Freedom in the World

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Map reflecting the findings of the predominately US-funded^[1] Freedom House's survey, concerning the state of world freedom in 2005 which is widely used by researchers and correlates highly with other measures of democracy^[2].██ Free ██ Partly Free ██ Not Free

Countries highlighted in blue are designated "Electoral Democracies" in predominately US-funded^[1] Freedom House's survey Freedom in the World.It is widely used by researchers in order to measure democracy and correlates highly with several other measures of democracy^[3]

This map reflects the findings of predominately US-funded ^[1] Freedom House's 2006 survey Freedom in the World, concerning the state of political right in the world. It is widely used by researchers in order to measure democracy and correlates highly with several other measures of democracy.[5] ██ Level 1 ██ Level 2 ██ Level 3 ██ Level 4██ Level 5 ██ Level 6 ██ Level 7

This map reflects the findings of predominately US-funded^[1] Freedom House's 2006 survey Freedom in the World, concerning the state of civil liberties in the world. It is widely used by researchers in order to measure democracy and correlates highly with several other measures of democracy.[6] ██ Level 1 ██ Level 2 ██ Level 3 ██ Level 4██ Level 5 ██ Level 6 ██ Level 7

Freedom in the World is a yearly report by predominately US-funded^[1] Freedom House that purports to measure the degree of democracy and freedom in every nation and significant disputed territories around the world, and which 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 ratings in this table reflect findings based on global events from 1 December 2004 through 30 November 2005. It is often used by researchers in order to measure democracy and correlates highly with several other measures of democracy like the Polity data series^[4].

Freedom House describes its relationship with the US government as: "Freedom House is an independent, non-governmental organization that was initially created in 1941 to urge the U.S. government to adopt policies supporting democracy and human rights at home and abroad. Its reports and analyses are independent of any governmental influence and are enriched by an intellectual atmosphere of scholarly inquiry. In recent years, Freedom House has received grants from the U.S. Agency for International Development and the State Department for various projects, usually as a result of public competition. Freedom House has also applied for and received funds from other democratic governments and international bodies that promote democracy, including the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Norway and the European Union. Freedom House chooses to respond to specific funding opportunities, but never accepts funds from government institutions, including U.S. government agencies, in the form of contracts, and never functions as an extension of any government."[7]

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. Universal adult suffrage for all citizens (with exceptions for restrictions that states may legitimately place on citizens as sanctions for criminal offenses);
3. Regularly contested elections conducted in conditions of ballot secrecy, reasonable ballot security, and in the absence of massive voter fraud that yields results that are unrepresentative of the public will;
4. Significant public access of major political parties to the electorate through the media and through generally open political campaigning

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.^[5]

Survey data and introductory essay are available online. Detailed descriptions of all nations can be found online in Freedom in the World 2005.

PR - Political Rights CL - Civil Liberties

[edit] Sub-Saharan Africa

Country	PR	CL	Status	Country	PR	CL	Status
Angola	6	5	Not Free	Liberia*	4	4	Partly Free
Benin*	2	2	Free	Madagascar*	3	3	Partly Free
Botswana*	2	2	Free	Malawi*	4	4	Partly Free
Burkina Faso	5	3	Partly Free	Mali*	2	2	Free
Burundi*	3	5	Partly Free	Mauritania	6	4	Partly Free
Cameroon	6	6	Not Free	Mauritius*	1	1	Free
Cape Verde*	1	1	Free	Mozambique*	3	4	Partly Free
Central African Republic*	5	4	Partly Free	Namibia*	2	2	Free
Chad	6	5	Not Free	Niger*	3	3	Partly Free
Comoros*	4	4	Partly Free	Nigeria*	4	4	Partly Free
Congo-Brazzaville	5	5	Partly Free	Rwanda	6	5	Not Free
Congo-Kinshasa	6	6	Not Free	São Tomé and Príncipe*	2	2	Free
Côte d'Ivoire	6	6	Not Free	Senegal*	2	3	Free
Djibouti	5	5	Partly Free	Seychelles*	3	3	Partly Free
Equatorial Guinea	7	6	Not Free	Sierra Leone*	4	3	Partly Free
Eritrea	7	6	Not Free	Somalia	6	7	Not Free
Ethiopia	5	5	Partly Free	South Africa*	1	2	Free
Gabon	6	4	Partly Free	Sudan	7	7	Not Free
The Gambia	5	4	Partly Free	Swaziland	7	5	Not Free
Ghana*	1	2	Free	Tanzania	4	3	Partly Free
Guinea	6	5	Not Free	Togo	6	5	Not Free
Guinea-Bissau	3	4	Partly Free	Uganda	5	4	Partly Free
Kenya*	3	3	Partly Free	Zambia	4	4	Partly Free
Lesotho*	2	3	Free	Zimbabwe	7	6	Not Free

[edit] Americas

Country	PR	CL	Status	Country	PR	CL	Status
Antigua and Barbuda*	2	2	Free	Guyana*	3	3	Partly Free
Argentina*	2	2	Free	Haiti	7	6	Not Free
The Bahamas*	1	1	Free	Honduras*	3	3	Partly Free
Barbados*	1	1	Free	Jamaica*	2	3	Free
Belize*	1	2	Free	Mexico*	2	2	Free
Bolivia*	3	3	Partly Free	Nicaragua*	3	3	Partly Free
Brazil*	2	2	Free	Panama*	1	2	Free
Canada*	1	1	Free	Paraguay*	3	3	Partly Free
Chile*	1	1	Free	Peru*	2	3	Free
Colombia*	3	3	Partly Free	Saint Kitts and Nevis*	1	1	Free
Costa Rica*	1	1	Free	Saint Lucia*	1	1	Free
Cuba	7	7	Not Free	Saint Vincent and the Grenadines*	2	1	Free
Dominica*	1	1	Free	Suriname*	2	2	Free
Dominican Republic*	2	2	Free	Trinidad and Tobago*	3	2	Free
Ecuador*	3	3	Partly Free	United States*	1	1	Free
El Salvador*	2	3	Free	Uruguay*	1	1	Free
Grenada*	1	2	Free	Venezuela*	4	4	Partly Free
Guatemala*	4	4	Partly Free

[edit] Asia-Pacific

Country	PR	CL	Status	Country	PR	CL	Status
Afghanistan	5	5	Partly Free	Nauru*	1	1	Free
Australia*	1	1	Free	Nepal	6	5	Not Free
Bangladesh*	4	4	Partly Free	New Zealand*	1	1	Free
Bhutan	6	5	Not Free	North Korea	7	7	Not Free
Brunei	6	5	Not Free	Pakistan	6	5	Not Free
Burma	7	7	Not Free	Palau*	1	1	Free
Cambodia	6	5	Not Free	Papua New Guinea*	3	3	Partly Free
People's Republic of China (Mainland only)	7	6	Not Free	Philippines*	3	3	Partly Free
East Timor*	3	3	Partly Free	Samoa*	2	2	Free
Fiji	4	3	Partly Free	Singapore	5	4	Partly Free
India*	2	3	Free	Solomon Islands*	3	3	Partly Free
Indonesia*	2	3	Free	South Korea*	1	2	Free
Japan*	1	2	Free	Sri Lanka*	3	3	Partly Free
Kiribati*	1	1	Free	Republic of China (Taiwan)*	1	1	Free
Laos	7	6	Not Free	Thailand*	3	3	Partly Free
Malaysia	4	4	Partly Free	Tonga	5	3	Partly Free
Maldives	6	5	Not Free	Tuvalu*	1	1	Free
Marshall Islands*	1	1	Free	Vanuatu*	2	2	Free
Micronesia*	1	1	Free	Vietnam	7	5	Not Free
Mongolia*	2	2	Free

[edit] Central & Eastern Europe & the former Soviet Union

Country	PR	CL	Status	Country	PR	CL	Status
Albania*	3	3	Partly Free	Lithuania*	1	1	Free
Armenia	5	4	Partly Free	Macedonia*	3	3	Partly Free
Azerbaijan	6	5	Not Free	Moldova*	3	4	Partly Free
Belarus	7	6	Not Free	Poland*	1	1	Free
Bosnia and Herzegovina	4	3	Partly Free	Romania*	2	2	Free
Bulgaria*	1	2	Free	Russia	6	5	Not Free
Croatia*	2	2	Free	Serbia and Montenegro*	3	2	Free
Czech Republic*	1	1	Free	Slovakia*	1	1	Free
Estonia*	1	1	Free	Slovenia*	1	1	Free
Georgia*	3	3	Partly Free	Tajikistan	6	5	Not Free
Hungary*	1	1	Free	Turkmenistan	7	7	Not Free
Kazakhstan	6	5	Not Free	Ukraine*	3	2	Free
Kyrgyzstan	5	4	Partly Free	Uzbekistan	7	7	Not Free
Latvia*	1	1	Free

[edit] Western Europe

Country	PR	CL	Status	Country	PR	CL	Status
Andorra*	1	1	Free	Luxembourg*	1	1	Free
Austria*	1	1	Free	Malta*	1	1	Free
Belgium*	1	1	Free	Monaco*	2	1	Free
Cyprus*	1	1	Free	Netherlands*	1	1	Free
Denmark*	1	1	Free	Norway*	1	1	Free
Finland*	1	1	Free	Portugal*	1	1	Free
France*	1	1	Free	San Marino*	1	1	Free
Germany*	1	1	Free	Spain*	1	1	Free
Greece*	1	2	Free	Sweden*	1	1	Free
Iceland*	1	1	Free	Switzerland*	1	1	Free
Ireland*	1	1	Free	Turkey*	3	3	Partly Free
Italy*	1	1	Free	United Kingdom*	1	1	Free
Liechtenstein*	1	1	Free

[edit] Middle East & North Africa

Country	PR	CL	Status	Country	PR	CL	Status
Algeria	6	5	Not Free	Libya	7	7	Not Free
Bahrain	5	5	Partly Free	Morocco	5	4	Partly Free
Egypt	6	5	Not Free	Oman	6	5	Not Free
Iran	6	6	Not Free	Qatar	6	5	Not Free
Iraq	6	5	Not Free	Saudi Arabia	7	6	Not Free
Israel*	1	2	Free	Syria	7	7	Not Free
Jordan	5	4	Partly Free	Tunisia	6	5	Not Free
Kuwait	4	5	Partly Free	United Arab Emirates	6	6	Not Free
Lebanon	5	4	Partly Free	Yemen	5	5	Partly Free

[edit] Related/Disputed Territories

Country / Territory	PR	CL	Status	Country / Territory	PR	CL	Status
Abkhazia (Georgia)	5	5	Partly Free	Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus	2	2	Free
Hong Kong (People's Republic of China)	5	2	Partly Free	Palestinian Authority Administered Territories	5	5	Partly Free
Kashmir (Indian Administered)	5	5	Partly Free	Puerto Rico (United States)	1	1	Free
Kashmir (Pakistani Administered)	7	5	Not Free	Tibet (People's Republic of China)	7	7	Not Free
Kosovo (Serbia & Montenegro)	6	5	Not Free	Transnistria (Moldova)	6	6	Not Free
Macao (People's Republic of China)	6	4	Partly Free	West Bank and Gaza Strip (Israeli Administered)	6	5	Not Free
Nagorno-Karabakh (Azerbaijan)	5	5	Partly Free	Western Sahara (Morocco)	7	6	Not Free

[edit] References

1. ^ ^{a b c d e} [1] 2005 Freedom House Annual Report, page 26, indicating 75% US federal funding
2. ^ [2]
3. ^ Political Analysis 11 (2003): 196-203.
4. ^ [3]
5. ^ [4]Methodology, Freedom house