Freedom in the World

Freedom in the World is a yearly survey and report by the U.S.-based 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.

2022

1972

  Free   Partly Free   Not Free   Not Covered

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", "Partly Free", or "Not Free". 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.

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.

Country rankings

   Countries designated "electoral democracies" in Freedom House's Freedom in the World 2023 survey, covering the year 2022.

The rankings are from the Freedom in the World 2019, 2020, 2021, and 2022 surveys, each report covering the previous year. The average of each pair of ratings on political rights and civil liberties determines the overall status of "Free" (1.0–2.5), "Partly Free" (3.0–5.0), or "Not Free" (5.5–7.0).

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.

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.

World

* indicates "Civil liberties in country or territory" or "Human rights in country or territory" links.

PR = political rights, CL = civil liberties

2024

Country (2024)
	Total	PR	CL	Free
Afghanistan	6	1	5	Not free
Albania	68	28	40	Partly free
Algeria	32	10	22	Not free
Andorra	93	38	55	Free
Angola	28	10	18	Not free
Antigua and Barbuda	85	33	52	Free
Argentina	85	36	50	Free
Armenia	54	23	31	Partly free
Australia	95	38	57	Free
Austria	93	37	56	Free
Azerbaijan	7	0	7	Not free
Bahamas	91	38	53	Free
Bahrain	12	2	10	Not free
Bangladesh	40	15	25	Partly free
Barbados	94	37	57	Free
Belarus	8	2	6	Not free
Belgium	96	39	57	Free
Belize	87	34	53	Free
Benin	61	19	42	Partly free
Bhutan	63	30	33	Partly free
Bolivia	66	27	39	Partly free
Bosnia and Herzegovina	51	17	34	Partly free
Botswana	72	28	44	Free
Brazil	72	30	42	Free
Brunei	28	7	21	Not free
Bulgaria	78	32	46	Free
Burkina Faso	27	3	24	Not free
Burundi	14	4	10	Not free
Cape Verde	92	38	54	Free
Cambodia	23	4	19	Not free
Cameroon	15	6	9	Not free
Canada	97	39	58	Free
Central African Republic	5	1	4	Not free
Chad	15	1	14	Not free
Chile	94	38	56	Free
China	9	-2	11	Not free
Colombia	70	31	39	Free
Comoros	42	16	26	Partly free
Costa Rica	91	38	53	Free
Croatia	83	34	49	Free
Cuba	12	1	11	Not free
Cyprus	92	38	54	Free
Czech Republic	94	36	58	Free
Democratic Republic of the Congo	19	4	15	Not free
Denmark	97	40	57	Free
Djibouti	24	5	19	Not free
Dominica	93	37	56	Free
Dominican Republic	68	27	41	Partly free
East Timor	72	33	39	Free
Ecuador	67	29	38	Partly free
Egypt	18	6	12	Not free
El Salvador	53	21	32	Partly free
Equatorial Guinea	5	0	5	Not free
Eritrea	3	1	2	Not free
Estonia	95	38	57	Free
Eswatini	17	1	16	Not free
Ethiopia	20	10	10	Not free
Fiji	66	27	39	Partly free
Finland	100	40	60	Free
France	89	38	51	Free
Gabon	20	2	18	Not free
Gambia	50	22	28	Partly free
Georgia	58	22	36	Partly free
Germany	93	39	54	Free
Ghana	80	35	45	Free
Greece	85	35	50	Free
Grenada	89	37	52	Free
Guatemala	46	17	29	Partly free
Guinea	30	7	23	Not free
Guinea-Bissau	43	17	26	Partly free
Guyana	73	30	43	Partly free
Haiti	30	11	19	Not free
Honduras	48	22	26	Partly free
Hungary	65	24	41	Partly free
Iceland	94	37	57	Free
India	66	33	33	Partly free
Indonesia	57	29	28	Partly free
Iran	11	4	7	Not free
Iraq	30	16	14	Not free
Ireland	97	39	58	Free
Israel	74	34	40	Free
Italy	90	36	54	Free
Ivory Coast	49	19	30	Partly free
Jamaica	80	33	47	Free
Japan	96	40	56	Free
Jordan	33	11	22	Not free
Kazakhstan	23	5	18	Not free
Kenya	52	22	30	Partly free
Kiribati	90	37	53	Free
Kosovo	60	28	32	Partly free
Kuwait	38	14	24	Partly free
Kyrgyzstan	27	4	23	Not free
Laos	13	2	11	Not free
Latvia	88	37	51	Free
Lebanon	42	13	29	Partly free
Lesotho	66	30	36	Free
Liberia	64	30	34	Partly free
Libya	9	1	8	Not free
Liechtenstein	90	33	53	Free
Lithuania	89	38	51	Free
Luxembourg	97	38	59	Free
Madagascar	58	24	34	Partly free
Malawi	66	29	37	Partly free
Malaysia	53	22	31	Partly free
Maldives	44	21	23	Partly free
Mali	26	6	20	Not free
Malta	87	35	52	Free
Marshall Islands	93	38	55	Free
Mauritania	39	15	24	Partly free
Mauritius	85	35	50	Free
Mexico	60	27	33	Partly free
Micronesia	92	37	55	Free
Moldova	61	26	35	Partly free
Monaco	82	25	57	Free
Mongolia	84	36	48	Free
Montenegro	69	27	42	Partly free
Morocco	37	13	24	Partly free
Mozambique	44	14	30	Partly free
Myanmar	8	0	8	Not free
Namibia	77	31	46	Free
Nauru	77	34	43	Free
Nepal	62	28	34	Partly free
Netherlands	97	39	58	Free
New Zealand	99	40	59	Free
Nicaragua	16	4	12	Not free
Niger	33	6	27	Partly free
Nigeria	44	20	24	Partly free
North Korea	3	0	3	Not free
North Macedonia	67	28	39	Partly free
Norway	98	39	59	Free
Oman	24	6	18	Not free
Pakistan	35	14	21	Partly free
Palau	92	37	55	Free
Panama	83	35	48	Free
Papua New Guinea	61	22	39	Partly free
Paraguay	63	26	37	Partly free
Peru	66	27	39	Partly free
Philippines	58	25	33	Partly free
Poland	80	33	47	Free
Portugal	96	39	57	Free
Qatar	25	7	18	Not free
Republic of the Congo	17	2	15	Not free
Romania	83	35	48	Free
Russia	13	4	9	Not free
Rwanda	23	8	15	Not free
Samoa	84	32	52	Free
San Marino	97	39	58	Free
São Tomé and Príncipe	84	35	49	Free
Saudi Arabia	8	1	7	Not free
Senegal	67	28	39	Partly free
Serbia	57	18	39	Partly free
Seychelles	79	34	45	Free
Sierra Leone	60	24	36	Partly free
Singapore	48	19	29	Partly free
Slovakia	90	37	53	Free
Slovenia	96	39	57	Free
Solomon Islands	75	28	47	Free
Somalia	8	2	6	Not free
South Africa	79	33	46	Free
South Korea	83	33	50	Free
South Sudan	1	-3	4	Not free
Spain	90	37	53	Free
Sri Lanka	54	22	33	Partly free
Saint Kitts and Nevis	89	35	54	Free
Saint Lucia	92	38	54	Free
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines	90	36	54	Free
Sudan	6	-3	9	Not free
Suriname	79	34	45	Free
Sweden	99	40	59	Free
Switzerland	96	39	57	Free
Syria	1	-3	4	Not free
Tajikistan	5	0	5	Not free
Tanzania	36	12	24	Partly free
Thailand	36	12	24	Partly free
Togo	42	15	27	Partly free
Tonga	81	31	50	Free
Trinidad and Tobago	82	33	49	Free
Tunisia	51	16	35	Partly free
Turkey	33	17	16	Not free
Turkmenistan	2	0	2	Not free
Tuvalu	93	37	56	Free
Uganda	34	10	24	Not free
Ukraine	49	21	28	Partly free
United Arab Emirates	18	5	13	Not free
United Kingdom	91	38	53	Free
United States	83	33	50	Free
Uruguay	96	40	56	Free
Uzbekistan	12	2	10	Not free
Vanuatu	82	32	50	Free
Venezuela	15	1	14	Not free
Vietnam	19	4	15	Not free
Yemen	10	1	9	Not free
Zambia	54	23	31	Partly free
Zimbabwe	27	10	17	Not free

Before 2024

Country	Electoral democracy	2019				2020				2021				2022				2023
		PR	CL	Free	Pts	PR	CL	Free	Pts	PR	CL	Free	Pts	PR	CL	Free	Pts	PR	CL	Free	Pts
Afghanistan *	No	5	6	Not	27	5	6	Not	27	5	6	Not	27	7	7	Not	2
(Albania *)	Yes	3	3	Partly	68	3	3	Partly	67	3	3	Partly	66	3	3	Partly	67
(Algeria *)	No	6	5	Not	34	6	5	Not	34	6	5	Not	32	6	5	Not	32
Andorra *	Yes	1	1	Free	94	1	1	Free	94	1	1	Free	93	1	1	Free	93
(Angola *)	No	6	5	Not	31	6	5	Not	32	6	5	Not	31	6	5	Not	30
Antigua and Barbuda	Yes	2	2	Free	84	2	2	Free	85	2	2	Free	85	2	2	Free	85
(Argentina *)	Yes	2	2	Free	84	2	2	Free	85	2	2	Free	84	2	2	Free	84
(Armenia *)	No	4	4	Partly	51	4	4	Partly	53	4	4	Partly	55	4	4	Partly	55
(Australia *)	Yes	1	1	Free	98	1	1	Free	97	1	1	Free	97	1	1	Free	95
(Austria *)	Yes	1	1	Free	93	1	1	Free	93	1	1	Free	93	1	1	Free	93
(Azerbaijan *)	No	7	6	Not	11	7	6	Not	10	7	6	Not	10	7	6	Not	9
Bahamas	Yes	1	1	Free	91	1	1	Free	91	1	1	Free	91	1	1	Free	91
(Bahrain *)	No	7	6	Not	12	7	6	Not	11	7	6	Not	12	7	6	Not	12
(Bangladesh *)	No	5	5	Partly	41	5	5	Partly	39	5	5	Partly	39	5	5	Partly	39
Barbados	Yes	1	1	Free	96	1	1	Free	95	1	1	Free	95	1	1	Free	95
(Belarus *)	No	7	6	Not	19	7	6	Not	19	7	6	Not	11	7	7	Not	8
(Belgium *)	Yes	1	1	Free	96	1	1	Free	96	1	1	Free	96	1	1	Free	96
Belize	Yes	1	2	Free	86	2	2	Free	86	2	1	Free	87	2	1	Free	87
(Benin *)	No	2	2	Free	79	4	2	Partly	66	4	2	Partly	65	5	3	Partly	59
(Bhutan *)	Yes	3	4	Partly	59	3	4	Partly	59	2	4	Partly	61	3	4	Partly	61
(Bolivia *)	Yes	3	3	Partly	67	3	3	Partly	63	3	3	Partly	66	3	3	Partly	66
(Bosnia and Herzegovina *)	No	4	4	Partly	53	4	4	Partly	53	4	4	Partly	53	4	4	Partly	53
(Botswana *)	Yes	3	2	Free	72	3	2	Free	72	3	2	Free	72	3	2	Free	72
(Brazil *)	Yes	2	2	Free	75	2	2	Free	75	2	3	Free	74	2	3	Free	73
(Brunei *)	No	6	5	Not	29	6	5	Not	28	6	5	Not	28	6	5	Not	28
(Bulgaria *)	Yes	2	2	Free	80	2	2	Free	80	2	2	Free	78	2	2	Free	79
(Burkina Faso *)	Yes	4	3	Partly	60	4	4	Partly	56	4	4	Partly	54	4	4	Partly	53
(Burundi *)	No	7	6	Not	14	7	6	Not	13	7	6	Not	14	7	6	Not	14
(Cambodia *)	No	6	5	Not	26	7	5	Not	25	7	5	Not	24	7	5	Not	24
(Cameroon *)	No	6	6	Not	19	6	6	Not	18	6	6	Not	16	6	6	Not	15
(Canada *)	Yes	1	1	Free	99	1	1	Free	98	1	1	Free	98	1	1	Free	98
(Cape Verde *)	Yes	1	1	Free	90	1	1	Free	92	1	1	Free	92	1	1	Free	92
(Central African Republic *)	No	7	7	Not	9	7	7	Not	10	7	7	Not	9	7	7	Not	7
(Chad *)	No	7	6	Not	17	7	6	Not	17	7	6	Not	17	7	6	Not	15
(Chile *)	Yes	1	1	Free	94	1	2	Free	90	1	1	Free	93	1	1	Free	94
(China *)	No	7	6	Not	11	7	6	Not	10	7	6	Not	9	7	6	Not	9
(Colombia *)	Yes	3	3	Partly	66	3	3	Partly	66	3	3	Partly	65	3	3	Partly	64
(Comoros *)	No	4	4	Partly	50	4	4	Partly	44	5	4	Partly	42	5	4	Partly	42
(DR Congo *)	No	7	6	Not	15	7	6	Not	18	7	6	Not	20
(Congo *)	No	7	5	Not	21	7	5	Not	20	7	5	Not	20
(Costa Rica *)	Yes	1	1	Free	91	1	1	Free	91	1	1	Free	91
(Croatia *)	Yes	1	2	Free	85	1	2	Free	85	1	2	Free	85
(Cuba *)	No	7	6	Not	14	7	6	Not	14	7	6	Not	13
(Cyprus *)	Yes	1	1	Free	94	1	1	Free	94	1	1	Free	94
(Czech Republic *)	Yes	1	1	Free	91	1	1	Free	91	1	1	Free	91
(Denmark *)	Yes	1	1	Free	97	1	1	Free	97	1	1	Free	97
(Djibouti *)	No	6	5	Not	26	7	5	Not	24	7	5	Not	24
Dominica	Yes	1	1	Free	93	1	1	Free	93	1	1	Free	93
(Dominican Republic *)	Yes	3	3	Partly	67	3	3	Partly	67	3	3	Partly	67
(East Timor *)	Yes	2	3	Free	70	2	3	Free	71	2	3	Free	72
(Ecuador *)	Yes	3	3	Partly	63	3	3	Partly	65	3	3	Partly	67
(Egypt *)	No	6	6	Not	22	6	6	Not	21	6	6	Not	18
(El Salvador *)	Yes	2	3	Free	67	2	4	Partly	66	2	4	Partly	63
(Equatorial Guinea *)	No	7	7	Not	6	7	7	Not	6	7	7	Not	5
(Eritrea *)	No	7	7	Not	2	7	7	Not	2	7	7	Not	2
(Estonia *)	Yes	1	1	Free	94	1	1	Free	94	1	1	Free	94
(Ethiopia *)	No	6	6	Not	19	6	6	Not	24	6	6	Not	22
(Eswatini *)	No	7	6	Not	16	7	5	Not	19	7	5	Not	19
(Fiji *)	Yes	3	3	Partly	61	3	3	Partly	60	3	3	Partly	60
(Finland *)	Yes	1	1	Free	100	1	1	Free	100	1	1	Free	100
(France *)	Yes	1	2	Free	90	1	2	Free	90	1	2	Free	90
(Gabon *)	No	7	5	Not	23	7	5	Not	22	7	5	Not	22
Gambia	No	4	5	Partly	45	4	4	Partly	46	4	4	Partly	46
(Georgia *)	Yes	3	3	Partly	63	3	3	Partly	61	4	3	Partly	60
(Germany *)	Yes	1	1	Free	94	1	1	Free	94	1	1	Free	94
(Ghana *)	Yes	1	2	Free	83	2	2	Free	82	2	2	Free	82
(Greece *)	Yes	1	2	Free	87	1	2	Free	88	1	2	Free	87
Grenada	Yes	1	2	Free	89	1	2	Free	89	1	2	Free	89
(Guatemala *)	No	4	4	Partly	53	4	4	Partly	52	4	4	Partly	52
(Guinea *)	No	5	4	Partly	43	5	5	Partly	40	5	5	Partly	38
Guinea-Bissau	No	5	4	Partly	42	5	4	Partly	46	5	4	Partly	44
(Guyana *)	Yes	2	3	Free	75	2	3	Free	74	2	3	Free	73
(Haiti *)	No	5	5	Partly	41	5	5	Partly	38	5	5	Partly	37
(Honduras *)	No	4	4	Partly	46	4	4	Partly	45	4	5	Partly	44
(Hungary *)	Yes	3	3	Partly	70	3	3	Partly	70	3	3	Partly	69
(Iceland *)	Yes	1	1	Free	94	1	1	Free	94	1	1	Free	94
(India *)	Yes	2	3	Free	75	2	3	Free	71	2	4	Partly	67
(Indonesia *)	No	2	4	Partly	62	2	4	Partly	61	2	4	Partly	59
(Iran *)	No	6	6	Not	18	6	6	Not	17	6	6	Not	16
(Iraq *)	No	5	6	Not	32	5	6	Not	31	5	6	Not	29
(Ireland *)	Yes	1	1	Free	97	1	1	Free	97	1	1	Free	97
(Israel *)	Yes	2	3	Free	78	2	3	Free	76	2	3	Free	76
(Italy *)	Yes	1	1	Free	89	1	1	Free	89	1	1	Free	90
(Ivory Coast *)	No	4	4	Partly	51	4	4	Partly	51	5	4	Partly	44
(Jamaica *)	Yes	2	2	Free	78	2	2	Free	78	2	2	Free	80
(Japan *)	Yes	1	1	Free	96	1	1	Free	96	1	1	Free	96
(Jordan *)	No	5	5	Partly	37	5	5	Partly	37	6	5	Not	34
(Kazakhstan *)	No	7	5	Not		7	5	Not	23	7	5	Not	23
(Kenya *)	No	4	4	Partly	48	4	4	Partly	48	4	4	Partly	48
(Kiribati *)	Yes	1	1	Free	93	1	1	Free	93	1	1	Free	93
Kosovo	Yes	3	4	Partly	54	3	4	Partly	56	4	4	Partly	54
(Kuwait *)	No	5	5	Partly	36	5	5	Partly	36	5	5	Partly	37
(Kyrgyzstan *)	No	5	4	Partly	38	5	4	Partly	39	7	5	Not	28
(Laos *)	No	7	6	Not	14	7	6	Not	14	7	6	Not	13
(Latvia *)	Yes	2	2	Free	87	1	2	Free	89	1	2	Free	89
(Lebanon *)	No	5	4	Partly	45	5	4	Partly	44	5	4	Partly	43
(Lesotho *)	Yes	3	3	Partly	63	3	3	Partly	63	3	3	Partly	63
(Liberia *)	Yes	3	3	Partly	62	3	4	Partly	60	3	4	Partly	60
(Libya *)	No	7	6	Not	9	7	6	Not	9	7	6	Not	9
(Liechtenstein *)	Yes	2	1	Free	90	2	1	Free	90	2	1	Free	90
(Lithuania *)	Yes	1	1	Free	91	1	1	Free	91	1	2	Free	90
Luxembourg	Yes	1	1	Free	98	1	1	Free	98	1	1	Free	97
(Madagascar *)	Yes	3	4	Partly	56	3	3	Partly	61	3	4	Partly	60
(Malawi *)	Yes	3	3	Partly	64	3	3	Partly	62	3	3	Partly	66
(Malaysia *)	No	4	4	Partly	52	4	4	Partly	52	4	4	Partly	51
Maldives *	No	5	5	Partly	35	4	5	Partly	40	4	5	Partly	40
(Mali *)	No	4	4	Partly	44	5	5	Partly	41	6	5	Not	33
(Malta *)	Yes	2	1	Free	91	2	1	Free	90	2	1	Free	90
(Marshall Islands *)	Yes	1	1	Free	93	1	1	Free	93	1	1	Free	93
(Mauritania *)	No	6	5	Not	32	5	5	Partly	34	5	5	Partly	35
Mauritius	Yes	1	2	Free	89	1	2	Free	89	1	2	Free	87
(Mexico *)	Yes	3	3	Partly	63	3	3	Partly	62	3	4	Partly	61
(Micronesia *)	Yes	1	1	Free	92	1	1	Free	92	1	1	Free	92
(Moldova *)	Yes	3	4	Partly	58	3	4	Partly	60	3	3	Partly	61
(Monaco *)	Yes	3	1	Free	82	3	1	Free	83	3	1	Free	83
(Mongolia *)	Yes	1	2	Free	85	1	2	Free	84	1	2	Free	84
Montenegro	Yes	4	3	Partly	65	4	3	Partly	62	3	3	Partly	63
(Morocco *)	No	5	5	Partly	39	5	5	Partly	37	5	5	Partly	37
(Mozambique *)	No	4	4	Partly	51	5	4	Partly	45	5	4	Partly	43
(Myanmar *)	No	5	5	Partly	30	5	6	Not	30	5	6	Not	28
(Namibia *)	Yes	3	2	Free	75	2	2	Free	77	2	2	Free	77
(Nauru *)	Yes	2	2	Free	78	2	3	Free	77	2	3	Free	77
(Nepal *)	Yes	3	4	Partly	54	3	4	Partly	56	3	4	Partly	56
(Netherlands *)	Yes	1	1	Free	99	1	1	Free	99	1	1	Free	98
(New Zealand *)	Yes	1	1	Free	98	1	1	Free	97	1	1	Free	99
(Nicaragua *)	No	6	5	Not	32	6	5	Not	31	6	5	Not	30
(Niger *)	No	4	4	Partly	49	4	4	Partly	48	4	4	Partly	48
(Nigeria *)	No	3	5	Partly	50	4	5	Partly	47	4	5	Partly	45
(North Korea *)	No	7	7	Not	3	7	7	Not	3	7	7	Not	3
(North Macedonia *)	Yes	4	3	Partly	59	3	3	Partly	63	3	3	Partly	66
(Norway *)	Yes	1	1	Free	100	1	1	Free	100	1	1	Free	100
(Oman *)	No	6	5	Not	23	6	5	Not	23	6	5	Not	23
(Pakistan *)	No	5	5	Partly	39	5	5	Partly	38	5	5	Partly	37
(Palau *)	Yes	1	1	Free	92	1	1	Free	92	1	1	Free	92
Panama	Yes	1	2	Free	84	1	2	Free	84	2	2	Free	83
(Papua New Guinea *)	Yes	4	3	Partly	64	4	3	Partly	62	4	3	Partly	62
(Paraguay *)	Yes	3	3	Partly	65	3	3	Partly	65	3	3	Partly	65
(Peru *)	Yes	2	3	Free	73	2	3	Free	72	3	3	Partly	71
(Philippines *)	Yes	3	3	Partly	61	3	4	Partly	59	3	4	Partly	56
(Poland *)	Yes	2	2	Free	84	2	2	Free	84	2	2	Free	82
(Portugal *)	Yes	1	1	Free	96	1	1	Free	96	1	1	Free	96
(Qatar *)	No	6	5	Not	25	6	5	Not	25	6	5	Not	25
Romania *	Yes	2	2	Free	81	2	2	Free	83	2	2	Free	83
(Russia *)	No	7	6	Not	20	7	6	Not	20	7	6	Not	20
(Rwanda *)	No	6	6	Not	23	6	6	Not	22	6	6	Not	21
Saint Kitts and Nevis	Yes	1	1	Free	89	1	1	Free	89	2	1	Free	89
Saint Lucia	Yes	1	1	Free	92	1	1	Free	92	1	1	Free	91
(Saint Vincent and the Grenadines *)	Yes	1	1	Free	91	1	1	Free	91	1	1	Free	91
(Samoa *)	Yes	2	2	Free	81	2	2	Free	81	2	2	Free	81
San Marino	Yes	1	1	Free	95	1	1	Free	95	1	1	Free	93
(São Tomé and Príncipe *)	Yes	2	2	Free	83	2	2	Free	84	2	2	Free	84
Saudi Arabia *	No	7	7	Not	7	7	7	Not	7	7	7	Not	7
(Senegal *)	Yes	2	3	Free	72	3	3	Partly	71	3	3	Partly	71
(Serbia *)	Yes	3	3	Partly	67	4	3	Partly	66	4	3	Partly	64
Seychelles	Yes	3	3	Partly	71	3	3	Partly	72	2	3	Free	77
(Sierra Leone *)	Yes	3	3	Partly	65	3	3	Partly	65	3	3	Partly	65
(Singapore *)	No	4	4	Partly	51	4	4	Partly	50	4	4	Partly	48
(Slovakia *)	Yes	1	2	Free	88	1	2	Free	88	1	1	Free	90
Slovenia	Yes	1	1	Free	94	1	1	Free	94	1	1	Free	95
(Solomon Islands *)	Yes	2	2	Free	79	2	2	Free	79	2	2	Free	79
(Somalia *)	No	7	7	Not	7	7	7	Not	7	7	7	Not	7
(South Africa *)	Yes	2	2	Free	79	2	2	Free	79	2	2	Free	79
(South Korea *)	Yes	2	2	Free	83	2	2	Free	83	2	2	Free	83
(South Sudan *)	No	7	7	Not	2	7	7	Not	2	7	7	Not	2
(Spain *)	Yes	1	1	Free	94	1	1	Free	92	1	1	Free	90
Sri Lanka *	Yes	3	4	Partly	56	4	4	Partly	56	4	4	Partly	56
Sudan *	No	7	7	Not	7	7	6	Not	12	7	6	Not	17
(Suriname *)	Yes	2	3	Free	77	2	3	Free	75	2	2	Free	79
(Sweden *)	Yes	1	1	Free	100	1	1	Free	100	1	1	Free	100
(Switzerland *)	Yes	1	1	Free	96	1	1	Free	96	1	1	Free	96
Syria *	No	7	7	Not	0	7	7	Not	0	7	7	Not	1	7	7	Not	1	7	7	Not	1
(Tajikistan *)	No	7	6	Not	9	7	6	Not	9	7	6	Not	8	7	6	Not	8	7	6	Not	7
(Tanzania *)	No	4	5	Partly	45	5	5	Partly	40	5	5	Partly	34	5	5	Partly	34	5	5	Partly	36
(Thailand *)	No	7	5	Not	30	6	4	Partly	32	7	5	Not	30	7	5	Not	29	6	5	Not	30
(Togo *)	No	5	4	Partly	43	5	4	Partly	44	5	4	Partly	43	5	4	Partly	42	5	4	Partly	42
(Tonga *)	Yes	2	2	Free	79	2	2	Free	79	2	2	Free	79	2	2	Free	79	2	2	Free	81
Trinidad and Tobago *	Yes	2	2	Free	82	2	2	Free	82	2	2	Free	82
(Tunisia *)	Yes	2	3	Free	69	2	3	Free	70	2	3	Free	71
(Turkey *)	No	5	6	Not	31	5	6	Not	32	5	6	Not	32
(Turkmenistan *)	No	7	7	Not	2	7	7	Not	2	7	7	Not	2
(Tuvalu *)	Yes	1	1	Free	93	1	1	Free	93	1	1	Free	93
(Uganda *)	No	6	5	Not	36	6	5	Not	34	6	5	Not	34
Ukraine *	No	3	4	Partly	60	3	3	Partly	62	3	4	Partly	60
(United Arab Emirates *)	No	7	6	Not	17	7	6	Not	17	7	6	Not	17
(United Kingdom *)	Yes	1	1	Free	93	1	1	Free	94	1	1	Free	93
United States *	Yes	2	1	Free	86	2	1	Free	86	2	2	Free	83
(Uruguay *)	Yes	1	1	Free		1	1	Free	98	1	1	Free	98
(Uzbekistan *)	No	7	6	Not		7	6	Not	10	7	6	Not	11
(Vanuatu *)	Yes	2	2	Free	82	2	2	Free	82	2	2	Free	82
(Venezuela *)	No	7	6	Not	19	7	6	Not	16	7	6	Not	14
(Vietnam *)	No	7	5	Not	20	7	5	Not	20	7	6	Not	19
(Yemen *)	No	7	6	Not	11	7	6	Not	11	7	6	Not	11
(Zambia *)	No	4	4	Partly	54	4	4	Partly	54	4	4	Partly	52
(Zimbabwe *)	No	5	5	Partly	31	5	5	Partly	29	6	5	Not	28

Territories and countries with limited recognition

Territory (2024)
	Total	PR	CL	Free
Abkhazia	39	17	22	Partly free
Crimea	2	-2	4	Not free
Eastern Donbas	2	-1	3	Not free
Gaza Strip	8	3	5	Not free
Hong Kong	41	9	32	Partly free
Indian Kashmir	26	6	20	Not free
Nagorno-Karabakh	-3	-3	0	Not free
Northern Cyprus	76	27	49	Free
Pakistani Kashmir	29	9	20	Not free
Somaliland	43	17	26	Partly free
South Ossetia	12	3	9	Not free
Taiwan	94	38	56	Free
Tibet	0	-2	2	Not free
Transnistria	17	5	12	Not free
West Bank	22	4	18	Not free
Western Sahara	4	-3	7	Not free

Country	2014			2015			2016			2017			2018			2020				2021
	PR	CL	Free	PR	CL	Free	PR	CL	Free	PR	CL	Free	PR	CL	Free	PR	CL	Free	Pts	PR	CL	Free	Pts
(Abkhazia *)	4	5	Partly	4	5	Partly	4	5	Partly	4	5	Partly	4	5	Partly	17	23	Partly	40	17	23	Partly	40
Crimea (disputed)	4	3	Partly	7	6	Not	7	6	Not	7	6	Not	7	6	Not	-2	10	Not	8	-2	9	Not	7
Donetsk PR and Luhansk PR (disputed)																-1	6	Not	5	-1	5	Not	4
Gaza Strip (Palestine)	7	6	Not	7	6	Not	7	6	Not	7	6	Not	7	6	Not	3	8	Not	11	3	8	Not	11
(Hong Kong *) (China)	5	2	Partly	5	2	Partly	5	2	Partly	5	2	Partly	5	2	Partly	16	39	Partly	55	15	37	Partly	52
Indian Kashmir (India)	4	4	Partly	4	4	Partly	4	4	Partly	4	4	Partly	4	4	Partly	8	20	Not	28	7	20	Not	27
(Azad Kashmir) (Pakistan)	6	5	Not	6	5	Not	6	5	Not	6	5	Not	6	5	Not	9	19	Not	28	9	19	Not	28
(Northern Cyprus *)	2	2	Free	2	2	Free	2	2	Free	2	2	Free	2	2	Free	31	50	Free	81	28	50	Free	78
Puerto Rico (United States)*	1	2	Free	1	2	Free	1	1	Free
(Somaliland *)	4	5	Partly	4	5	Partly	5	5	Partly	5	5	Partly	4	5	Partly	17	24	Partly	41	18	24	Partly	42
(South Ossetia *)	7	6	Not	7	6	Not	7	6	Not	7	6	Not	7	6	Not	2	8	Not	10	2	8	Not	10
(Taiwan *)																1	1	Free	93	1	1	Free	94
Tibet (China)	7	7	Not	7	7	Not	7	7	Not	7	7	Not	7	7	Not	-2	3	Not	1	-2	3	Not	1
(Transnistria *)	6	6	Not	6	6	Not	6	6	Not	6	6	Not	6	6	Not	9	13	Not	22	8	12	Not	20
West Bank (Palestine)	6	5	Not	6	5	Not	6	5	Not	7	5	Not	7	5	Not	4	21	Not	25	4	21	Not	25
(Western Sahara *)	7	7	Not	7	7	Not	7	7	Not	7	7	Not	7	7	Not	-3	7	Not	4	-3	7	Not	4

Former entries

Former entries from Freedom in the World. Most are territories added in the 1978 report for 1977 and received their last coverage in the 2000 report of the same year. Other territories with differing dates are noted below. Their placements are based on their final rankings before ceasing coverage.

Free

•  Åland (1992–2000)
•  American Samoa
•  Anguilla
•  Aruba (1988–2000)
•  Azores
•  Bermuda
•  British Virgin Islands
•  Canary Islands
•  Cayman Islands
•  Ceuta
•  Christmas Island
•  Cocos (Keeling) Islands
•  Cook Islands
•  Czechoslovakia (1972–1993)
•  Easter Island
•  Falkland Islands
•  Faroe Islands
• French Guiana
•  French Polynesia
•  West Germany (1972–1990)
•  Gibraltar
•  Greenland
• Guadeloupe
•  Guam
•  Guernsey
•  Isle of Man
•  Jersey
•  Madeira
• Martinique
• Mayotte
•  Melilla
•  Montserrat
•  Netherlands Antilles
• New Caledonia
•  Niue
•  Norfolk Island
• Northern Ireland (1991–2004)
•  Northern Mariana Islands
•  Pitcairn Islands
•  Puerto Rico (1977–2016)
• Réunion
• Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha
• Saint Martin
• Saint Pierre and Miquelon
•  Serbia and Montenegro (1992–2006)
• Svalbard (1992–2000)
•  Tokelau
•  Turks and Caicos Islands
•  United States Virgin Islands
• Wallis and Futuna

Partly Free

•  Republic of Artsakh (1991–2023)
•  Kurdistan Region (1992–2004)
•  Macau (1977–2004)
•  Panama Canal Zone (1977–1979)
•  Vatican City (1984–1988)
• West Papua (1990–2003)
•  South Vietnam (1972–1976)
•  North Yemen (1972–1990)
• Yugoslavia (1972–1992)

Not Free

•  Bophuthatswana (1977–1994)
•  Chechnya (1998–2009)
•  Ciskei (1981–1994)
•  East Germany (1972–1990)
•  Juan Fernández Islands (1977–1978)
• Occupied Territories (1977–2010)
• Palestinian Territories (1997–2010)
•  Transkei (1988–1994)
•  Venda (1979–1994)
•  Soviet Union (1972–1990)
•  North Vietnam (1972–1976)

• Vojvodina (1992–1995)
•  South Yemen (1972–1990)

Trends

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

Percentage of countries in each category, from the 1973 through 2021 reports:

1973–2021   Not Free   Partly Free   Free   Electoral Democracies

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%)
2018	88 (45%)	58 (30%)	49 (25%)	116 (59%)
2019	86 (44%)	59 (30%)	50 (26%)	115 (59%)
2020	83 (43%)	63 (32%)	49 (25%)	115 (59%)
2021	82 (42%)	59 (30%)	54 (28%)	114 (58%)
2022	83 (43%)	56 (29%)	56 (29%)	115 (59%)
2023	84 (43%)	54 (28%)	57 (29%)	110 (56%)

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

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 Gastil and his colleagues. The neutrality and biases of human-rights indices have been discussed in several publications by Kenneth A. Bollen. 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). 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).

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. 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).

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.

Mainwaring et alia (2001, p. 52) 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).

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. 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). 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).

Coder bias

Political scientists Andrew T. Little and Anne Meng argued that the data produced by Freedom House and the Varieties of Democracy (V-Dem) project relies heavily on subjective, as opposed to objective, measures and thus are tainted by coder bias.

Use and conceptual analysis

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

• "Conceptual stretching", (Giovanni Sartori)'s critical term for a methodological shortcoming common in social studies. 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."
• 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."
• "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). 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", 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".

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."

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."

See also

• (Democracy in the Middle East)
• Democracy Index
• Freedom of the Press report
• (Freedom in the World by region)
• (Index of Freedom in the World)
• (List of indices of freedom)
• Polity data series

Notes

1. Gorokhovskaia, Yana; Shahbaz, Adrian; Slipowitz, Amy (9 March 2023). "Marking 50 Years in the Struggle for Democracy". Freedom House. Retrieved 9 March 2023.
2. William Ide (11 January 2000). . Voice of America. Archived from the original on 4 December 2013. Retrieved October 13, 2012.
3. 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 .
4. “Correlation Versus Interchangeability: the Limited Robustness of Empirical Finding on Democracy Using Highly Correlated Data Sets" 20 October 2017 at the Wayback Machine, Gretchen Casper and Claudiu Tufis, Political Analysis, 11:2 (2003), pp. 196–203, Society for Political Methodology
5. 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. S2CID 38812895.
6. List of Electoral Democracies FIW23 (.XLSX), by Freedom House
7. "Freedom in the World 2019" (PDF). Freedom House. 5 February 2019. Retrieved 5 February 2019.
8. "Freedom in the World 2020" (PDF). Freedom House. 4 March 2020. Retrieved 4 March 2020.
9. "Freedom in the World 2021" (PDF). Freedom House. 3 March 2021. Retrieved 3 March 2021.
10. "Freedom in the World 2010: Methodology" 23 December 2011 at the Wayback Machine, Freedom in the World 2010, Freedom house
11. . freedomhouse.org. 13 January 2018. Archived from the original on 24 February 2020. Retrieved 17 January 2018.
12. "Countries and Territories". Freedom House. Retrieved 5 March 2021.
13. Puerto Rico *. Retrieved from https://freedomhouse.org/report/freedom-world/2016/puerto-rico 18 July 2019 at the Wayback Machine
14. Freedom House (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 ()
15. Status %26 Ratings Overview, 1973-2016.pdf "Country Status and ratings overview"^[], Freedom In the World 1973–2016, Freedom House. Retrieved 2 August 2016.
16. Country and Territory Ratings and Statuses, 1973-2024 (Excel Download), Freedom In the World, Country and Territory Ratings and Statuses, 1973-2024 (Excel Download), Freedom House.
17. Democracy Numbers, FIW 1989-2016.pdf "Number and percentages of electoral democracies"^[], Freedom In the World 1973–2016, Freedom House. Retrieved 2 August 2016.
18. Freedom In the World 2018, Freedom House.
19. 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) model