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FreedomRankings
KR

South Korea

Asia

South Korea ranks #36 of 197 tracked countries with an overall freedom score of 73.7/100.

Score
73.7
B

How to read South Korea's freedom profile

With an overall score of 73.7/100, South Korea is broadly free, with clear room to improve in places. It ranks #36 of the 197 countries we track and sits within the Asia region, where it can be compared directly against its neighbors.

Its strongest freedom is Religion (9.9/10), while Privacy (5.0/10) is where it scores lowest. That 4.9-point spread means South Korea's record is uneven, with real gaps between its strongest and weakest freedoms. The category breakdown below shows each of the ten freedoms in full, with the source behind every score.

Universal category breakdown

Religion
9.9/10 (A+).

Fraser HFI 2025 — Religion sub-index 9.9/10

Fraser HFI. View source
Assembly & Association
8.4/10 (A-).

V-Dem 2025 — Freedom of Association index 0.839 (0–1)

V-Dem. View source
Equal Protection
8.2/10 (A-).

V-Dem 2025 — Equal Protection sub-index 0.817 (0–1)

V-Dem. View source
Freedom of Movement
8.1/10 (A-).

Fraser HFI 2025 — Movement sub-index 8.1/10

Fraser HFI. View source
Economic Liberty
7.5/10 (B+).

Fraser HFI 2025 — Economic Freedom sub-index 7.5/10

Fraser HFI. View source
Due Process
7.4/10 (B).

WJP Rule of Law Index 2025 — Overall score 0.74/1 (x10 scale; blends Civil Justice + Criminal Justice + 6 other rule-of-law factors)

World Justice Project. View source
Property Rights
7.2/10 (B).

Fraser HFI 2025 — Property Rights sub-index 7.2/10

Fraser HFI. View source
Free Expression
6.5/10 (B-).

RSF Press Freedom 2025 (64.1/100) · Freedom on the Net 2025 (65/100)

RSF + Freedom House. View source
Political Participation
5.5/10 (C).

V-Dem 2025 — Participatory Democracy index 0.551 (0–1)

V-Dem. View source
Privacy
5.0/10 (C-).

Editorial baseline — awaiting ingestion from the source index for this category.

Editorial. Editorial. View source

What's next

See the full country rankings · How do US states compare? · Take the freedom quiz