Russia and China have been named in a report as being among the worst countries in the world for taking away people's freedoms.
The annual Freedom in the World report ranks nations according to civil liberties and political rights with each country placed in one of three categories: 'Free', 'Partly free' and 'not free'.
Some 88 countries, including Britain and America, were seen as being 'free' while 49 including the likes of Thailand, Egypt, and Turkeywere deemed to be 'not free'.
Each nation is given a score out of 100 with the worst (-1/100) recorded by war torn Syria under the brutal dictatorship of Bashar al-Assad. South Sudan, Eritrea, North Korea and Turkmenistan made up the rest of the bottom five.
Russia and China have been named in a report as being among the worst countries in the world for taking away people's freedoms
Some 88 countries, including Britain and America, were seen as being 'free' while 49including the likes of Thailand, Egypt, and Turkeywere deemed to be 'not free'
Each nation is give a score out of 100 with the worst (-1/100) recorded by war torn Syria under the brutal dictatorship of Bashar Al-Assad. South Sudan, Eritrea, North Korea and Turkmenistan made up the rest of the bottom five
The Freedom House report found that there had been dramatic declines in freedom observed in regions around the world
Bahrain, Saudi Arabia and Cuba were also among tightly controlled nations in this category. Russia was 27th from bottom with a score of 20.
The number of people living under 'not free' conditions stood at nearly 2.7 billion people. But more than half of this number lives in just one countryChina, which was named 19th from bottom on the list after recording a score of 14.
At the other end of the spectrum, Scandinavian countries, Finland, Norway and Sweden topped the list of 'free' nations with scores of 100, followed in the top ten by Canada, Netherlands, Australia, Luxembourg, New Zealand, Uruguay and Denmark.
Britain was named 27th with a score of 94above France but below Spain and Germany. America was 53rd, just above Greece and Mongolia, but below the likes of Italy and Costa Rica.
WHICH NATIONS HAVE THE MOST 'FREEDOM'... AND WHERE ARE LIBERTIES MOST RESTRICTED?
'Not free' countries Score / 100 'Free' countries Score / 100
1. Syria -1 1. Finland 100
2. South Sudan 2 2. Norway 100
- Eritrea 3 3. Sweden 100
4. North Korea 3 4. Canada 99
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Turkmenistan 4 5. Netherlands 99
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Equatorial Guinea 7 6. Australia 98
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Saudi Arabia 7 7. Luxembourg 98
8. Somalia 7 8. New Zealand 98
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Uzbekistan 7 9. Uruguay 98
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Sudan 8 10. Denmark 97
11. Central African Republic 9 11. Portugal 97
- Libya 9 12. San Marino 97
13. Tajikistan 11 13. Andorra 96
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Azerbaijan 12 14. Barbados 96
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Bahrain 12 15. Ireland 96
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Ethiopia 12 16. Japan 96
17. Laos 12 17. Switzerland 96
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Yemen 13 18. Belgium 95
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China 14 19. Iceland 95
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Cuba 14 20. Austria 94
The report claims that the last year had brought 'further, faster erosion of America's own democratic standards' which had ended up 'damaging its credibility as a champion of good governance and human rights'
The report released a list of trends showing countries where freedom for citizens had improved or been on the decline
The nonpartisan organization Freedom House stated of its findings: 'Democracy faced its most serious crisis in decades in 2017 as its basic tenets -including guarantees of free and fair elections, the rights of minorities, freedom of the press, and the rule of law -came under attack around the world.
'Seventy-one countries suffered net declines in political rights and civil liberties, with only 35 registering gains. This marked the 12th consecutive year of decline in global freedom.
'The United States retreated from its traditional role as both a champion and an exemplar of democracy amid an acceler ating decline in American political rights and civil liberties.'
The report stated that over the period since the 12-year global slide began in 2006, 113 countries have seen a net decline, and only 62 have experienced a net improvement.
The number of countries designated as Free stands at 88, representing more than 2.9 billion people —or 39 per cent of the global population. The number of Free countries increased by one from the previous year's report, it stated.
The number of countries qualifying as Partly Free stands at 58, or 30 per cent of all countries assessed, and they were home to nearly 1.8 billion people, or 24 per cent of the world's total.