The study also found a significant link between political freedom and economic growth.
The annual survey was released by Freedom House, a 60-year-old nonprofit, nonpartisan hybrid of a think tank, an advocacy group and an nongovernmental organization that was founded to promote liberty and republicanism around the world by Eleanor Roosevelt and a nonpartisan group of business and labor leaders, writers, journalists and former government officials and legislators.
The study rated 86 countries representing 2.5 billion people – 40.7 percent of the world's population – "free" because their citizens enjoy a broad range of rights.
Fifty-nine countries, representing 1.4 billion people, 23.8 percent of the globe's population, are considered "partly free" because they manifest more limited political rights and civil liberties and are often characterized by corruption, dominant ruling parties, and sometimes ethnic or religious strife.
Forty-seven countries, representing 2.2 billion people – 35.5 percent of the world population – are classified as "not free" because their citizens are denied basic political rights and civil liberties.
Four countries – Croatia, Ghana, Mexico and Suriname – moved from "partly free" to "free," continuing the steady decadelong move toward greater global freedom.
"The new U.S. administration will find a world moving towards enhanced political rights and civil liberties," said Adrian Karatnycky, the president of Freedom House. "We hope the new leadership will adopt policies to sustain the momentum towards freedom."
Perhaps significantly, the study found that overall, the economies of "free" countries grew at an average annual rate of 2.56 percent between 1990 and 1998 – 70 percent higher than the average rate for states rated "not free." Among poor countries, with a per capita GDP under $5,000, "free" countries grew at an average of 3.23 percent annually, more than double the 1.52 percent growth rate of poor "not free" states.
Mexico and Yugoslavia registered the most dramatic gains. After 70 years of dominating rule by the Institutional Revolutionary Party, Mexico entered the ranks of "free" nations with the election of opposition leader Vicente Fox. Yugoslavia, the center of Balkan unrest since 1992, became an electoral republic despite efforts by former president Slobodan Milosevic.
Of the 47 states that deny basic freedoms, the 11 with the lowest ratings for political rights and civil liberties are Afghanistan, Burma, Cuba, Equatorial Guinea, Iraq, Libya, North Korea, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Syria, and Turkmenistan.
Among the study's principal findings are that 25 countries showed momentum toward greater freedom, while 18 countries demonstrated deteriorating freedom; there is a strong correlation between "free" countries and those with significant economic prosperity, yet many impoverished countries feature notable degrees of political rights and civil liberties (India and Mali for example); and there are 120 electoral republics today, representing 63 percent of the world's states and 59.6 percent of the globe's population.
Republicanism and freedom remain deeply entrenched in Western Europe, with all 24 states rated "free." Latin America, east-central Europe and the former Soviet Union, Asia and Africa had smaller percentages of "free" states, ranging from 17 percent in Africa to 89 percent in the Americas.
The Middle East's roster of "free" nations was the most dismal: of 14 countries, Israel is the only one rated "free" (7 percent). Turkey, Jordan and Kuwait are "partly free" (21 percent) and 10 are "not free" (71 percent). Israel and Turkey are the only electoral republics in the region.
The top gains for freedom cited by the report were:
The report cited the major setbacks for freedom as the upsurge of violence in the Israel and Palestinian Territories; erosion of political liberties in Russia and Ukraine; the naked power grab against the country's independent trade unions by President Hugo Chavez in Venezuela; a backlash by conservative clerics in Iran against the news media, students and moderate political figures; and war in Africa including civil war, ethnic conflict and war between states, particularly the prospect of a widening of Sierra Leone's civil strife to Guinea and neighboring states.
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