Bollen discussed reviews of measurements of human rights, including the index reported in Freedom in the World (Bollen, 1986, p. 585). Criticisms of Freedom in the World during the 1980s were discussed by Gastil (1990), who stated that "generally such criticism is based on opinions about Freedom House rather than detailed examination of survey ratings", a conclusion disputed by Giannone.[28] The definition of Freedom in Gastil (1982) and Freedom House (1990) emphasized liberties rather than the exercise of freedom, according to Adam Przeworski, who gave the following example: In the United States, citizens are free to form political parties and to vote, yet even in presidential elections only half of U.S. "citizens" vote; in the U.S., "the same two parties speak in a commercially sponsored unison", wrote Przeworski (2003, p. 277).[8]


More recent charges of ideological bias prompted Freedom House to issue this 2010 statement:


Freedom House does not maintain a culture-bound view of freedom. The methodology of the survey is grounded in basic standards of political rights and civil liberties, derived in large measure from relevant portions of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. These standards apply to all countries and territories, irrespective of geographical location, ethnic or religious composition, or level of economic development.[19]


Mainwaring et alia (2001, p. 52)[27] wrote that Freedom House's index had "two systematic biases: scores for leftist were tainted by political considerations, and changes in scores are sometimes driven by changes in their criteria rather than changes in real conditions." Nonetheless, when evaluated in Latin American countries yearly, Freedom House's index was very strongly and positively correlated with the index of Adam Przeworski and with the index of the authors themselves: They evaluated Pearson's coefficient of linear correlation between their index and Freedom House's index, which was 0.82; among these indices and the two others studied, the correlations were all between 0.80 and 0.86 (Mainwaring et alia, 2001, p. 53).[27]


As previously quoted, Bollen criticized previous studies of Freedom in the World as anecdotal and inconclusive; they raised issues needing further study by scientific methods rather than anecdotes.[6] Bollen studied the question of ideological bias using multivariate statistics. Using their factor-analytic model for human-rights measurements, Bollen and Paxton estimate that Gastil's method produces a bias of -0.38 standard deviations (s.d.) against Marxist–Leninist countries and a larger bias, +0.5 s.d., favoring Christian countries; similar results held for the methodology of Sussman (Bollen and Paxton, 2000, p. 585).[29] In contrast, another method by a critic of Freedom in the World produced a bias for Leftist countries during the 1980s of at least +0.8 s.d., a bias that is "consistent with the general finding that political scientists are more favorable to leftist politics than is the general population" (Bollen and Paxton, p. 585).[29]



Use and conceptual analysis


Criticisms of the reception and uses of the Freedom in the World report have been noted by Diego Giannone:[30]



  • "Conceptual stretching", Giovanni Sartori's critical term for a methodological shortcoming common in social studies.[31] Giannone reports as an example that, according to Landman and Hausermann (2003), "the index by FH has been used as a tool for measuring democracy, good governance, and human rights, thus producing a conceptual stretching which is a major cause of 'losses in connotative precision': in short, an instrument used to measure everything, in the end, is not able to discriminate against anything."[32]

  • Issues with aggregation. Giannone quotes Scoble and Wiseberg's conclusion (1981) that "the sum of a civil liberty score of 4 and a political liberty score of 2 is the same as the sum of a civil liberty score of 2 and a political liberty score of 4 even though the substantive interpretation of these different combinations is different."[33]

  • "Lack of specificity and rigorousness in construction" and "inadequate level of transparency and replicability of the scales", the first referencing to Scoble et alie (1981) and the latter to Hadenius and Teorell (2005).[34] In support of the latter, he also quotes the conclusion of Munck and Verkuilen (2002) that "the aggregate data offered by Freedom House has to be accepted largely on faith",[35] due to the factors that "no set of coding rules is provided, and the sources of information are not identified with enough precision, and because disaggregated data have not been made available to independent scholars".[34]



Time series



In "Political and ideological aspects in the measurement of democracy: the Freedom House case" (2010) which reviewed changes to the methodology since 1990, Diego Giannone concluded that "because of the changes in methodology over time and the strict interconnection between methodological and political aspects, the FH data do not offer an unbroken and politically neutral time series, such that they should not be used for cross-time analyses even for the development of first hypotheses. The internal consistency of the data series is open to question."[36]


On this topic, the Freedom House website replies that they have "made a number of modest methodological changes to adapt to evolving ideas about political rights and civil liberties. At the same time, the time series data are not revised retroactively, and any changes to the methodology are introduced incrementally in order to ensure the comparability of the ratings from year to year."[19]



See also



  • Freedom in the World by region

  • Democracy Ranking

  • Democracy-Dictatorship Index

  • List of indices of freedom

  • Index of Freedom in the World


  • Freedom of the Press report

  • Polity data series

  • Democracy in the Middle East



Notes





  1. ^ Freedom in The World 2018 by Freedom House, January 5, 2018


  2. ^ Democracy in Retreat: Freedom In The World 2019, by Freedom House


  3. ^ Methodology 2019, by Freedom House


  4. ^ List of Electoral Democracies FIW19 (.XLS), by Freedom House


  5. ^ William Ide (11 January 2000). "Freedom House Report: Asia Sees Some Significant Progress". Voice of America. Archived from the original on 14 October 2012. Retrieved October 13, 2012..mw-parser-output cite.citation{font-style:inherit}.mw-parser-output .citation q{quotes:"""""""'""'"}.mw-parser-output .citation .cs1-lock-free a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/65/Lock-green.svg/9px-Lock-green.svg.png")no-repeat;background-position:right .1em center}.mw-parser-output .citation .cs1-lock-limited a,.mw-parser-output .citation .cs1-lock-registration a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d6/Lock-gray-alt-2.svg/9px-Lock-gray-alt-2.svg.png")no-repeat;background-position:right .1em center}.mw-parser-output .citation .cs1-lock-subscription a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/aa/Lock-red-alt-2.svg/9px-Lock-red-alt-2.svg.png")no-repeat;background-position:right .1em center}.mw-parser-output .cs1-subscription,.mw-parser-output .cs1-registration{color:#555}.mw-parser-output .cs1-subscription span,.mw-parser-output .cs1-registration span{border-bottom:1px dotted;cursor:help}.mw-parser-output .cs1-ws-icon a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/4c/Wikisource-logo.svg/12px-Wikisource-logo.svg.png")no-repeat;background-position:right .1em center}.mw-parser-output code.cs1-code{color:inherit;background:inherit;border:inherit;padding:inherit}.mw-parser-output .cs1-hidden-error{display:none;font-size:100%}.mw-parser-output .cs1-visible-error{font-size:100%}.mw-parser-output .cs1-maint{display:none;color:#33aa33;margin-left:0.3em}.mw-parser-output .cs1-subscription,.mw-parser-output .cs1-registration,.mw-parser-output .cs1-format{font-size:95%}.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-left,.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-wl-left{padding-left:0.2em}.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-right,.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-wl-right{padding-right:0.2em}


  6. ^ abcd
    Bollen, K.A., "Political Rights and Political Liberties in Nations: An Evaluation of Human Rights Measures, 1950 to 1984", Human Rights Quarterly, vol. 8, no. 4 (November 1986), pp.567–591. Also in: Jabine, T.B. and Pierre Claude, R. (Eds.), Human Rights and Statistics, University of Pennsylvania Press, 1992, pp. 188–215,
    ISBN 0-8122-3108-2.



  7. ^ “Correlation Versus Interchangeability: the Limited Robustness of Empirical Finding on Democracy Using Highly Correlated Data Sets", Gretchen Casper and Claudiu Tufis, Political Analysis, 11:2 (2003), pp. 196–203, Society for Political Methodology


  8. ^ ab
    Przeworski, Adam (2003). "Freedom to choose and democracy". Economics and Philosophy. 19 (2): 265–279. CiteSeerX 10.1.1.570.736. doi:10.1017/S0266267103001159.



  9. ^ Freedom in the World 2010: Tables and Graphs Archived 15 February 2010 at the Wayback Machine, Freedom House, 8 January 2010, 12 pp.


  10. ^ "Tables, Graphs, and Other Supporting Documents" Archived 8 October 2011 at the Wayback Machine, Freedom in the World 2011, Freedom House, 13 January 2011.


  11. ^ Freedom in the World 2012, Freedom House, 10 January 2012. Retrieved 8 November 2013.


  12. ^ Freedom in the World 2013, Freedom House.


  13. ^ Freedom in the World 2014, Freedom House, 24 January 2014. Retrieved 28 June 2014.


  14. ^ Freedom in the World 2015, Freedom House, 28 January 2015. Retrieved 16 March 2015.


  15. ^ "Freedom in the World 2016" (PDF). Freedom House. 27 January 2016. Retrieved 27 January 2016.


  16. ^ "Freedom in the World 2017" (PDF). Freedom House. 31 January 2017. Retrieved 1 February 2017.


  17. ^ "Freedom in the World 2018 – Table of Country Scores". Freedom House.


  18. ^ "Freedom in the World Countries | Freedom House". freedomhouse.org. Retrieved 2019-02-05.


  19. ^ abcd "Freedom in the World 2010: Methodology", Freedom in the World 2010, Freedom house


  20. ^ "Freedom in the World 2018 Methodology".


  21. ^ Puerto Rico *. Retrieved from https://freedomhouse.org/report/freedom-world/2016/puerto-rico


  22. ^ Freedom House (2017). Freedom in the World, 2017 (PDF). Freedom House. p. 1. Archived from the original on 27 July 2017. Retrieved 27 July 2017. [N]early one-quarter of the countries registering declines in 2016 were in Europe.CS1 maint: BOT: original-url status unknown (link)


  23. ^ "Country Status and ratings overview", Freedom In the World 1973–2016, Freedom House. Retrieved 2 August 2016.


  24. ^ "Number and percentages of electoral democracies", Freedom In the World 1973–2016, Freedom House. Retrieved 2 August 2016.


  25. ^ Freedom In the World 2018, Freedom House.


  26. ^ Bollen has held chairs as a Distinguished Professor of Sociology and the Director of the Howard W. Odum Institute for Research in Social Science at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC-CH). Also serving as an Adjunct Professor of Statistics at UNC-CH, Bollen wrote the leading graduate textbook in structural equation models (SEM), often called LISREL models; SEM modeling allows the summary of a large number of measurements using a small number of meaningful factors. SEM was used by Bollen in the studies reported hereafter.


  27. ^ abc Mainwaring, S.; Brinks, D.; Pérez-Liñán, A.B. (2001). "Classifying Political Regimes in Latin". Studies in Comparative International Development. 36 (1): 37–65. doi:10.1007/BF02687584.


  28. ^ Gastil, R.D. (1990). "The Comparative Survey of Freedom: Experiences and Suggestions". Studies in Comparative International Development. 25 (1): 25–50. doi:10.1007/BF02716904.


  29. ^ ab Bollen, Kenneth A. and Paxton, Pamela, "Subjective Measures of Liberal Democracy"[permanent dead link], Comparative Political Studies, vol. 33, no. 1 (February 2000), pp. 58–86


  30. ^
    Giannone, Diego, "Political and ideological aspects in the measurement of democracy: the Freedom House case", Democratization, vol. 17, no. 1 (February 2010), pp. 68–97.[unreliable source?]



  31. ^ "Concept Misformation in Comparative Politics." The American Political Science Review 64 (4): 1033–1053.


  32. ^ Giannone (2010), p. 69. Quoting Landman, Tod, and Julia Hausermann, Map-Making and Analysis of the Main International Initiatives on Developing Indicators on Democracy and Good Governance Archived 13 August 2011 at the Wayback Machine, Final Report, University of Essex – Human Rights Centre, July 2003, 98 pp.


  33. ^ Scoble, Harry and Laurie Wiseberg, Ved Nanda, Ved, James Scarritt, and George Shepherd (eds) (1981), "Problems of Comparative Research in Human Rights", Global Human Rights: Public Policies, Comparative Measures and NGO Strategies, pp. 147–171, Westview Press, Boulder, CO,
    ISBN 978-0-89158-858-0. Cited in Giannone (2010), p. 69.



  34. ^ ab Giannone (2010), p. 69, citing Scoble, et al. (1981) and Axel Hadenius and Jan Teorell. "Assessing Alternative Indices of Democracy", Political Concepts, Committee on Concepts and Methods, Working Paper Series, August 2005, 47 pp.


  35. ^ Munck, Gerardo L. and Verkuilen, Jay, "Conceptualising and Measuring Democracy: Evaluating Alternative Indices", Comparative Political Studies, vol. 35, no. 1 (February 2002), pp. 5–34. Cited in Giannone (2010), p. 69.


  36. ^ Giannone (2010), p. 68.




References




  • Bollen, Kenneth A. (1991), Inkeles, Alex, ed., "On measuring democracy: Its consequences and concomitants (Chapter 1, Political democracy: Conceptual and measurement traps)", Proceedings of the Conference on Measuring Democracy, 27–28 May 1988, Hoover Institution, Stanford University (second printing, 1993 ed.), New Brunswick, New Jersey: Transactions Publishers, pp. 3–20, ISBN 978-0-88738-881-1


  • Bollen, Kenneth; Paxton, Pamela; Morishima, Rumi (June 2005). "Assessing international evaluations: An example from USAID's Democracy and Governance Programs" (PDF). American Journal of Evaluation. 26 (2): 189–203. doi:10.1177/1098214005275640. Evaluation performed on behalf of the Social Science Research Council (SSRC), at the request of and with funding from the Strategic and Operational Research Agenda (SORA) of USAID (Office of Democracy and Governance in the Bureau for Democracy, Conflict, and Humanitarian Assistance), according to the National Research Council (2008, p. 28).
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  • Gastil, Raymond Duncan (1991), Inkeles, Alex, ed., "On measuring democracy: Its consequences and concomitants (Chapter 2, The comparative survey of freedom: Experiences and suggestions)", Proceedings of the Conference on Measuring Democracy, 27–28 May 1988, Hoover Institution, Stanford University (second printing, 1993 ed.), New Brunswick, New Jersey, U.S.A.: Transactions Publishers, pp. 21–46, ISBN 978-0-88738-881-1


  • Inkeles, Alex, ed. (1991), "On measuring democracy: Its consequences and concomitants (Part I: Measuring democratic political systems)", Proceedings of the Conference on Measuring Democracy, 27–28 May 1988, Hoover Institution, Stanford University (second printing, 1993 ed.), New Brunswick, New Jersey: Transactions Publishers, pp. 1–121, ISBN 978-0-88738-881-1


  • National Research Council, Committee on Evaluation of USAID Democracy Assistance Programs (2008). Goldstone, Jack A, ed. Improving democracy assistance: Building knowledge through evaluations and research. pp. xvi+336. ISBN 978-0-309-11736-4. Individuals can download the complete report (pdf format) for private use.



External links




  • Freedom in the World 2018 - online at Freedom House


  • Freedom in the World 2017 - online at Freedom House


  • Freedom in the World 2016 - online at Freedom House


  • Freedom in the World 2015 - online at Freedom House


  • Freedom in the World 2014 - online at Freedom House


  • Freedom in the World 2013 - online at Freedom House








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