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Freedom in the World

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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.[2]

2022[1]
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".[3] 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.[4]

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.[5]

Country rankings

   Countries designated "electoral democracies" in Freedom House's Freedom in the World 2023 survey, covering the year 2022.[6]

The rankings are from the Freedom in the World 2019,[7] 2020,[8] 2021,[9] 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).[10]

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.[11]

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.[10]

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)
TotalPRCLFree
Afghanistan615Not free
Albania682840Partly free
Algeria321022Not free
Andorra933855Free
Angola281018Not free
Antigua and Barbuda853352Free
Argentina853650Free
Armenia542331Partly free
Australia953857Free
Austria933756Free
Azerbaijan707Not free
Bahamas913853Free
Bahrain12210Not free
Bangladesh401525Partly free
Barbados943757Free
Belarus826Not free
Belgium963957Free
Belize873453Free
Benin611942Partly free
Bhutan633033Partly free
Bolivia662739Partly free
Bosnia and Herzegovina511734Partly free
Botswana722844Free
Brazil723042Free
Brunei28721Not free
Bulgaria783246Free
Burkina Faso27324Not free
Burundi14410Not free
Cape Verde923854Free
Cambodia23419Not free
Cameroon1569Not free
Canada973958Free
Central African Republic514Not free
Chad15114Not free
Chile943856Free
China9-211Not free
Colombia703139Free
Comoros421626Partly free
Costa Rica913853Free
Croatia833449Free
Cuba12111Not free
Cyprus923854Free
Czech Republic943658Free
Democratic Republic of the Congo19415Not free
Denmark974057Free
Djibouti24519Not free
Dominica933756Free
Dominican Republic682741Partly free
East Timor723339Free
Ecuador672938Partly free
Egypt18612Not free
El Salvador532132Partly free
Equatorial Guinea505Not free
Eritrea312Not free
Estonia953857Free
Eswatini17116Not free
Ethiopia201010Not free
Fiji662739Partly free
Finland1004060Free
France893851Free
Gabon20218Not free
Gambia502228Partly free
Georgia582236Partly free
Germany933954Free
Ghana803545Free
Greece853550Free
Grenada893752Free
Guatemala461729Partly free
Guinea30723Not free
Guinea-Bissau431726Partly free
Guyana733043Partly free
Haiti301119Not free
Honduras482226Partly free
Hungary652441Partly free
Iceland943757Free
India663333Partly free
Indonesia572928Partly free
Iran1147Not free
Iraq301614Not free
Ireland973958Free
Israel743440Free
Italy903654Free
Ivory Coast491930Partly free
Jamaica803347Free
Japan964056Free
Jordan331122Not free
Kazakhstan23518Not free
Kenya522230Partly free
Kiribati903753Free
Kosovo602832Partly free
Kuwait381424Partly free
Kyrgyzstan27423Not free
Laos13211Not free
Latvia883751Free
Lebanon421329Partly free
Lesotho663036Free
Liberia643034Partly free
Libya918Not free
Liechtenstein903353Free
Lithuania893851Free
Luxembourg973859Free
Madagascar582434Partly free
Malawi662937Partly free
Malaysia532231Partly free
Maldives442123Partly free
Mali26620Not free
Malta873552Free
Marshall Islands933855Free
Mauritania391524Partly free
Mauritius853550Free
Mexico602733Partly free
Micronesia923755Free
Moldova612635Partly free
Monaco822557Free
Mongolia843648Free
Montenegro692742Partly free
Morocco371324Partly free
Mozambique441430Partly free
Myanmar808Not free
Namibia773146Free
Nauru773443Free
Nepal622834Partly free
Netherlands973958Free
New Zealand994059Free
Nicaragua16412Not free
Niger33627Partly free
Nigeria442024Partly free
North Korea303Not free
North Macedonia672839Partly free
Norway983959Free
Oman24618Not free
Pakistan351421Partly free
Palau923755Free
Panama833548Free
Papua New Guinea612239Partly free
Paraguay632637Partly free
Peru662739Partly free
Philippines582533Partly free
Poland803347Free
Portugal963957Free
Qatar25718Not free
Republic of the Congo17215Not free
Romania833548Free
Russia1349Not free
Rwanda23815Not free
Samoa843252Free
San Marino973958Free
São Tomé and Príncipe843549Free
Saudi Arabia817Not free
Senegal672839Partly free
Serbia571839Partly free
Seychelles793445Free
Sierra Leone602436Partly free
Singapore481929Partly free
Slovakia903753Free
Slovenia963957Free
Solomon Islands752847Free
Somalia826Not free
South Africa793346Free
South Korea833350Free
South Sudan1-34Not free
Spain903753Free
Sri Lanka542233Partly free
Saint Kitts and Nevis893554Free
Saint Lucia923854Free
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines903654Free
Sudan6-39Not free
Suriname793445Free
Sweden994059Free
Switzerland963957Free
Syria1-34Not free
Tajikistan505Not free
Tanzania361224Partly free
Thailand361224Partly free
Togo421527Partly free
Tonga813150Free
Trinidad and Tobago823349Free
Tunisia511635Partly free
Turkey331716Not free
Turkmenistan202Not free
Tuvalu933756Free
Uganda341024Not free
Ukraine492128Partly free
United Arab Emirates18513Not free
United Kingdom913853Free
United States833350Free
Uruguay964056Free
Uzbekistan12210Not free
Vanuatu823250Free
Venezuela15114Not free
Vietnam19415Not free
Yemen1019Not free
Zambia542331Partly free
Zimbabwe271017Not free

Before 2024

CountryElectoral democracy20192020202120222023
PRCLFreePtsPRCLFreePtsPRCLFreePtsPRCLFreePtsPRCLFreePts
 Afghanistan *No56Not2756Not2756Not2777Not2
 Albania *Yes33Partly6833Partly6733Partly6633Partly67
 Algeria *No65Not3465Not3465Not3265Not32
 Andorra *Yes11Free9411Free9411Free9311Free93
 Angola *No65Not3165Not3265Not3165Not30
 Antigua and BarbudaYes22Free8422Free8522Free8522Free85
 Argentina *Yes22Free8422Free8522Free8422Free84
 Armenia *No44Partly5144Partly5344Partly5544Partly55
 Australia *Yes11Free9811Free9711Free9711Free95
 Austria *Yes11Free9311Free9311Free9311Free93
 Azerbaijan *No76Not1176Not1076Not1076Not9
 BahamasYes11Free9111Free9111Free9111Free91
 Bahrain *No76Not1276Not1176Not1276Not12
 Bangladesh *No55Partly4155Partly3955Partly3955Partly39
 BarbadosYes11Free9611Free9511Free9511Free95
 Belarus *No76Not1976Not1976Not1177Not8
 Belgium *Yes11Free9611Free9611Free9611Free96
 BelizeYes12Free8622Free8621Free8721Free87
 Benin *No22Free7942Partly6642Partly6553Partly59
 Bhutan *Yes34Partly5934Partly5924Partly6134Partly61
 Bolivia *Yes33Partly6733Partly6333Partly6633Partly66
 Bosnia and Herzegovina *No44Partly5344Partly5344Partly5344Partly53
 Botswana *Yes32Free7232Free7232Free7232Free72
 Brazil *Yes22Free7522Free7523Free7423Free73
 Brunei *No65Not2965Not2865Not2865Not28
 Bulgaria *Yes22Free8022Free8022Free7822Free79
 Burkina Faso *Yes43Partly6044Partly5644Partly5444Partly53
 Burundi *No76Not1476Not1376Not1476Not14
 Cambodia *No65Not2675Not2575Not2475Not24
 Cameroon *No66Not1966Not1866Not1666Not15
 Canada *Yes11Free9911Free9811Free9811Free98
 Cape Verde *Yes11Free9011Free9211Free9211Free92
 Central African Republic *No77Not977Not1077Not977Not7
 Chad *No76Not1776Not1776Not1776Not15
 Chile *Yes11Free9412Free9011Free9311Free94
 China *No76Not1176Not1076Not976Not9
 Colombia *Yes33Partly6633Partly6633Partly6533Partly64
 Comoros *No44Partly5044Partly4454Partly4254Partly42
 DR Congo *No76Not1576Not1876Not20
 Congo *No75Not2175Not2075Not20
 Costa Rica *Yes11Free9111Free9111Free91
 Croatia *Yes12Free8512Free8512Free85
 Cuba *No76Not1476Not1476Not13
 Cyprus *Yes11Free9411Free9411Free94
 Czech Republic *Yes11Free9111Free9111Free91
 Denmark *Yes11Free9711Free9711Free97
 Djibouti *No65Not2675Not2475Not24
 DominicaYes11Free9311Free9311Free93
 Dominican Republic *Yes33Partly6733Partly6733Partly67
 East Timor *Yes23Free7023Free7123Free72
 Ecuador *Yes33Partly6333Partly6533Partly67
 Egypt *No66Not2266Not2166Not18
 El Salvador *Yes23Free6724Partly6624Partly63
 Equatorial Guinea *No77Not677Not677Not5
 Eritrea *No77Not277Not277Not2
 Estonia *Yes11Free9411Free9411Free94
 Ethiopia *No66Not1966Not2466Not22
 Eswatini *No76Not1675Not1975Not19
 Fiji *Yes33Partly6133Partly6033Partly60
 Finland *Yes11Free10011Free10011Free100
 France *Yes12Free9012Free9012Free90
 Gabon *No75Not2375Not2275Not22
 GambiaNo45Partly4544Partly4644Partly46
 Georgia *Yes33Partly6333Partly6143Partly60
 Germany *Yes11Free9411Free9411Free94
 Ghana *Yes12Free8322Free8222Free82
 Greece *Yes12Free8712Free8812Free87
 GrenadaYes12Free8912Free8912Free89
 Guatemala *No44Partly5344Partly5244Partly52
 Guinea *No54Partly4355Partly4055Partly38
 Guinea-BissauNo54Partly4254Partly4654Partly44
 Guyana *Yes23Free7523Free7423Free73
 Haiti *No55Partly4155Partly3855Partly37
 Honduras *No44Partly4644Partly4545Partly44
 Hungary *Yes33Partly7033Partly7033Partly69
 Iceland *Yes11Free9411Free9411Free94
 India *Yes23Free7523Free7124Partly67
 Indonesia *No24Partly6224Partly6124Partly59
 Iran *No66Not1866Not1766Not16
 Iraq *No56Not3256Not3156Not29
 Ireland *Yes11Free9711Free9711Free97
 Israel *Yes23Free7823Free7623Free76
 Italy *Yes11Free8911Free8911Free90
 Ivory Coast *No44Partly5144Partly5154Partly44
 Jamaica *Yes22Free7822Free7822Free80
 Japan *Yes11Free9611Free9611Free96
 Jordan *No55Partly3755Partly3765Not34
 Kazakhstan *No75Not75Not2375Not23
 Kenya *No44Partly4844Partly4844Partly48
 Kiribati *Yes11Free9311Free9311Free93
 KosovoYes34Partly5434Partly5644Partly54
 Kuwait *No55Partly3655Partly3655Partly37
 Kyrgyzstan *No54Partly3854Partly3975Not28
 Laos *No76Not1476Not1476Not13
 Latvia *Yes22Free8712Free8912Free89
 Lebanon *No54Partly4554Partly4454Partly43
 Lesotho *Yes33Partly6333Partly6333Partly63
 Liberia *Yes33Partly6234Partly6034Partly60
 Libya *No76Not976Not976Not9
 Liechtenstein *Yes21Free9021Free9021Free90
 Lithuania *Yes11Free9111Free9112Free90
 LuxembourgYes11Free9811Free9811Free97
 Madagascar *Yes34Partly5633Partly6134Partly60
 Malawi *Yes33Partly6433Partly6233Partly66
 Malaysia *No44Partly5244Partly5244Partly51
 Maldives *No55Partly3545Partly4045Partly40
 Mali *No44Partly4455Partly4165Not33
 Malta *Yes21Free9121Free9021Free90
 Marshall Islands *Yes11Free9311Free9311Free93
 Mauritania *No65Not3255Partly3455Partly35
 MauritiusYes12Free8912Free8912Free87
 Mexico *Yes33Partly6333Partly6234Partly61
 Micronesia *Yes11Free9211Free9211Free92
 Moldova *Yes34Partly5834Partly6033Partly61
 Monaco *Yes31Free8231Free8331Free83
 Mongolia *Yes12Free8512Free8412Free84
 MontenegroYes43Partly6543Partly6233Partly63
 Morocco *No55Partly3955Partly3755Partly37
 Mozambique *No44Partly5154Partly4554Partly43
 Myanmar *No55Partly3056Not3056Not28
 Namibia *Yes32Free7522Free7722Free77
 Nauru *Yes22Free7823Free7723Free77
 Nepal *Yes34Partly5434Partly5634Partly56
 Netherlands *Yes11Free9911Free9911Free98
 New Zealand *Yes11Free9811Free9711Free99
 Nicaragua *No65Not3265Not3165Not30
 Niger *No44Partly4944Partly4844Partly48
 Nigeria *No35Partly5045Partly4745Partly45
 North Korea *No77Not377Not377Not3
 North Macedonia *Yes43Partly5933Partly6333Partly66
 Norway *Yes11Free10011Free10011Free100
 Oman *No65Not2365Not2365Not23
 Pakistan *No55Partly3955Partly3855Partly37
 Palau *Yes11Free9211Free9211Free92
 PanamaYes12Free8412Free8422Free83
 Papua New Guinea *Yes43Partly6443Partly6243Partly62
 Paraguay *Yes33Partly6533Partly6533Partly65
 Peru *Yes23Free7323Free7233Partly71
 Philippines *Yes33Partly6134Partly5934Partly56
 Poland *Yes22Free8422Free8422Free82
 Portugal *Yes11Free9611Free9611Free96
 Qatar *No65Not2565Not2565Not25
 Romania *Yes22Free8122Free8322Free83
 Russia *No76Not2076Not2076Not20
 Rwanda *No66Not2366Not2266Not21
 Saint Kitts and NevisYes11Free8911Free8921Free89
 Saint LuciaYes11Free9211Free9211Free91
 Saint Vincent and the Grenadines *Yes11Free9111Free9111Free91
 Samoa *Yes22Free8122Free8122Free81
 San MarinoYes11Free9511Free9511Free93
 São Tomé and Príncipe *Yes22Free8322Free8422Free84
 Saudi Arabia *No77Not777Not777Not7
 Senegal *Yes23Free7233Partly7133Partly71
 Serbia *Yes33Partly6743Partly6643Partly64
 SeychellesYes33Partly7133Partly7223Free77
 Sierra Leone *Yes33Partly6533Partly6533Partly65
 Singapore *No44Partly5144Partly5044Partly48
 Slovakia *Yes12Free8812Free8811Free90
 SloveniaYes11Free9411Free9411Free95
 Solomon Islands *Yes22Free7922Free7922Free79
 Somalia *No77Not777Not777Not7
 South Africa *Yes22Free7922Free7922Free79
 South Korea *Yes22Free8322Free8322Free83
 South Sudan *No77Not277Not277Not2
 Spain *Yes11Free9411Free9211Free90
 Sri Lanka *Yes34Partly5644Partly5644Partly56
 Sudan *No77Not776Not1276Not17
 Suriname *Yes23Free7723Free7522Free79
 Sweden *Yes11Free10011Free10011Free100
 Switzerland *Yes11Free9611Free9611Free96
 Syria *No77Not077Not077Not177Not177Not1
 Tajikistan *No76Not976Not976Not876Not876Not7
 Tanzania *No45Partly4555Partly4055Partly3455Partly3455Partly36
 Thailand *No75Not3064Partly3275Not3075Not2965Not30
 Togo *No54Partly4354Partly4454Partly4354Partly4254Partly42
 Tonga *Yes22Free7922Free7922Free7922Free7922Free81
 Trinidad and Tobago *Yes22Free8222Free8222Free82
 Tunisia *Yes23Free6923Free7023Free71
 Turkey *No56Not3156Not3256Not32
 Turkmenistan *No77Not277Not277Not2
 Tuvalu *Yes11Free9311Free9311Free93
 Uganda *No65Not3665Not3465Not34
 Ukraine *No34Partly6033Partly6234Partly60
 United Arab Emirates *No76Not1776Not1776Not17
 United Kingdom *Yes11Free9311Free9411Free93
 United States *Yes21Free8621Free8622Free83
 Uruguay *Yes11Free11Free9811Free98
 Uzbekistan *No76Not76Not1076Not11
 Vanuatu *Yes22Free8222Free8222Free82
 Venezuela *No76Not1976Not1676Not14
 Vietnam *No75Not2075Not2076Not19
 Yemen *No76Not1176Not1176Not11
 Zambia *No44Partly5444Partly5444Partly52
 Zimbabwe *No55Partly3155Partly2965Not28

Territories and countries with limited recognition

Territory (2024)
TotalPRCLFree
Abkhazia391722Partly free
Crimea2-24Not free
Eastern Donbas2-13Not free
Gaza Strip835Not free
Hong Kong41932Partly free
Indian Kashmir26620Not free
Nagorno-Karabakh-3-30Not free
Northern Cyprus762749Free
Pakistani Kashmir29920Not free
Somaliland431726Partly free
South Ossetia1239Not free
Taiwan943856Free
Tibet0-22Not free
Transnistria17512Not free
West Bank22418Not free
Western Sahara4-37Not free


Country2014201520162017201820202021[12]
PRCLFreePRCLFreePRCLFreePRCLFreePRCLFreePRCLFreePtsPRCLFreePts
 Abkhazia *45Partly45Partly45Partly45Partly45Partly1723Partly401723Partly40
 Crimea (disputed)43Partly76Not76Not76Not76Not-210Not8-29Not7
Donetsk PR and Luhansk PR (disputed)-16Not5-15Not4
Gaza Strip (Palestine)76Not76Not76Not76Not76Not38Not1138Not11
 Hong Kong * (China)52Partly52Partly52Partly52Partly52Partly1639Partly551537Partly52
Indian Kashmir (India)44Partly44Partly44Partly44Partly44Partly820Not28720Not27
Azad Kashmir (Pakistan)65Not65Not65Not65Not65Not919Not28919Not28
 Northern Cyprus *22Free22Free22Free22Free22Free3150Free812850Free78
 Puerto Rico (United States)*12Free12Free11Free[13]
 Somaliland *45Partly45Partly55Partly55Partly45Partly1724Partly411824Partly42
 South Ossetia *76Not76Not76Not76Not76Not28Not1028Not10
 Taiwan *11Free9311Free94
Tibet (China)77Not77Not77Not77Not77Not-23Not1-23Not1
 Transnistria *66Not66Not66Not66Not66Not913Not22812Not20
West Bank (Palestine)65Not65Not65Not75Not75Not421Not25421Not25
 Western Sahara *77Not77Not77Not77Not77Not-37Not4-37Not4

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

Partly Free

Not Free

According to Freedom House, a quarter of all declines of freedom in the world in 2016 took place in Europe.[14]

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
197541 (27%)48 (32%)63 (41%)—
198051 (32%)54 (33%)56 (35%)—
198553 (32%)59 (35%)55 (33%)—
199061 (37%)44 (26%)62 (37%)69 (41%)
199576 (40%)61 (32%)54 (28%)113 (59%)
200085 (44%)60 (31%)47 (25%)120 (63%)
200589 (46%)54 (28%)49 (26%)119 (62%)
201089 (46%)58 (30%)47 (24%)116 (60%)
201187 (45%)60 (31%)47 (24%)115 (59%)
201287 (45%)60 (31%)48 (25%)117 (60%)
201390 (46%)58 (30%)47 (24%)117 (60%)
201488 (45%)59 (30%)48 (25%)122 (63%)
201589 (46%)55 (28%)51 (26%)125 (64%)
201686 (44%)59 (30%)50 (26%)125 (64%)
201787 (45%)59 (30%)49 (25%)123 (63%)
201888 (45%)58 (30%)49 (25%)116 (59%)
201986 (44%)59 (30%)50 (26%)115 (59%)
202083 (43%)63 (32%)49 (25%)115 (59%)
202182 (42%)59 (30%)54 (28%)114 (58%)
202283 (43%)56 (29%)56 (29%)115 (59%)
202384 (43%)54 (28%)57 (29%)110 (56%)

Sources: Country Status and ratings overview 1973–2016,[15][16] Number and percentages of electoral democracies 1989–2016,[17] Freedom in the World 2018 report covering 2017.[18]

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.[3] The neutrality and biases of human-rights indices have been discussed in several publications by Kenneth A. Bollen.[19] 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).[3] 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).[20]

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.[21] 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).[5]

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.[10]

Mainwaring et alia (2001, p. 52)[20] 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).[20]

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.[3] 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).[22] 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).[22]

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.[23]

Use and conceptual analysis

Criticisms of the reception and uses of the Freedom in the World report have been noted by Diego Giannone:[24][unreliable source?]

  • "Conceptual stretching", Giovanni Sartori's critical term for a methodological shortcoming common in social studies.[25] 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."[26]
  • 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."[27]
  • "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).[28] 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",[29] 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".[28]

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."[30]

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."[10]

See also

Notes

References

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