The International Day of Political Prisoners originated in the Soviet Union in 1974, when political prisoners collectively held a one-day hunger strike. Soviet prisoners of conscience repeated this ...

Al-Khalidi has been trapped in a prolonged asylum process in Bulgaria since November 2021 and has faced a deportation order since 2024. On 15 July 2025 Bulgaria’s Supreme Administrative Court rejected ...

The ratings are based on a scale of 1 to 7, with 7 representing the highest level of democratic progress and 1 the lowest. The Democracy Score is an average of ratings for the categories tracked in a ...

In this issue: How internet freedom in China and Taiwan are worlds apart. Chinese regulator releases new guidelines to ensure the “Chinese Communist Party rules the internet.” Meanwhile, a law on ...

Scores are based on a scale of 0 (least free) to 100 (most free). See the methodology and report acknowledgements. France registered a minor improvement in internet freedom during the coverage period.

Conditions in Nagorno-Karabakh were examined in a separate report through the 2024 edition of Freedom in the World, in which the territory’s status declined from Partly Free to Not Free due to an ...

Freedom continued to decline in Africa in 2024, with political rights and civil liberties deteriorating in 21 out of 54 countries, while only 8 registered improvements. Sudan’s score declined by 4 ...

After experiencing a gradual decline in respect for political rights and civil liberties over the past decade, the United States is now facing an acute crisis for democracy. The events of the past ...

Annie Boyajian is president of Freedom House. She previously served as vice president of policy and advocacy, where she oversaw Freedom House’s policy and advocacy work, including engagement with ...

In 2021, the Biden administration should develop a first-ever National Democracy Strategy that articulates a detailed multiyear vision of domestic and international policy to strengthen and advance ...

A country or territory’s Freedom in the World status depends on its aggregate Political Rights score, on a scale of 0–40, and its aggregate Civil Liberties score, on a scale of 0–60. See the ...