Column: Is the world becoming more free and democratic — or backsliding?
Los Angeles TimesMar 09, 2023
In its 50th annual report, the US-based nonprofit Freedom House found an overall decline in global freedom led by concerns about free expression, with press freedom coming under pressure in at least 157 countries. The report, however, states that there may be hope for improvement in the future.
The "Freedom in the World 2023" report indicates that authoritarianism and the erosion of democracy have been among the most notable global trends of the past decade. The report finds cause for optimism as it says those trends seem to be reversing in some parts of the world.
We live in a world of brutality and turmoil. Freedom, democracy, and human rights are on the decline around the world and losing ground in many countries. As the Freedom House has shown in its annual report, the world has been struggling against a tide of democratic backsliding for 17 years. Democracy may be flawed — but as we’ve all heard, it beats the alternative.
Freedom House's seven-point scale may look scientific, but the ratings are highly subjective. Audiences adopt ratings that reflect their values; this explains why Freedom House ratings used predominantly in the Western world. Countries with similar foreign policies also get better scores in the Freedom House index than in other research institutes' surveys. There are often hidden biases in the complex analysis of assessing the health of democracies worldwide.
There is a 50% chance that at least 53.4% of the world's population will live in a democracy in 2040, according to the Metaculus prediction community.