List of freedom indices

This article contains a list of freedom indices produced by several non-governmental organizations that publish and maintain assessments of the state of freedom in the world, according to their own various definitions of the term, and rank countries as being free, partly free, or unfree using various measures of freedom, including civil liberties, political rights and economic rights.

Prominent indices

• The CIRI Human Rights Data Project measures a range of human, civil, women's, and workers' rights.^[1] It was created in 1994 and is now hosted by the University of Connecticut.^[2] In its 2011 report, the U.S. was ranked 38th in overall human rights.^[3]
• The Democracy Index, published by the U.K.-based Economist Intelligence Unit, is an assessment of countries' democracy. Countries are rated to be either Full Democracies, Flawed Democracies, Hybrid Regimes, or Authoritarian regimes. Full democracies, flawed democracies, and hybrid regimes are considered to be democracies, and the authoritarian nations are considered to be dictatorial. The index is based on 60 indicators grouped in five different categories measuring pluralism, civil liberties, and political culture.^[4]
• The Economic Freedom of the World Index is a report published by Canada-based Fraser Institute in conjunction with the Economic Freedom Network, a group of independent research and educational institutes in 90 nations and territories worldwide. It is a numeric index, and its results are not currently included in the table below.

• Freedom in the World, published each year since 1972 by the U.S.-based Freedom House, ranks countries by political rights and civil liberties that are derived in large measure from the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Countries are assessed as free, partly free, or unfree.^[5]
• Freedom of the Press is a report published each year since 1980 by Freedom House.
• The Index of Economic Freedom is an annual report published by The Wall Street Journal and the U.S.-based Heritage Foundation. Countries are assessed as free, mostly free, moderately free, mostly unfree, and repressed.^[6]
• The Index of Freedom in the World is an index measuring classical civil liberties published by Canada's Fraser Institute, Germany's Liberales Institute, and the U.S. Cato Institute.^[7] It is not currently included in the table below.
• MaxRange, developed by Max Rånge, and maintained by Mikael Sandberg and Max Rånge, political scientists at Halmstad University, Sweden, is a data set defining a country's level of democracy and institutional structure (regime-type) on a 1000-point graded scale. Values are sorted based on level of democracy and political accountability. MaxRange defines the value corresponding to all states every month from 1789 to the present.^[8]
• The U.S.-based Polity data series is a widely used data series in political science research. It contains coded annual information on regime authority characteristics and transitions for all independent states with total populations greater than 500,000 and covers the years 1800–2006. Polity's conclusions about a state's level of democracy are based on an evaluation of that state's elections for competitiveness, openness, and level of participation. Data from this series is not currently included in the table below. The Polity work is sponsored by the Political Instability Task Force (PITF) which is funded by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency; however, the views expressed in the reports are the authors' alone and do not represent the views of the U.S. Government.
• Worldwide Press Freedom Index, is published each year since 2002 (except that 2011 was combined with 2012) by France-based Reporters Without Borders. Countries are assessed as having a good situation, a satisfactory situation, noticeable problems, a difficult situation, or a very serious situation.^[9]
• The World Index of Moral Freedom was first published on April 2nd, 2016 by the Foundation for the Advancement of Liberty, based in Madrid, Spain. This index ranks 160 countries by five categories of indicators: religious freedom, bioethical freedom, drugs freedom, sexuality freedom and family and gender freedom. The index aims at establishing the degree of individual freedom or state control on decisions pertaining to the great moral debates of our time.^[10]

Annual assessments

Here is a table of the assessments by three indices, for most countries of the world. For exact rankings rather than assessments, refer to the individual index articles.

• 

  Country ratings from Freedom House's Freedom in the World 2016 survey, concerning the state of world freedom in 2015.^[1]

• 

  2014 Index of Economic Freedom.^[2]
  Source: Heritage Foundation and the Wall Street Journal

• 

  2014 Press Freedom Index.^[3]

1. ^ Freedom House (January 28, 2016). Freedom in the World 2016 (PDF).
2. ^ Cite error: The named reference IEF was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
3. ^ "Press Freedom Index 2015", Reporters Without Borders, January 2015.

Very serious situation   Difficult situation   Noticeable problems

Satisfactory situation   Good situation   Not classified / No data

Source: Reporters Without Borders ]]

Index	Scale
Freedom in the World[5]	free																				partly free																				not free
Index of Economic Freedom[6]	free												mostly free												moderately free												mostly unfree												repressed
Press Freedom Index[9]	good situation												satisfactory situation												noticeable problems												difficult situation												very serious situation

List by country

Country	Freedom in the World 2015[5]	2015 Index of Economic Freedom[6]	2015 Press Freedom Index[9]
Abkhazia	partly free	n/a	n/a
Afghanistan	not free	n/a	difficult situation
Albania	partly free	moderately free	noticeable problems
Algeria	not free	repressed	difficult situation
Andorra	free	n/a	good situation
Angola	not free	repressed	difficult situation
Anguilla	n/a	n/a	satisfactory situation
Antigua and Barbuda	free	n/a	satisfactory situation
Argentina	free	repressed	noticeable problems
Armenia	partly free	moderately free	noticeable problems
Australia	free	free	satisfactory situation
Austria	free	mostly free	good situation
Azerbaijan	not free	moderately free	very serious situation
Bahamas	free	moderately free	satisfactory situation
Bahrain	not free	moderately free	very serious situation
Bangladesh	partly free	moderately free	noticeable problems
Barbados	free	moderately free	satisfactory situation
Belarus	not free	repressed	difficult situation
Belgium	free	moderately free	good situation
Belize	free	mostly unfree	satisfactory situation
Benin	free	mostly unfree	noticeable problems
Bhutan	partly free	mostly unfree	noticeable problems
Bolivia	partly free	repressed	noticeable problems
Bosnia and Herzegovina	partly free	mostly unfree	noticeable problems
Botswana	free	moderately free	satisfactory situation
Brazil	free	mostly unfree	noticeable problems
British Virgin Islands	n/a	n/a	satisfactory situation
Brunei	not free	moderately free	difficult situation
Bulgaria	free	moderately free	noticeable problems
Burkina Faso	partly free	mostly unfree	satisfactory situation
Burma	not free	repressed	difficult situation
Burundi	not free	mostly unfree	difficult situation
Cambodia	not free	mostly unfree	difficult situation
Cameroon	not free	mostly unfree	difficult situation
Canada	free	mostly free	good situation
Cape Verde	free	moderately free	satisfactory situation
Central African Republic	not free	repressed	noticeable problems
Chad	not free	repressed	difficult situation
Chile	free	mostly free	satisfactory situation
China	not free	mostly unfree	very serious situation
Colombia	partly free	mostly free	difficult situation
Comoros	partly free	mostly unfree	satisfactory situation
Costa Rica	free	moderately free	good situation
Congo, Democratic Republic of the	not free	repressed	difficult situation
Congo, Republic of the	not free	repressed	noticeable problems
Croatia	free	moderately free	noticeable problems
Cuba	not free	repressed	very serious situation
Cyprus	free	moderately free	satisfactory situation
Czech Republic	free	mostly free	good situation
Denmark	free	mostly free	good situation
Djibouti	not free	mostly unfree	very serious situation
Dominica	free	moderately free	satisfactory situation
Dominican Republic	free	moderately free	noticeable problems
East Timor	partly free	repressed	noticeable problems
Ecuador	partly free	repressed	noticeable problems
Egypt	not free	mostly unfree	difficult situation
El Salvador	free	moderately free	satisfactory situation
Equatorial Guinea	not free	repressed	very serious situation
Eritrea	not free	repressed	very serious situation
Estonia	free	mostly free	good situation
Ethiopia	not free	mostly unfree	difficult situation
Fiji	partly free	mostly unfree	noticeable problems
Finland	free	mostly free	good situation
France	free	moderately free	satisfactory situation
French Guiana	free	moderately free	satisfactory situation
Gabon	not free	mostly unfree	noticeable problems
Gambia	not free	mostly unfree	difficult situation
Gaza Strip	not free	n/a	difficult situation
Georgia	partly free	mostly free	noticeable problems
Germany	free	mostly free	good situation
Ghana	free	moderately free	satisfactory situation
Greece	free	mostly unfree	noticeable problems
Grenada	free	n/a	satisfactory situation
Guatemala	partly free	moderately free	difficult situation
Guinea	partly free	mostly unfree	noticeable problems
Guinea-Bissau	partly free	mostly unfree	noticeable problems
Guyana	free	mostly unfree	noticeable problems
Haiti	partly free	mostly unfree	noticeable problems
Honduras	partly free	mostly unfree	difficult situation
Hong Kong	partly free	free	noticeable problems
Hungary	free	moderately free	noticeable problems
Iceland	free	mostly free	good situation
India	free	mostly unfree	satisfactory situation
Indonesia	partly free	mostly unfree	difficult situation
Iran	not free	repressed	very serious situation
Iraq	not free	n/a	difficult situation
Ireland	free	mostly free	good situation
Israel	free	mostly free	noticeable problems
Italy	free	moderately free	noticeable problems
Ivory Coast	partly free	mostly unfree	noticeable problems
Jamaica	free	moderately free	good situation
Japan	free	mostly free	noticeable problems
Jordan	not free	moderately free	difficult situation
Kazakhstan	not free	moderately free	difficult situation
Kenya	partly free	mostly unfree	noticeable problems
Kiribati	free	repressed	satisfactory situation
Korea, North	not free	repressed	very serious situation
Korea, South	free	mostly free	noticeable problems
Kosovo	partly free	n/a	noticeable problems
Kuwait	partly free	moderately free	noticeable problems
Kyrgyzstan	partly free	moderately free	noticeable problems
Laos	not free	mostly unfree	very serious situation
Latvia	free	moderately free	satisfactory situation
Lebanon	partly free	mostly unfree	noticeable problems
Lesotho	free	repressed	noticeable problems
Liberia	partly free	mostly unfree	noticeable problems
Libya	not free	n/a	difficult situation
Liechtenstein	free	n/a	good situation
Lithuania	free	mostly free	satisfactory situation
Luxembourg	free	mostly free	good situation
Macau	n/a	mostly free	noticeable problems
Macedonia	partly free	moderately free	difficult situation
Madagascar	partly free	moderately free	noticeable problems
Malawi	partly free	mostly unfree	noticeable problems
Malaysia	partly free	mostly free	difficult situation
Maldives	partly free	mostly unfree	noticeable problems
Mali	partly free	mostly unfree	difficult situation
Malta	free	moderately free	satisfactory situation
Marshall Islands	free	n/a	satisfactory situation
Mauritania	not free	mostly unfree	noticeable problems
Mauritius	free	mostly free	noticeable problems
Mexico	partly free	moderately free	difficult situation
Micronesia, Federated States of	free	repressed	satisfactory situation
Moldova	partly free	mostly unfree	noticeable problems
Monaco	free	n/a	satisfactory situation
Mongolia	free	mostly unfree	noticeable problems
Montserrat	n/a	n/a	satisfactory situation
Montenegro	free	moderately free	difficult situation
Morocco	partly free	moderately free	difficult situation
Mozambique	partly free	mostly unfree	noticeable problems
Nagorno-Karabakh	partly free	n/a	n/a
Namibia	free	mostly unfree	good situation
Nauru	free	n/a	satisfactory situation
Nepal	partly free	mostly unfree	noticeable problems
Netherlands	free	mostly free	good situation
New Caledonia	n/a	n/a	good situation
New Zealand	free	free	good situation
Nicaragua	partly free	mostly unfree	noticeable problems
Niger	partly free	mostly unfree	satisfactory situation
Nigeria	partly free	mostly unfree	difficult situation
Northern Cyprus	free	n/a	noticeable problems
Norway	free	mostly free	good situation
Oman	not free	moderately free	difficult situation
Pakistan	partly free	mostly unfree	difficult situation
Palau	free	n/a	satisfactory situation
Palestine	not free	n/a	difficult situation
Panama	free	moderately free	noticeable problems
Papua New Guinea	partly free	mostly unfree	noticeable problems
Paraguay	partly free	moderately free	noticeable problems
Peru	free	moderately free	noticeable problems
Philippines	partly free	moderately free	difficult situation
Poland	free	moderately free	good situation
Portugal	free	moderately free	satisfactory situation
Puerto Rico	free	n/a	satisfactory situation
Qatar	not free	mostly free	noticeable problems
Romania	free	moderately free	satisfactory situation
Russia	not free	mostly unfree	difficult situation
Rwanda	not free	moderately free	very serious situation
Saint Kitts and Nevis	free	n/a	satisfactory situation
Saint Lucia	free	mostly free	satisfactory situation
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines	free	moderately free	satisfactory situation
Samoa	free	moderately free	satisfactory situation
San Marino	free	n/a	satisfactory situation
São Tomé and Príncipe	free	repressed	satisfactory situation
Saudi Arabia	not free	moderately free	very serious situation
Senegal	free	mostly unfree	noticeable problems
Serbia	free	moderately free	noticeable problems
Seychelles	partly free	mostly unfree	noticeable problems
Sierra Leone	partly free	mostly unfree	noticeable problems
Singapore	partly free	free	difficult situation
Slovakia	free	moderately free	good situation
Slovenia	free	moderately free	satisfactory situation
Solomon Islands	partly free	repressed	good situation
Somalia	not free	repressed	very serious situation
Somaliland	partly free	n/a	n/a
South Africa	free	moderately free	satisfactory situation
South Ossetia	not free	n/a	n/a
South Sudan	not free	n/a	difficult situation
Spain	free	moderately free	satisfactory situation
Sri Lanka	partly free	mostly unfree	very serious situation
Sudan	not free	repressed	very serious situation
Suriname	free	mostly unfree	satisfactory situation
Swaziland	not free	mostly unfree	difficult situation
Sweden	free	mostly free	good situation
Switzerland	free	free	good situation
Syria	not free	repressed	very serious situation
Taiwan	free	mostly free	satisfactory situation
Tajikistan	not free	mostly unfree	difficult situation
Tanzania	partly free	mostly unfree	noticeable problems
Thailand	not free	moderately free	difficult situation
Tibet	not free	n/a	n/a
Togo	partly free	repressed	noticeable problems
Tonga	free	mostly unfree	noticeable problems
Transnistria	not free	n/a	n/a
Trinidad and Tobago	free	moderately free	satisfactory situation
Tunisia	free	mostly unfree	difficult situation
Turkey	partly free	moderately free	difficult situation
Turkmenistan	not free	repressed	very serious situation
Tuvalu	free	n/a	satisfactory situation
Uganda	not free	mostly unfree	noticeable problems
Ukraine	partly free	repressed	difficult situation
United Arab Emirates	not free	mostly free	difficult situation
United Kingdom	free	mostly free	satisfactory situation
United States	free	mostly free	satisfactory situation
Uruguay	free	moderately free	satisfactory situation
Uzbekistan	not free	repressed	very serious situation
Vanuatu	free	moderately free	good situation
Venezuela	partly free	repressed	difficult situation
Vietnam	not free	mostly unfree	very serious situation
West Bank	not free	n/a	difficult situation
Western Sahara	not free	n/a	difficult situation
Yemen	not free	mostly unfree	very serious situation
Zambia	partly free	mostly unfree	noticeable problems
Zimbabwe	not free	repressed	difficult situation

See also

• Areopagitica: A speech of Mr John Milton for the liberty of unlicensed printing to the Parliament of England
• Censorship by country
• Freedom House
• Freedom in the World
• Indices of economic freedom
• Internet censorship by country
• Media transparency
• Transparency (humanities)
• Transparency (market)
• United Nations Parliamentary Assembly

Notes and references

1. "CIRI Human Rights Data Project". humanrightsdat.org. Retrieved October 25, 2013.
2. Michael Kirk (December 10, 2010). "Annual International Human Rights Ratings Announced". University of Connecticut.
3. "HUMAN RIGHTS IN 2011: THE CIRI REPORT". CIRI Human Rights Data Project. August 29, 2013.
4. "Democracy index 2012: Democracy at a standstill". Economist Intelligence Unit. 14 March 2013. Retrieved 24 March 2013.
5. Freedom in the World 2015, Freedom House, 15 January 2015. Retrieved 1 April 2015.
6. Heritage Foundation (January 2015). "Country Rankings". 2015 Index of Economic Freedom.
7. Craggs, Ryan (January 14, 2013). "World Freedom Index 2013: Canadian Fraser Institute Ranks Countries". Huffington Post.
8. "MaxRange: Analyzing political regimes and democratization processes". Sweden: School of Education, Humanities and Social Sciences, Halmstad University. April 30, 2015. Retrieved May 2, 2015.
10. World Index of Moral Freedom 2016, published by the Foundation for the Advancement of Liberty

External links

• Economic Freedom of the World. The Fraser Institute.
• Freedom in the World. Freedom House.
• Index of Economic Freedom. The Wall Street Journal.
• Internationale Medienhilfe (IMH). International organization for press freedom.(German)
• World Index of Moral Freedom. Foundation for the Advancement of Liberty.