The State Of Freedom Worldwide

Democratic watchdog organization Freedom House recently released its annual rankings of the world's most suppressed nations, finding that global freedom is under pressure. A plethora of crises in 2015 led to harsh crackdowns on dissent by authoritarian regimes around the world as well as increased levels of xenophobia in democratic countries.

Freedom House found that global freedom has declined for the tenth year in a row. 72 countries experienced a decline in freedom while only 43 made gains. In 2016, 40 percent of the world's population is considered free with 24 percent partly free and 36 percent not free.