Freedom House Ratings

The 2007 ratings are now available, and the overall trend is discouraging:"According to the survey’s findings, the year 2007 was marked by a notable setback for global freedom. The decline was most pronounced in South Asia, but also reached significant levels in the former Soviet Union, the Middle East and North Africa, and sub-Saharan Africa. It affected a substantial number of large and politically important countries—including Russia, Pakistan, Kenya, Egypt, Nigeria, and Venezuela—whose declines have wider regional and global implications. Furthermore, results for 2007 marked the second consecutive year in which the survey registered a decline in freedom, representing the first two-year setback in the past 15 years."

The regional breakdown is quite remarkable. The Americas have 25 free countries, as opposed to nine partly free countries and one (Cuba) not free country. The Middle East and North Africa, on the other hand, exhibits almost the reverse pattern: 11 not free countries, six partly free country and one (Israel) free country.

The seven nations that secured bottom ratings of 7 on both political freedoms and civil liberties--effectively the worst of the worst--were Burma, Cuba, Libya, North Korea, Somalia, Sudan, and Uzbekistan. Nine other nations (Belarus, Chad, China, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Laos, Saudi Arabia, Syria, and Zimbabwe) scored ratings of 7 and 6 on the two measurements.