Sunday Times 2
These are the least free countries in the world
View(s):For the ninth consecutive year, the number of countries worldwide where freedom has declined (61) is almost twice those where levels of liberty increased (33).
This was the key finding of the annual Freedom in the World study published on January 28 by Freedom House, analyzing the civil liberties and political rights available to citizens in 195 states in 2014.
Forty six percent (89) of the nations studied were classified as free, 28 percent (55) as partially free, and the remaining 26 percent (51) were classified as “not free.” The report, subtitled “Discarding Democracy: Return to the Iron Fist,” rates the countries on a scale of 1 to 7, 1 being the highest score.
The worst cases were found in the Middle East and Africa (including Syria, Equatorial Guinea, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, among others), as well as North Korea.
The decline in global freedom was largely due to increased state surveillance and control of the individual, coupled with restrictions on communication on the internet, particularly in authoritarian regimes.
The report concludes that strengthening democratic institutions is the key to freedom in any country. Antidemocratic tendencies often contribute to humanitarian crises, the authors found, and they also enable terrorist groups to flourish, which can have knock-on effects on the international community.
“Will established democracies recognize that global assaults on free institutions represent a threat to their national interests,” the study asked, “exemplified by the actions of the United States and the European Union against Russia when it invaded Ukraine?”
- Courtesy PanAm Post
The WAshington-based Freedom House, has released its quinquennial status report on levels of freedom across the world
While 51 countries are rated 'not free', it has named 10 countries as the 'worst of the worst'. 1 Central African Republic, 2 Equatorial Guinea, 3 Eritrea, 4 North Korea, 5 Saudi Arabia, 6 Somalia, 7 Sudan, 8 Syria, 9 Turkmenistan and 10 Uzbekistan. Note Sri Lanka is in the yellow or partly-free zone.
While the number of countries rated as free has been increasing, more recently it has plateaued.
Source: Freedom House, maps by Statista