List of freedom indices

This article contains a list of freedom indices produced by several 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

• 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.^[1]
• 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.^[2]
• Freedom of the Press published each year since 1980 by Freedom House.
• 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.^[3] It is not currently included in the table below.
• The CIRI Human Rights Data Project measures a range of human, civil, women's and workers rights.^[4] It is now hosted by the University of Connecticut. It was created in 1994.^[5] In its 2011 report, the U.S. was ranked 38th in overall human rights.^[6]
• 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.^[7]
• 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 greater than 500,000 total population 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 US Government.
• 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.^[8]
• 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.

• MaxRange, a dataset 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. The dataset was developed by Max Rånge, and is maintained by Mikael Sandberg and Max Rånge, political scientists at Halmstad University, Sweden.^[9]

Annual assessments

Here is a table of the assessments in each index 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 2015 survey, concerning the state of world freedom in 2014.^[10]   Free (89)   Partly Free (55)   Not Free (51)

2014 Index of Economic Freedom.^[8]
Source: Heritage Foundation and the Wall Street Journal

2014 Press Freedom Index.^[2]

Very serious situation   Difficult situation   Noticeable problems

Satisfactory situation   Good situation   Not classified / No data

Source: Reporters Without Borders

List by country

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

External links

• Freedom in the WorldFreedom House's
• Index of Economic FreedomThe Wall Street Journal's
• Economic Freedom of the WorldThe Fraser Institute's
• Internationale Medienhilfe (IMH) - International organization for press freedom (German)

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