Perspectives January 30, 2017
Quiz: Freedom in the World 2017
Freedom in the World 2017 assesses political rights and civil liberties in every country around the globe. This is a chance to test your knowledge of 195 countries, political trends both worrisome and encouraging, and the current state of freedom and democracy.
1. The region that ranks lowest for freedom overall is which of the following:
Asia-Pacific
Eurasia
Middle East / North Africa
Sub-Saharan Africa
The MENA region remained the worst performing, closely followed by Eurasia. About 83 percent of the MENA region’s population lives in countries designated Not Free.
2. These three countries registered the largest declines in freedom over the last 10 years:
Russia, Ukraine, Hungary
Afghanistan, Eritrea, Syria
Turkey, Central African Republic, The Gambia
Turkey, the Central African Republic (CAR), and The Gambia showed the largest declines in this period. Turkey’s decline has accelerated in recent years, while CAR—still recovering from a civil war and coup—remains mired among the Worst of the Worst. The Gambia long suffered under an authoritarian president, but a democratic transfer of power this month has raised hopes for improvement.
3. Which pair of these Asian countries is ranked Free?
Mongolia and India
Sri Lanka and Nepal
Thailand and Malaysia
Mongolia and India are ranked Free. Sri Lanka, Nepal, and Malaysia are Partly Free, while Thailand, currently ruled by a military regime, is Not Free.
4. All of these countries experienced developments of major significance in 2016, but in which country was the development positive?
Colombia
Ethiopia
Mozambique
Poland
Colombia benefited from a peace process between the government and FARC guerrillas, which led to a reduction in violence. Ethiopia suffered from a crackdown on protests, and Mozambique experienced an increase in political violence. Poland’s government sought to exert undue influence over the media, judiciary, civil service, and education system.
5. Globally, the percentage of the world’s population living in countries considered Free is:
25 percent
36 percent
39 percent
Some 39 percent of the world’s 7.4 billion people live in countries considered Free. About 25 percent live in Partly Free countries, and 36 percent in Not Free countries.
6. Spain, Denmark, and the United States share this important characteristic:
All experienced setbacks in political rights, civil liberties, or both during 2016.
All experienced improvements in political rights, civil liberties, or both during 2016.
All conducted national elections whose results brought new leaders to power.
All experienced setbacks, due to problems including prolonged difficulties in forming a government (Spain), onerous restrictions on immigrants and asylum seekers (Denmark), and failure to fill a vacancy on the Supreme Court (United States).