Freedom in the World 2016: Armenia ranked Partly Free

PanARMENIAN.Net - Freedom House, an organization surveying democracies and freedom worldwide, has taken the wraps off its Freedom in the World 2016 report, describing Armenia as a Partly Free country with a total score of 46 (0 = Worst, 100 = Best).

Freedom in the World 2016 evaluates the state of freedom in 195 countries and 15 territories during calendar year 2015. Freedom in the World assesses the real-world rights and freedoms enjoyed by individuals, rather than governments or government performance per se.

In Armenia, political rights and civil liberties stand at 5 and 4, respectively, with a rating of 1 representing the most free conditions and 7 showing the least free ones.

In late 2015, Freedom House unveiled its Freedom on the Net report, placing Armenia among the Free countries with a total score of 28 (0 = Best, 100 = Worst). Later, in April, 2016, the NGO characterized the country as Not Free in its Freedom of the Press report.

It is noteworthy that the organization has reviewed Nagorno Karabakh as an independent state, placing it on a par with other Partly Free countries, with a total score of 33.

Georgia and Turkey, holding 64 and 53 scores, respectively, are also among the Partly Free countries, while Iran with a score of 17 and Azerbaijan with 16 are listed as Not Free states.

Russia is a Not Free country too, the report said.

The number of countries designated as Free stands at 86, representing 44 percent of the world’s 195 polities and nearly 2.9 billion people—or 40 percent of the global population. The number of Free countries has decreased by three from the previous year.

The number of countries qualifying as Partly Free stands at 59, or 30 percent of all countries assessed; they are home to just under 1.8 billion people, or 24 percent of the world’s total. The number of Partly Free countries has increased by four from the previous year.

A total of 50 countries are deemed Not Free, representing 26 percent of the world’s polities. The number of people living under Not Free conditions stands at 2.6 billion people, or 36 percent of the global population, though it is important to note that more than half of this number lives in just one country: China. The number of Not Free countries has decreased by one, with Zimbabwe rising from Not Free to Partly Free.

Three countries fell from Free to Partly Free: Dominican Republic, Lesotho, and Montenegro.