Freedom in the World: January 2007

You would probably remember my previous post where I first put up the 2006 Freedom Map, reflecting freedom in the world in the year 2005.


Well, with the new year, Freedom House has released a new map reflecting freedom in the world in the year 2006.


So what's new and what's not new?

1) India is still shining green, as brightly as ever.

But around India,

2) We see Thailand has moved from orange (Partly Free) to red (Not Free) as a result of a military coup that overthrew the fledgling democratic government.

3) As a result of immense grassroots protests, Nepal has moved from Not Free to Partly Free, as the King of Nepal relinquished his power and reinstated the nation's Parliament. Yet more progress remains, but I come one step closer to being able to white water raft in the Nepalese Himalayas (I have a policy of not giving my tourism dollars to nations that are not liberal democracies).

Elsewhere in the world,

4) Guyana has moved from Partly Free to Free.

5) Trinidad and Tobago has moved from Partly Free to Free.

6) A few islands in the western Pacific have moved from Partly Free to Free.

Here's an interesting note:

7) Despite the Bush administration's propaganda about elections in Iraq, Freedom House still lists Iraq as Not Free in 2006, just as it did in 2005.

So all in all, with the notable and shameful exception of Thailand, 2006 has been a good year for worldwide freedom. Although it could be argued that the majority of the world's people do not live in free countries (with China accounting for a lion's share of this), it could be counter-argued that there are more people living in Free countries today than ever before and more than 45% of the world's people now live in Free societies (with India accounting for almost half of these people).

The inexorable march of freedom continues ... it is only a matter of time that the people of nations such as Myanmar, the Congo, and China break themselves free of the military juntas that rule them.