How are countries ranked by freedom?

Each country receives a score from 0 to 100 across ten categories of freedom. The scores are grounded in five authoritative international indexes — the Fraser Human Freedom Index, Freedom House Freedom in the World, the V-Dem Democracy Dataset, Reporters Without Borders Press Freedom Index, and the World Justice Project Rule of Law Index. The overall score is the average of all ten category scores, and countries are ranked from highest to lowest.

Which country has the least freedom?

Countries like North Korea, Eritrea, and Turkmenistan consistently score at the bottom of the rankings. These nations impose severe restrictions on expression, movement, assembly, and political participation, earning near-zero scores in multiple categories.

How does the United States compare to other countries on freedom?

The United States typically ranks in the top 20 to 30 globally. It scores very high on economic liberty and free expression but loses ground on categories like equal protection and privacy relative to top-ranked European countries. You can find the exact US ranking and per-category breakdown in the table above.

What data sources are used for the country freedom rankings?

The rankings draw from five peer-reviewed or widely cited international indexes: the Fraser Institute Human Freedom Index, Freedom House Freedom in the World, the Varieties of Democracy (V-Dem) project, Reporters Without Borders World Press Freedom Index, and the World Justice Project Rule of Law Index. Each source covers different dimensions of freedom, and together they provide broad, cross-validated coverage of 197 countries.

2026 World Freedom Index

Most Free Countries 2026: 196 Countries Ranked

Name: 2026 World Freedom Index
Creator: FreedomRankings
Published: 2026-01-01

The bottom line

Updated July 2026

The freest countries on the FreedomRankings world index are Denmark (#1, 85.4/100), Norway (#2, 84.1/100), Sweden (#3, 82.9/100), Ireland (#4, 82.6/100), Luxembourg (#5, 82.3/100). The least free are Nicaragua, China, Myanmar, Afghanistan, Syria. Each of the 196 countries below is scored 0–100 across ten universal freedoms — free expression, assembly, due process, property rights, economic liberty, movement, privacy, equal protection, religion, and political participation — grounded in the Fraser Human Freedom Index, Freedom House, V-Dem, Reporters Without Borders, and the World Justice Project.

Below are the top 10 countries by overall freedom score — expand the list for the full 2026 ranking of all 196. Tap any country for its full category breakdown and per-source attribution, or use the interactive table below to filter by region.

The top 10 countries ranked by 2026 freedom score, from freest to least free.
Rank	Country	Freedom score	Grade
1	Denmark	85.4/100	A
2	Norway	84.1/100	A-
3	Sweden	82.9/100	A-
4	Ireland	82.6/100	A-
5	Luxembourg	82.3/100	A-
6	Estonia	81.8/100	A-
7	New Zealand	81.7/100	A-
8	Finland	81.6/100	A-
9	Netherlands	81.5/100	A-
10	Switzerland	81/100	A-

Show all 196 countries (ranks 11–196)

Countries ranked 11–196 by 2026 freedom score, from freest to least free.
Rank	Country	Freedom score	Grade
11	Australia	80.8/100	A-
12	Germany	80.1/100	A-
13	Belgium	80/100	A-
14	Czechia	79.9/100	B+
15	Austria	79.5/100	B+
16	Japan	79.3/100	B+
17	Latvia	79.2/100	B+
18	Iceland	78.6/100	B+
19	Costa Rica	78.2/100	B+
20	Taiwan	77.6/100	B+
21	Lithuania	77.1/100	B+
22	San Marino	77/100	B+
23	Spain	76.8/100	B+
24	United Kingdom	76.7/100	B+
25	Malta	75.8/100	B+
26	Chile	75.5/100	B+
27	Italy	75.4/100	B+
28	Portugal	75.3/100	B+
29	Canada	75.2/100	B+
30	France	74.9/100	B
31	Slovenia	74.7/100	B
32	United States	74.3/100	B
33	Uruguay	74.2/100	B
34	Poland	74/100	B
35	Cyprus	73.7/100	B
36	South Korea	73.7/100	B
37	Jamaica	73.5/100	B
38	Monaco	72.5/100	B
39	Cabo Verde	72.2/100	B
40	Slovakia	72/100	B
41	Mauritius	71.9/100	B
42	Trinidad and Tobago	71.3/100	B
43	Croatia	70.4/100	B
44	Kiribati	69.8/100	B-
45	Marshall Islands	69.8/100	B-
46	Micronesia	69.8/100	B-
47	Palau	69.8/100	B-
48	Tuvalu	69.8/100	B-
49	Romania	69.6/100	B-
50	Greece	69.5/100	B-
51	Seychelles	69.3/100	B-
52	Barbados	69.2/100	B-
53	Suriname	68.6/100	B-
54	Montenegro	68.5/100	B-
55	South Africa	68.3/100	B-
56	Ghana	68/100	B-
57	Panama	67.5/100	B-
58	Dominican Republic	67.4/100	B-
59	Armenia	67.3/100	B-
60	Brazil	67.2/100	B-
61	Bulgaria	67.2/100	B-
62	Namibia	66.7/100	B-
63	Israel	66.6/100	B-
64	Botswana	66.5/100	B-
65	Nauru	66.2/100	B-
66	Gambia	65.7/100	B-
67	Singapore	65.7/100	B-
68	Moldova	65.3/100	B-
69	Albania	65.2/100	B-
70	Argentina	65.2/100	B-
71	Timor-Leste	64.7/100	C+
72	North Macedonia	64.5/100	C+
73	Mongolia	64.3/100	C+
74	Bahamas	64/100	C+
75	Fiji	63.7/100	C+
76	Hungary	63.7/100	C+
77	Malawi	63.7/100	C+
78	Colombia	63.4/100	C+
79	Senegal	63.4/100	C+
80	Nepal	62.7/100	C+
81	Lesotho	62.6/100	C+
82	Georgia	62.5/100	C+
83	Papua New Guinea	62.4/100	C+
84	Sierra Leone	62.1/100	C+
85	Malaysia	61.9/100	C+
86	Belize	61.8/100	C+
87	Sri Lanka	61.6/100	C+
88	Peru	61.4/100	C+
89	Guatemala	60.8/100	C+
90	Guyana	60.8/100	C+
91	Liberia	60.7/100	C+
92	Benin	60.1/100	C+
93	Bolivia	60/100	C+
94	Bosnia and Herzegovina	59.8/100	C
95	Ecuador	59.7/100	C
96	Serbia	59.7/100	C
97	Cote d'Ivoire	59.4/100	C
98	Tanzania	59.3/100	C
99	Paraguay	59.1/100	C
100	Honduras	58.5/100	C
101	Kenya	58.1/100	C
102	Gabon	57.8/100	C
103	Nigeria	57.7/100	C
104	Bhutan	57.4/100	C
105	Niger	57.3/100	C
106	Zambia	57.2/100	C
107	Mexico	56.8/100	C
108	Guinea-Bissau	56/100	C
109	Solomon Islands	55.5/100	C
110	Kosovo	55.3/100	C
111	Madagascar	55/100	C
112	Lebanon	54.8/100	C-
113	Philippines	54.8/100	C-
114	Vanuatu	54.8/100	C-
115	Togo	54.6/100	C-
116	Jordan	54.4/100	C-
117	Sao Tome and Principe	54.1/100	C-
118	Maldives	53.7/100	C-
119	Indonesia	53.5/100	C-
120	Liechtenstein	53.3/100	C-
121	Brunei	53.2/100	C-
122	Mozambique	53.1/100	C-
123	Thailand	53.1/100	C-
124	Tunisia	53.1/100	C-
125	Samoa	51.9/100	C-
126	Tonga	51.8/100	C-
127	Burkina Faso	51.6/100	C-
128	India	51.6/100	C-
129	Ukraine	51.6/100	C-
130	Antigua and Barbuda	51.4/100	C-
131	Andorra	51.3/100	C-
132	Saint Kitts and Nevis	51.3/100	C-
133	Saint Lucia	51.2/100	C-
134	Saint Vincent and the Grenadines	51.2/100	C-
135	El Salvador	51/100	C-
136	Grenada	51/100	C-
137	Mali	51/100	C-
138	Dominica	50.8/100	C-
139	Kyrgyzstan	50.1/100	C-
140	Morocco	49.8/100	D+
141	Comoros	48.7/100	D+
142	Guinea	48.1/100	D+
143	Kuwait	47.8/100	D+
144	Mauritania	47.5/100	D+
145	Iraq	47/100	D+
146	Cameroon	46.9/100	D+
147	Kazakhstan	46.7/100	D+
148	Angola	46.3/100	D+
149	Uganda	45.9/100	D+
150	Palestine	45.7/100	D+
151	Zimbabwe	45.6/100	D+
152	Oman	45.5/100	D+
153	Rwanda	45.5/100	D+
154	Haiti	45.4/100	D+
155	Djibouti	45.1/100	D+
156	Bangladesh	44.8/100	D
157	Congo	44.7/100	D
158	Chad	44.4/100	D
159	Democratic Republic of the Congo	44/100	D
160	Central African Republic	43.3/100	D
161	Algeria	42.9/100	D
162	United Arab Emirates	42.9/100	D
163	Equatorial Guinea	41.7/100	D
164	Ethiopia	41.7/100	D
165	Libya	41.7/100	D
166	Turkey	41.7/100	D
167	Azerbaijan	41.5/100	D
168	Eswatini	41.4/100	D
169	Qatar	40.6/100	D
170	Somalia	40/100	D
171	Cuba	39.9/100	D-
172	Pakistan	39.8/100	D-
173	Burundi	39.7/100	D-
174	Cambodia	39.6/100	D-
175	Uzbekistan	39.5/100	D-
176	Belarus	38.6/100	D-
177	Vietnam	38/100	D-
178	Bahrain	37.9/100	D-
179	South Sudan	37.8/100	D-
180	Laos	37.6/100	D-
181	Russia	36.3/100	D-
182	Eritrea	35.9/100	D-
183	Saudi Arabia	35.7/100	D-
184	Tajikistan	34.8/100	F
185	Turkmenistan	34.5/100	F
186	Sudan	34.3/100	F
187	Venezuela	33.7/100	F
188	North Korea	33/100	F
189	Iran	32.5/100	F
190	Yemen	32.3/100	F
191	Egypt	32.1/100	F
192	Syria	31.9/100	F
193	Afghanistan	30.9/100	F
194	Myanmar	30.1/100	F
195	China	29.7/100	F
196	Nicaragua	29.7/100	F