There is a close link between democracy and freedom. A country that is defined as "free" is also a democracy. How many countries in the world are still not free? Check out this freedom map of 2010 by Freedom House.
There are 47 countries that are still not free in 2010. They are listed below.
Among them, Egypt and Tunisia has moved toward more freedom. Thus there are only 45 countries left. This is comparing to 149 free and partially-free countries in the world. The ratio of non-free countries out of the world total is 23%, making those countries a clear minority in the world family.
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[update on January 1st, 2013] Here is the freedom map in 2012 (on the world status in 2011) from Freedom house. It turned out I was over optimistic in the original blog (posted in July 2011). Even though Tunisian became partially free, Egypt remained non-free in 2011. In fact, there are total 48 non-free countries in 2011, comparing to 47 in 2010. The 2 additional non-free countries (given Tunisia is out of this group) are South Sudan, which gained independence in 2011, and Gambia. Both are African nations.
There are 47 countries that are still not free in 2010. They are listed below.
Table 1。The remaining 47 non-free countries (2010 data)
Region
|
Country
|
Asia（7）
|
Myanmar, North Korea, China, Laos, Vietnam, Cambodia, Brunei
|
Former Soviet (8)
|
Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Belarus; Russia, Tajikistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Azerbaijan
|
Mideast (12)
|
Syria, Saudi Arabia; Afghanistan, Iran; Iraq, Egypt, Yemen, UAE, Oman, Qatar, Bahrain, Jordan
|
Africa (19)
|
Libya, Sudan, Eritrea, Equatorial Guinea, Somalia; Guinea, Chad; Zimbabwe, Cameroon, Tunisia, Swaziland, Congo (Brazzaville); Congo (Kinshasa), Algeria, Angola, Ivory Coast, Rwanda, Mauritania, Gabon
|
Latin America
|
Cuba
|
Among them, Egypt and Tunisia has moved toward more freedom. Thus there are only 45 countries left. This is comparing to 149 free and partially-free countries in the world. The ratio of non-free countries out of the world total is 23%, making those countries a clear minority in the world family.
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[update on January 1st, 2013] Here is the freedom map in 2012 (on the world status in 2011) from Freedom house. It turned out I was over optimistic in the original blog (posted in July 2011). Even though Tunisian became partially free, Egypt remained non-free in 2011. In fact, there are total 48 non-free countries in 2011, comparing to 47 in 2010. The 2 additional non-free countries (given Tunisia is out of this group) are South Sudan, which gained independence in 2011, and Gambia. Both are African nations.
Now that we have entered 2013, this site needs an update on the status of some countries.
ReplyDeleteEgypt is still Not Free, In fact they had more freedom under Mubarak then under Morsi.
Also, Tunisia is now becoming a Failed State by most political standards.
Mike Schroder - Colorado.
Mike,
DeleteThanks for your comment. I updated the map from new data. You are right, Egypt is still not free. Tunisia has made a lot of progress, and Freedom House has upgraded its freedom index for 2011. So far, all the signs on Tunisia are pretty encouraging. Libya is still worrisome.
Hope this helps.