Taiwan was classified as a free nation for the 18th consecutive year by U.S.-based Freedom House in its 2016 Freedom in the World report released Jan. 27.
With a score of 1 in political rights, 2 in civil liberties and an overall freedom rating of 1.5, the same as 2015, Taiwan’s aggregate score of 89 points out of 100 put it behind only Japan in Asia.
Other free nations in the region include India, Mongolia and South Korea. Mainland China was once again listed as not free, while Hong Kong and Singapore remained partly free.
The report ranks nations on a scale of 1 to 7 in both categories, with 1 being the freest and 7 the least free. A nation’s overall status is determined by the average of its ratings in the two categories. A score of 1 to 2.5 is classified as free; 3 to 5, partly free; and 6 and above, not free.
In the report entitled “Anxious Dictators, Wavering Democracies: Global Freedom under Pressure,” Freedom House said global freedom declined for the 10th consecutive year in 2015.
The report attributed the deterioration to overlapping crises that fueled xenophobic sentiment in democratic countries and undermined the economies of nations dependent on the sale of natural resources, leading authoritarian regimes to crack down harder on dissent.
Of the 195 countries and territories surveyed, 44 percent were classified as free, 30 percent as partly free and the remaining as not free. Around 40 percent of the global population lived in free nations last year, while 36 percent were in countries classified as not free.
Freedom House is a nongovernmental organization based in Washington. It has released its annual Freedom in the World report since 1972.
