Global indicators of economic and political freedom declined overall in 2015

A decade of decline for global freedom

by Sarah Stanley



A new report shows that global indicators of economic and political freedom declined overall in 2015, with the most serious setbacks in the area of freedom of speech and rule of law.Freedom House, an “independent watchdog organization dedicated to the expansion of freedom and democracy around the world,” released its Freedom in the World 2016 Reportwhich included some disturbing statistics and worldwide trends, particulary as it concerns the progress made by women in some regions.

The beginning of the report summarizes the situation:

The world was battered in 2015 by overlapping crises that fueled xenophobic sentiment in democratic countries, undermined the economies of states dependent on the sale of natural resources, and led authoritarian regimes to crack down harder on dissent. These unsettling developments contributed to the10th consecutive year of decline in global freedom. [emphasis added]

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Visit Freedom House’s Freedom in the World 2016 page for more info-graphics and information. For information about how Freedom House ranks nations and criteria used, visit theirMethodology: Freedom in the World 2016 Page.

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