The State of Freedom in the World

According to the Global Freedom Index by Democratic watchdog organization Freedom House, Iran scored just 11 points out of 100 in 2024, which is one point worse off than in 2023 and categorizes the country as “not free”. This index is considered a key barometer for democracy, analyzing the world's most-free to its most-oppressed nations. On this index, Iran ranks one point better off than Yemen and one point worse than Cuba, Laos and Bahrain. Despite the fact the Islamic Republic of Iran holds elections regularly, these are deemed to fall short of democratic standards, due partly to the heavy influence of an unelected body named the Guardian Council. The continued crackdown on dissent is also cited by Freedom House for the country’s low score, particularly in the wake of the 'Women, Life, Freedom' uprising of 2022.

For the index, a total of 210 countries and territories were analyzed on their levels of access to political rights and civil liberties, before being categorized as either “free”, “partly free” or “not free”. While democracy has been in decline for nearly two decades, the global landscape has improved since the report was first published 51 years ago. Back then, 44 out of 148 countries were counted as "free", versus 81 out of 210 countries and territories today.