In decline (but by no means everywhere)

#309

My Dear Friend of Democracy,

Global freedom declined for the 19th consecutive year in 2024. Says Freedom House, a nonprofit organization based in Washington, D.C.

And that doesn’t even take into account what is currently happening in the USA (because data is from 2024).

The 52nd edition of Freedom in the World finds that 60 countries experienced declines in their political rights and civil liberties, while only 34 registered improvements.

Largest increases and best overall scores: On Freedom in the World’s 100-point scale for political rights and civil liberties, Bangladesh (+5), Bhutan (+5), Sri Lanka (+4), and Syria (+4) recorded the largest gains for 2024. The best overall country scores were those of Finland (100), Sweden (99), New Zealand (99), Norway (99), Canada (97), Denmark (97), San Marino (97), the Netherlands (97), Ireland (97), and Luxembourg (97).

Largest declines and worst overall scores: Kuwait (−7), Tunisia (−7), El Salvador (−6), and Haiti (−6) were the countries with the year’s largest score declines. The countries with the worst overall scores were Turkmenistan (1), South Sudan (1), Sudan (2), Eritrea (3), North Korea (3), Central African Republic (5), Tajikistan (5), Equatorial Guinea (5), Syria (5), Afghanistan (6), Azerbaijan (7), Belarus (7), and Myanmar (7).

And Germany?

The country where I live got 95 out of 100 points from Freedom House, two more than last year.

See you in Germany,

Johannes Eber