Croatia was classified as Free with a slight drop in its rating in the latest 2019 annual report compiled by the US democracy and civil liberties watchdog Freedom House. Globally, the group said, the state of democracy was found to be in decline 13th year in a row.

Croatia was classified as Free according to the latest 2019 annual report compiled by the US democracy and civil liberties watchdog Freedom House. Globally, the group said, the state of democracy was found to be in decline 13th year in a row.

The report, titled Freedom in the World 2019, measured the state of democratic values using a series of indicators for 195 countries and 14 territories around the world. Based on their overall weighted scores, countries are categorised as either Not Free, Partly Free, or Free, and also ranked based on their individual scores from 0 to 100.

The 25 indicators examined are gouped into major areas such as political rights and civil liberties.

The highest ranked countries this year were Norway, Sweden, and Finland, who all received the maximum score of 100, followed by the Netherlands and Canada (99), New Zealand, Luxembourg, Uruguay, and Australia (98). Syria, the only country rated zero, was rock bottom on the list this year, behind Tibet (1) and Turkmenistan, Eritrea, and South Sudan (all rated 2).

In Europe, the lowest ranked was the territory of Crimea (8) which was annexed by Russia in 2014 but is still recognised as part of Ukraine by the US and the EU. The worst ranked sovereign countries in Europe were Belarus (19), Russia (20), and Turkey (31), with all three classified as Not Free.

Croatia’s 2019 overall score was 85, down from 86 in the 2018 report, putting it on par with Mongolia (85), behind United States and Belize (86) and ahead of Poland, Argentina, Panama, and Antigua and Barbuda (all at 84).

As for other countries in the region, Slovenia was also rated Free, with an overall score of 94. Hungary (70), Serbia (67), Montenegro (65), Macedonia (59), Kosovo (54), and Bosnia and Herzegovina (53) were all rated Partly Free.

Hungary was downgraded from Free due to what Freedom House described as sustained attacks on the country’s democratic institutions by Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s Fidesz party, making it the only European Union country now outside of the Free category.

Serbia’s status also declined to Partly Free over the last twelve months, which the group said was caused by deteriorating conduct of elections, attempts by the government to undermine independent journalists, and President Aleksandar Vucic’s de facto accumulation of executive powers.

“In 2018, Freedom in the World recorded the 13th consecutive year of decline in global freedom. The reversal has spanned a variety of countries in every region, from long-standing democracies like the United States to consolidated authoritarian regimes like China and Russia. The overall losses are still shallow compared with the gains of the late 20th century, but the pattern is consistent and ominous. Democracy is in retreat,” the report said.

Globally, the report showed that last year 44 percent of countries and territories analysed were Free, 30 percent were Partly Free, and more than 25 percent were Not Free.

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