Global freedom declined for the 19th consecutive year in 2024, according to the Global Freedom Index by democratic watchdog organization Freedom House, released Wednesday.
As Statista's Anna Fleck reports, analysts found that 60 countries have experienced a deterioration in their political and civil liberties since 2023, while 34 saw improvements.
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El Salvador, Haiti, Kuwait and Tunisia saw their scores drop the furthest compared to last year, while Bangladesh, Bhutan, Sri Lanka and Syria saw the biggest gains.
In a major year for elections, violence affected 27 of the 66 countries and territories studied in the report where ballots were held last year, including attacks on candidates. In Mexico and South Africa, such assaults were largely at the hands of criminal groups seeking to gain political influence and control of territory. In countries such as France, Japan, South Korea, the United Kingdom and the United States, extremism or partisan stances drove attacks on individuals running for office.
India has seen a decline of 15 points in the past decade. Between 2023 and 2024 it slid three points and was placed in the category of "partly free". Meanwhile, Indian Kashmir saw an increase of 12 points year on year due largely to its return of elections, lifting it from the "not free" group to the "partly free" group.
Freedoms and security also continued to be hampered by ongoing armed conflicts. Freedom House notes how civil wars, clashes between states, and fighting that involved non-state armed groups have hit local civilian populations in places around the world and have had a negative ripple effect, including fuelling the spread of illicit trades.
The Freedom in the World Index is an index compiled annually by the U.S. NGO Freedom House, which evaluates civil and political freedom in states and territories around the world. The methodology is based on the Declaration of Human Rights as proclaimed by the United Nations (UN) in 1948 and is intended to assess the political rights and civil liberties of individuals rather than governments.
The countries/territories are evaluated by a team of internal and external analysts and expert advisors from a range of academia, think tank and human rights communities, with the final scores being the result of a consensus between the analysts, a panel of outside advisors and Freedom House staff. Depending on the weighted index score for political rights and civil liberties, a country is classified as "free", "partly free" or "not free".