Military coups, violence against peaceful protesters, and efforts to weaken constitutional safeguards in 2025 drove the 20th consecutive year of decline in global freedom, according to a new report released on 19 March by Freedom House. The report, Freedom in the World 2026: The Growing Shadow of Autocracy, found that 54 countries experienced deterioration in their political rights and civil liberties, while only 35 registered improvements. Today just 21 percent of the world’s people live in countries rated Free, down from 46 percent two decades ago.
“Even as 2026 has brought new opportunities for those living under authoritarian rule from Venezuela to Iran, the last 20 years have been a dark period for global freedom,” said Jamie Fly, chief executive officer of Freedom House. “Armed conflict, coups, attacks on democratic institutions, and crackdowns on rights by authoritarians have now resulted in two full decades of decline. Those who still enjoy the blessings of freedom must do more to counter authoritarianism and provide more effective support for the democratic aspirations of people standing up to repression around the world, or this persistent decline will continue.”
In addition to deepening repression among authoritarian regimes, the past year featured a chequered performance among the world’s democracies. Of the 88 countries rated Free, the United States experienced the sharpest decline, with a drop of 3 points to a score of 81 on the report’s 100-point scale; it was matched in this group only by a decline in Bulgaria (−3), closely followed by Italy (−2). Worsening gridlock in Congress and escalating assertions of unilateral executive authority—combined with a multiyear rise in threats and reprisals for nonviolent speech, and a weakening of anti-corruption safeguards—brought the US score to its lowest level since Freedom in the World began publishing 0–100 scores in 2002. The United States’ decline for 2025 contributed to a 12-point erosion over the past two decades, under both Republican and Democratic administrations.
Key report findings:
- Global freedom declined for the 20th consecutive year in 2025. A total of 54 countries experienced deterioration in their political rights and civil liberties during the year, while only 35 countries registered improvements.
- Largest increases and best overall scores: On Freedom in the World’s 100-point scale for political rights and civil liberties, Syria (+5), Sri Lanka (+5), Bolivia (+4), and Gabon (+4) recorded the largest gains for 2025. The best overall country scores were those of Finland (100), Sweden (99), Norway (99), and New Zealand (99).
- Largest declines and worst overall scores: Guinea-Bissau (−8), Tanzania (−7), Burkina Faso, (−5), Madagascar (−5), and El Salvador (−5) had the largest one-year score declines.The countries with the worst overall scores were South Sudan (0), Sudan (1), and Turkmenistan (1).
- Status changes: Three countries—Bolivia, Fiji, and Malawi—improved from Partly Free to Free status thanks to competitive elections, growing judicial independence, and the strengthening of the rule of law.
- Deepening and persistent authoritarian repression: Conditions for freedom continued to deteriorate in Iran in 2025, with authorities arresting more than 21,000 people as part of a crackdown on alleged espionage and collaboration following the regime’s 12-day war with Israel in June, and expelling some 1.8 million Afghan migrants and refugees without regard for their basic rights. The country’s score fell by 1 point to 10 out of 100. The scores for Russia and China remained unchanged at 12 and 9, respectively, but Russian authorities took further steps to suppress antiwar speech and independent journalism, while Chinese officials cracked down on small but multiplying protests.
- Although the scores for many rights and liberties deteriorated over the last two decades, media freedom, freedom of personal expression, and due process have suffered the heaviest impacts. Coups, armed conflicts, attacks on democratic institutions by elected leaders, and intensified repression by authoritarian regimes have been the main drivers of global decline during this 20-year period.
- Since 2005, the group of countries with Partly Free status has shrunk substantially. Of the 59 countries that were rated Partly Free as of 2005, a total of 19 have dropped to Not Free, swelling the ranks of the world’s autocracies, whereas just 9 have improved to Free.
- Most democracies remain resilient in the face of daunting challenges. Despite internal pressures and threats from foreign powers, democracies continue to demonstrate that their domestic political systems are responsive and capable of course correction. Of the 87 countries rated Free in 2005, a total of 76—more than 85 percent—have remained Free throughout the two-decade period of global decline.
https://freedomhouse.org/article/new-report-global-freedom-declined-20th-consecutive-year-2025
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