According to the Freedom House rating Lithuania is considered to be free country

Such conclusion can be made, having studied an annual rating of international organization Freedom House which it has recently published. Lithuania has received the maximal possible estimation: 1 point (from 7), it means, that excellent conditions for a political competition are created here, the rights and freedom of citizens are observed and respected, independent mass-media act freely.

Total amount of the countries participating in the rating was 193 among them 90 countries have been recognized free, 43 countries are restricted (not free), 60 countries are only partially free. As to the some certain countries the maximal point have got all the countries of the European Union, except for Bulgaria, Greece, Latvia and Romania which have got 1,5 point each. So if we take into consideration the neighbors of Lithuania, it happens so that Estonia and Poland have got 1 point, Latvia has got 1,5 point, Russia has got 5,5 point, and at last Belarus has got 6,5 point. It should be mentioned, that Russia and Belarus have improved the parameter in comparison with 2007 on 0,5 point, nevertheless, the rating of these countries is very low. It is interesting, that Freedom House for the first time mentioned South Ossetia in the rating in the category of “Territory in dispute”.

The worst rating (7 points) have got: Cuba, Burma, Libya, Northern Korea, Sudan, Somalia, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan. It means that in these countries the political and civil rights of citizens are very strongly derogated, there are no free mass-media.

So we can come into conclusion, that in free countries live nearby 3 billion people, in partially free live 1,2 billion people, and in restricted (not free) countries live 2,4 billion people.

Photo: ©Beny Shlevich's/www.flickr.com