The drums of war are loud in the Middle East with Iran, Syria and Yemen all vulnerable or in conflict. With the historic meeting between North Korea and the US to confirm the ending of nuclear weapons in the zone, what is Freedom and who are the most free?
The drums of war are loud in the Middle East with Iran, Syria and Yemen all vulnerable or in conflict. With the historic meeting between North Korea and the US to confirm the ending of nuclear weapons in the zone, what is Freedom and who are the most free?
Freedom is a subjective measure and means different things to different people. Nothing new here is you live in Beverly Hills or downtown Damascus what counts as freedom are totally different.
Last month Freedom House released an annual report “Freedom in The World” on freedom around the world. The report measures freedom in terms of civil liberties and political rights. Their annual report “operates from the assumption that freedom for all people is best achieved in liberal democratic societies.”
The report is constructed from a wide ranging source of in house and external analysis of varying focuses. The group reported that over 130 analysts and advisers from academia, think tanks, and human rights institutions collected and analysed data from media, research articles, government documents among other sources.
Scoring Freedom
- Political rights rated on a scale of 0-40 – Free and fair elections, political participation and pluralism.
- Civil liberties rated on a scale of 0-60 – Free and independant media, freedom of expression and assembly.
Ranked on this basis Freedom House Ranked The Most Free Countries as Follows:
Scandindavia – the Home of The Free. Scandinavian countries Sweden, Norway and Finland all tied for first place.
1. Sweden (tie) Freedom score: 100 Sweden received a score of 100 in Freedom House’s 2017 report.
1. Norway (tie) Freedom score: 100 Finland also received a score of 100 in Freedom House’s 2017 report.
1. Finland (tie) Freedom score: 100 Finland also received a score of 100 in Freedom House’s 2017 report.
4. Canada Freedom score: 99 Canada. Canada lost one civil liberties point for rule of law, citing strict defamation laws and high rates of gender and racial discrimination among indigenous women.
5. Netherlands Freedom score: 99. The Netherlands lost one civil liberties point under the rule of law category.
6. Australia Freedom score: 98. Australia lost two civil liberties points under the rule of law and individual rights categories.
7. Luxembourg Freedom score: 98. Luxembourg also received a score of 98 in Freedom House’s 2017 report.
8. New Zealand Freedom score: 98. New Zealand lost two civil liberties points under the rule of law and individual rights categories.
Free People are Happy People
When people are free they are happy, no surprise there. The World Happiness Report of 2018 is a list of the top 10 happiest places in 2018, the Freedom House’s top 10 countries is largely the same rankings.
Source: Freedom House, World Happiness Report
From a Sunburnt Country ….