Social Research Foundation Global Freedom Scores

Prompted by the attention garnered from South Africa’ referral of Israel to the United Nation’s (UN) International Court of Justice, this report investigates the extent to which UN members and institutions represent liberal, democratic values.

It does so through the creation of a composite index as the measure of the extent to which economic and political freedom prevail amongst UN member states. The composite index is based on related indices produced by the Heritage Foundation, the Economist Intelligence Unit and Freedom House. Scores that rise above 70 in the composite index would indicate substantively free societies.

United Nation’s Security Council Freedom Scores

Member	Freedom House	Index of Economic Freedom	Democracy Index *	SRF Global Freedom Ranking **
Switzerland	96	83.8	91.4	90.4
Japan	96	69.3	83.3	82.87
United Kingdom	93	69.9	82.8	81.9
Slovenia	95	68.5	77.5	80.33
Republic of Korea	83	73.7	80.3	79
Malta	89	67.5	77	77.83
France	89	63.6	80.7	77.77
United States	83	70.6	78.5	77.37
Guyana	73	56.9	63.4	64.43
Ecuador	70	55	56.9	60.63
Sierra Leone	63	50.2	50.3	54.5
Mozambique	45	52.5	35.1	44.2
Algeria	32	43.2	36.6	37.27
Russia	16	53.8	22.8	30.87
China	9	48.3	19.4	25.57
World average	55.5	59.9	52.9	56.1
UNSC Average	68.8	61.78667	62.4	64.33

* The scores were adjusted on account of the calculations to create the SRF Index

** In the Foundation's rankings countries needed to record a score of over 70 points to be defined as free

United Nation’s Human Rights Council Freedom Scores

SRF Global Freedom Scores Ranked from highest to lowest

Country (UNHRC)	Index of Economic Freedom *	Democracy Index **	Freedom house ****	SRF Global Freedom Scores ****
Finland	77.1	92.9	100	90
Netherlands (Kingdom of the)	78	90	97	88.33
Luxembourg	78.4	88.1	97	87.83
Germany	73.7	88	94	85.23
Japan	69.3	83.3	96	82.87
Chile	71.1	82.2	94	82.43
Costa Rica	66.5	82.9	91	80.13
Belgium	67.1	76.4	96	79.83
Lithuania	72.2	73.1	89	78.1
France	63.6	80.7	89	77.77
United States of America	70.6	78.5	83	77.37
Bulgaria	69.3	65.3	79	71.2
Romania	64.5	64.5	83	70.67
South Africa	55.7	70.5	79	68.4
Argentina	51	68.5	85	68.17
Ghana	58	64.3	80	67.43
Albania	65.3	64.1	67	65.47
Dominican Republic	62.6	63.9	68	64.83
Brazil	53.5	67.8	72	64.43
Malaysia	67.3	73	53	64.43
Montenegro	60.9	64.5	67	64.13
Indonesia	63.5	67.1	58	62.87
India	52	70.4	66	62.8
Paraguay	61	58.9	65	61.63
Georgia	68.7	52	58	59.57
Malawi	52.8	59.1	66	59.3
Benin	59.8	42.8	59	53.87
Honduras	58.7	51.5	48	52.73
Bangladesh	54.4	59.9	40	51.43
Côte d’Ivoire	60.4	42.2	49	50.53
Gambia	57.9	44.7	48	50.2
Morocco	58.4	50.4	37	48.6
Kuwait	56.7	38.3	37	44
Qatar	68.6	36.5	25	43.37
Kyrgyzstan	55.8	36.2	27	39.67
United Arab Emirates	70.9	29	18	39.3
Kazakhstan	62.1	30.8	23	38.63
Algeria	43.2	36	32	37.07
Viet Nam	61.8	27.3	19	36.03
Cameroon	51.9	25.6	15	30.83
Maldives	46.6	0	41	29.2
Burundi	41.9	21.3	14	25.73
China	48.3	19.4	9	25.57
Sudan	32.8	24.7	10	22.5
Cuba	24.3	26.5	12	20.93
Eritrea	39.5	20.3	3	20.93
Somalia	n/a	0	8	n/a
World average	59.9	52.9	55.5	56.1
UNHRC Average	59.7326086956522	54.3276595744681	56.2978723404255	57.53

* An index of economic freedom produced by the heritage foundation

** An index of democratic freedom produced by the Economist Intelligence Unit. The scores were adjusted to make them more comparable to the other third party indices in this table.

*** An index of political rights and civil liberties produced by freedom house.

**** A composite index of economic and political freedom. Scores that reach above 70 would indicate substantially free societies.

United Nation’s General Assembly Global Freedom Scores

Unnamed: 0	SRF Global Freedom Scores
Afghanistan	17.07
Albania	65.47
Algeria	37.27
Andorra	84.23
Angola	40.2
Antigua and Barbuda	78.77
Argentina	68.17
Armenia	58.47
Australia	85.63
Austria	82.03
Azerbaijan	33.03
Bahamas	79.6
Bahrain	33.23
Bangladesh	51.43
Barbados	83.73
Belarus	26.3
Belgium	79.83
Belize	76.07
Benin	53.87
Bhutan	58.47
Bolivia	51.5
Bosnia and Herzegovina	54.97
Botswana	71.4
Brazil	64.43
Brunei	44.6
Bulgaria	71.2
Burkina Faso	39
Burundi	25.73
Cabo Verde	78.1
Cambodia	37.43
Cameroon	30.83
Canada	86.83
Central African Republic	21.43
Chad	27.9
Chile	82.43
China	25.57
Colombia	66.77
Comoros	42.5
Congo	31.67
Costa Rica	80.13
Cote d'Ivoire	50.53
Croatia	71.8
Cuba	20.93
Cyprus	79.37
Czech Republic	81.2
Democratic Republic of the Congo	31.35
Denmark	89.13
Djibouti	35.83
Dominica	76.97
Dominican Republic	64.83
Ecuador	60.63
Egypt	32.3
El Salvador	54.2
Equatorial Guinea	24.17
Eritrea	20.93
Estonia	84.07
Eswatini	34
Ethiopia	33.67
Fiji	57.5
Finland	90
France	77.77
Gabon	36.7
Georgia	59.57
Germany	85.23
Ghana	67.43
Greece	74.2
Grenada	79.83
Guatemala	52.83
Guinea	35.47
Guinea-Bissau	37.73
Guyana	64.43
Haiti	36.33
Honduras	52.73
Hungary	65.5
Iceland	87.13
India	63.1
Indonesia	62.87
Iran	24.6
Iraq	33.47
Ireland	90.1
Israel	75.07
Italy	76.4
Jamaica	73.13
Japan	82.87
Jordan	41.17
Kazakhstan	38.63
Kenya	51.67
Kiribati	78
Kuwait	44
Kyrgyzstan	39.67
Laos	27
Latvia	78.17
Lebanon	41.67
Lesotho	59.83
Liberia	54.63
Libya	20.23
Liechtenstein	84.43
Lithuania	78.1
Luxembourg	87.83
Madagascar	58.97
Malawi	59.3
Malaysia	64.43
Maldives	41.97
Mali	38.6
Malta	77.83
Marshall Islands	80.63
Mauritania	43.87
Mauritius	79
Mexico	58.57
Micronesia	81.07
Moldova	62.3
Monaco	80.1
Mongolia	69.73
Montenegro	64.13
Morocco	48.6
Mozambique	44.2
Myanmar	20.97
Namibia	66.63
Nauru	68.47
Nepal	51.43
Netherlands	61.33
New Zealand	91.33
Nicaragua	32.97
Niger	47.33
Nigeria	46.4
North Korea	5.57
North Macedonia	64.23
Norway	91.67
Oman	37.9
Pakistan	42.57
Palau	78.77
Panama	71.97
Papua New Guinea	57.47
Paraguay	61.63
Peru	65.23
Philippines	61.53
Poland	73.03
Portugal	81.67
Qatar	43.37
Romania	70.67
Russia	30.87
Rwanda	35.4
Samoa	76.03
San Marino	88.27
Sao Tome and Principe	72.75
Saudi Arabia	29.03
Senegal	60.97
Serbia	62.27
Seychelles	69.5
Sierra Leone	54.5
Singapore	64.37
Slovakia	76.57
Slovenia	80.33
Solomon Islands	68.97
Somalia	15.77
South Africa	68.4
South Korea	79
South Sudan	14.93
Spain	78.57
Sri Lanka	56.97
St. Kitts and Nevis	89
St. Lucia*	76.35
St. Vincent and the Grenadines	77.25
Sudan	22.5
Suriname	64.87
Sweden	90.47
Switzerland	90.4
Syria	17.87
Tajikistan	25.67
Tanzania	49
Thailand	52.43
The Gambia	49.97
Timor-Leste	63.27
Togo	42.4
Tonga	72.13
Trinidad and Tobago	71.03
Tunisia	54.67
Turkey	44.13
Turkmenistan	21.7
Tuvalu	82.13
Uganda	43.97
Ukraine	50.8
United Arab Emirates	39.3
United Kingdom	81.9
United States	77.37
Uruguay	85.1
Uzbekistan	29.9
Vanuatu	72.43
Venezuela	21.03
Vietnam	36.03
Yemen	22.83
Zambia	53.27
Zimbabwe	32.07

Tentative Conclusions

The average SRF Global Freedom Score was 56,1. For the UN General Assembly 67 of 193 members saw scores above 70 points. At the UN Human Rights Commission just 27% of members had scores above 70 points. For the UN Security Council that figure was 53%.