For the 20th consecutive year, the world continues to become less free, and Freedom House’s latest report doesn’t waste time in sounding the alarm.
It’s in the report’s title: “Freedom in the World 2026: The Growing Shadow of Autocracy.” The report explains that four factors are driving this decline: armed conflicts, coups, erosion of democratic institutions and crackdowns on rights by authoritarian leaders.
The nonpartisan, nongovernmental organization, which is based in Washington, D.C., was founded in 1941 to promote democratic values. Since 1973, it has published an annual report assessing how democracy, political freedom and human rights are faring around the world.
In examining 195 countries and 13 territories, Freedom House in 2025 assigned points on a series of 25 indicators grouped under political rights and civil liberties to determine if a country or territory is free, partly free or not free. It’s an excellent accumulation of data and detailed explanation.
The good news for Americans is that the United States remains free. The bad news is that countries such as Estonia, Croatia, Belgium and Costa Rica scored higher.
In fact, the U.S. was among the countries with one of the biggest declines in freedom last year. It scored 81 out of a possible 100 points, a three-point decline. Our score of 81 puts us on par with Seychelles, Suriname, Jamaica and South Africa.
In school tests, a grade of 81 is a “B,” which sounds pretty good. But as a test of our democratic health, this isn’t so good; it’s our lowest since reporting began. The United States is a nation synonymous with democracy, one that other countries have historically looked to for modeling democratic values. It should always score an A — and not just an A but an A-plus.
The one country to score 100 was Finland; right behind it were Norway, Sweden and New Zealand, each with 99. President Donald Trump has spoken ad nauseam of annexing Canada as our 51st state and seizing Greenland from Denmark. In Freedom House’s rankings, Canada and Denmark scored 97, far outpacing the United States.
The highest grade the U.S. has recorded was in the 2006 report, with a 93 for 2005. Freedom House cites the reasons for our decline, not just year over year but over the past 20 years, as an escalation in executive dominance coinciding with legislative dysfunction; growing pressure on people’s ability to engage in free expression; and the Trump administration’s undermining of anti-corruption safeguards.
Freedom House also cites the impact of administration policies on other countries, which could affect their civil liberties and human rights.
“Until 2025,” the report says, “the United States was the single largest bilateral foreign assistance donor in the world, supporting civil society groups, independent media, anticorruption mechanisms, education, peacebuilding, health and nutrition, and humanitarian relief. Much of this work was implemented by the US Agency for International Development (USAID) and the Department of State.”
More than $80 billion in aid administered by these agencies was canceled when Trump and Elon Musk shut down USAID and downsized the State Department’s Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor.
As disappointing as the decline in our freedom score is, a year from now we may look back at that B grade with fondness. Freedom House’s 2027 report undoubtedly will have much to say about the Trump administration’s escalated assault on voting rights and threat to disrupt the November midterm elections, as well as its continued hostility toward a free press.
Unless we exercise the freedoms to protect our democracy, the United States could soon be getting a grade of C or lower in the democratic practices we helped establish.
