Every year, Freedom House publishes its 'Freedom in the World' report which assesses the political rights and civil liberties of over 190 countries and related and disputed territories. The assessments are scored on a scale of 1 to 7, 1 indicating the highest degree of freedom and 7 the least amount of freedom. Using OpenHeatMap and the Freedom in the World reports, I created a visualization that depicts the score of the countries for each from 2006 to 2009.
Freedom House Ranking Classification:
Designation Score
Free: 1 – 2.5
Partly Free: 3.0 – 5.0
Not Free: 5.5 – 7.0
Click on the play button to see the changes from 2006 to 2009; if you wish to view ratings for a specific year, press pause and explore.
I find this data to be questionable...
ReplyDeleteA summary of the methodology used: http://www.freedomhouse.org/uploads/fiw09/FIW_MethodologySummary_ForWeb.pdf
ReplyDeleteFor a more extensive description, please visit: http://www.freedomhouse.org/template.cfm?page=351&ana_page=363&year=2010
Additionally, here are some of the reviews for Freedom in the World:
"An essential source, Freedom in the World works from the assumption that freedom is a universal value, not reserved for the rich."
-Francis Fukuyama, Johns Hopkins University
"Freedom In the World is the Michelin Guide to democracy's development."
-Daniel Henninger, Wall Street Journal
"While there are many sources of economic data, good political data is hard to find. Freedom House's survey is an exception. For anyone concerned with the state of freedom, or simply with the state of the world, Freedom in the World is an indispensible guide."
-Fareed Zakaria, Newsweek
A list of criticisms and Freedom House's response can be found here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freedom_in_the_World_(report)#Criticism
Also, FAQ regarding Freedom in the World:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.freedomhouse.org/template.cfm?page=277