Freedom means different things to different people.
But Freedom House, an independent watchdog organization that releases an annual report on freedom around the world, measures it in terms of civil liberties and political rights.
Their annual report, Freedom in the World, “operates from the assumption that freedom for all people is best achieved in liberal democratic societies.”
In 2018, more than 130 in-house and external analysts and advisers from academia, think tanks, and human rights institutions created the report by collecting data from media, research articles, government documents, and other sources.
That data was then used to score a country's political rights on a scale of 0-40 and its civil liberties on a scale of 0-60.
Freedom House measured political rights by the degree with which a country's elections are free and fair, as well as by how much political pluralism and participation there is. Civil liberties, on the other hand, were measured by how free and independent the media is and how much freedom of expression and assembly there is.
In the ranking below, countries with a shared freedom rating were listed by alphabetical order, except for the three countries that received the top score.
Check out the 27 countries with the most freedom below:
27. United Kingdom
The United Kingdom received a score of 95 in Freedom House's 2017 report, losing five civil liberties points in the freedom of expression and belief, rule of law, and individual rights categories.
26. Tuvalu
Tuvalu also received a score of 94 in Freedom House's 2017 report.
25. Spain
Spain also received a score of 94 in Freedom House's 2017 report, losing two political rights points under the functioning of government category, and four civil liberties points under the freedom of expression, rule of law, individual rights, and associational and organizational categories.
24. Germany
Germany received a score of 95 in Freedom House's 2017 report, losing one political rights points under the political pluralism and participation category, and four civil liberties points under the freedom of expression, rule of law, and individual rights categories.
23. Estonia
Estonia also received a score of 94 in Freedom House's 2017 report, losing two political rights points under functioning of government and political pluralism and participation categories, and four civil liberties points under the rule of law and individual rights categories.
22. Cyprus
Cyprus also received a score of 94 in Freedom House's 2017 report, losing two political rights points under electoral process and functioning of government categories, and four civil liberties points under the rule of law, individual rights, and freedom of expression categories.
21. Chile
Chile also received a score of 94 in Freedom House's 2017 report, losing three political rights points under political pluralism and participation and functioning of government categories, and three civil liberties points under the rule of law and individual rights categories.
20. Austria
Austria received a score of 94 in Freedom House's 2017 report, losing three political rights points under political pluralism and participation and functioning of government categories, and two civil liberties points under the rule of law and individual rights categories.
19. Iceland
Iceland received a score of 97 in Freedom House's 2017 report.
18. Belgium
Belgium also received a score of 95 in Freedom House's 2017 report, losing five civil liberties points under the rule of law, individual rights, and freedom of expression and belief categories.
17. Switzerland
Switzerland received a score of 96 in Freedom House's 2017 report, losing one political rights point under political pluralism and participation category, and three civil liberties points under the rule of law, individual rights and freedom of expression and belief categories.
16. Japan
Japan also received a score of 96 in Freedom House's 2017 report, losing four civil liberties points under the rule of law, individual rights and freedom of expression and belief categories.
15. Ireland
Ireland also received a score of 96 in Freedom House's 2017 report, losing one political rights point under the functioning of government category, and three civil liberties points under the rule of law and individual rights categories.
14. Barbados
Barbados also received a score of 96 in Freedom House's 2017 report.
13. Andorra
Andorra also received a score of 96 in Freedom House's 2017 report.
12. San Marino
San Marino received a score of 97 in Freedom House's 2017 report.
11. Portugal
Portugal also received a score of 97 in Freedom House's 2017 report, losing two civil liberties points under the rule of law and individual rights categories, and one political rights point under the functioning of government category.
10. Denmark
Denmark also received a score of 97 in Freedom House's 2017 report, losing three civil liberties points under the rule of law and individual rights categories.
9. Uruguay
Uruguay received a score of 98 in Freedom House's 2017 report, losing two civil liberties points under the rule of law and individual rights categories.
8. New Zealand
New Zealand also received a score of 98 in Freedom House's 2017 report, losing two civil liberties points under the rule of law and individual rights categories.
7. Luxembourg
Luxembourg also received a score of 98 in Freedom House's 2017 report.
6. Australia
Australia also received a score of 98 in Freedom House's 2017 report, losing two civil liberties points under the rule of law and individual rights categories.
5. Netherlands
The Netherlands received a score of 99 in Freedom House's 2017 report, losing one civil liberties point under the rule of law category.
4. Canada
Canada also received a score of 99 in Freedom House's 2017 report. The country lost one civil liberties point for rule of law, citing strict defamation laws and high rates of gender and racial discrimination among indigenous women.
1. Sweden (tie)
Sweden received a score of 100 in Freedom House's 2017 report.
1. Norway (tie)
Finland also received a score of 100 in Freedom House's 2017 report.
1. Finland (tie)
Finland also received a score of 100 in Freedom House's 2017 report.
Perhaps not coincidentally, Freedom House's top 10 countries in 2018 also match rather well with Forbes' list of the 10 happiest countries in 2018.
