Freedom House: Three-quarters of the world's population is deprived of full freedom

The annual report of Freedom House was published; a report that shows a sharp decline in democracy in the world over the past 15 years. The situation of freedom in Iran is worse than in Iraq, Afghanistan, Turkey and Pakistan. The number of not-free countries has increased.

According to Freedom House's annual report, three-quarters of the world's people live in countries where freedom is declining. On the other hand, less than 20 percent of the world's people live in free countries.

What draws attention in this think tank's report is the continuous decline in freedom in the world over the past 15 years. Even democratic countries such as the United States and India are facing the phenomenon of declining freedom.

Freedom House uses 25 indicators to measure the extent to which people have access to political and civil liberties in different countries around the world. Based on these criteria, countries around the world are divided into three categories: "free", "partly free", and "not free".

Of the 195 independent countries surveyed, 73 have seen their democracy deteriorate over the past 15 years. Political and civil liberties improved in only 28 countries in 2020.

The number of “not free” countries in the world has increased during this period. According to the think tank’s annual report, 54 countries in the world, including countries such as Iran, China, North Korea, and Sudan, are among the “not free” countries. This is while the number of “not free” countries was announced to be 45 in 2005.

Thus, 38 percent of the world's people live in countries that lack freedom. In addition, 59 countries in the world enjoy only limited freedom. In other words, 113 countries in the world are considered to be either unfree or have limited freedoms.

The largest decline in freedom in a single country was observed in Kyrgyzstan. The Kyrgyz people’s enjoyment of political and civil liberties declined significantly in 2020. The country remains among the “partly free” countries.

Freedom House's annual report states that in 2019, people protested for greater freedoms in 39 countries around the world.

The report adds that people's struggles in many of these countries have not led to greater freedom, and freedoms declined further in 23 of these 39 countries in 2020.

America and India

Political freedoms in both the United States and India continued to decline in 2020. Since the beginning of Narendra Modi's term in office in 2014, people's freedoms have been declining.

Freedom of religious minorities, especially Muslims, has been restricted in India in recent years. In this regard, India's ranking has been downgraded from "free" to "partly free".

It is said that pressure on human rights organizations in India has increased and the Indian government has taken steps to politicize the judiciary.

Political freedoms in the United States have also declined under Donald Trump. The report states that although the United States is still among the “free” countries, it has fallen three places in the ranking of free countries, moving closer to countries such as Romania and Panama and further away from countries such as France and Germany.

The report states that Donald Trump's actions have been effective in reducing people's access to political freedoms. The report points to Trump's support and bias towards extremist and right-wing forces.

The state of democracy in other countries

The Islamic Republic of Iran is among the “not free” countries. Iran has only scored 6 out of 40 points in terms of access to political freedoms. The situation of civil liberties in this country is also dire. Iran has only scored 10 out of a total of 60 points.

Thus, the state of democracy in Iran is worse than in many countries in the region. Iran has a total of 16 points out of 100 points related to full access to political and civil liberties.

While Afghanistan has 27 points, Iraq has 29 points, Türkiye has 32 points, and Pakistan has 37 points out of a total of 100 points.

Iran's situation is better than countries such as North Korea (3 points), China (9 points), Turkmenistan (2 points), and Saudi Arabia (7 points).

Source: DW