Jun 28, 2018

Two views on freedom around the world

Dave Lawler, author of World

Creeping authoritarianism is leading to a gradual erosion of liberty around the world, as Freedom House has catalogued year after year.

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Data: Gallup World Poll, Freedom House Freedom In the World report; Chart: Andrew Witherspoon/Axios

The flipside: Another annual study, from Gallup, indicates that people are actually becoming more satisfied with the freedom they feel in their own lives.

Here's how the world's biggest economic powers rank, from most to least satisfied with levels of freedom :

  1. Canada: 94% ("Free," per Freedom House)
  2. USA: 87% ("Free")
  3. India: 86% ("Free")
  4. China: 85% ("Not Free")
  5. Germany: 83% ("Free")
  6. France: 83% ("Free")
  7. U.K.: 81% ("Free")
  8. Japan: 77% ("Free")
  9. Brazil: 76% ("Free")
  10. Russia: 69% ("Not Free")
  11. Italy: 63% ("Free")

The least satisfied countries were Afghanistan ("Not Free"), Greece ( "Free"), Algeria ("Not Free"), and South Sudan ("Not Free").

Worth noting: Gallup notes that "social desirability to answer this question positively" and "fear about how a negative answer might be interpreted" could influence responses (hence why Uzbekistan and Cambodia join the likes of Denmark and Canada among the most satisfied countries).

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