Freedom House: Georgia Remains ‘Partly Free’

Georgia still remains among “partly free” countries, according to an annual report by the U.S.-based rights watchdog Freedom House.

Freedom in the World 2019, is a country-by-country report on global political rights and civil liberties in 195 countries and 14 territories, covers the developments that took place in 2018. Any country or territory is given a status “free”, “partly free” or “not free” based on points in political rights and civil liberties categories on a scale from 1 to 7 with 1 representing the most free and 7 the least free. Of the 195 countries assessed in 2019 report, 86 (44%) were rated “free”, 59 (30%) “partly free”, and 50 (26%) “not free”.

The countries are also ranked on a scale of 1 (worst) to 100 (best).

Georgia’s rating for both “political rights” and “civil liberties” categories remained unchanged since 2012 at 3 points, placing the country under “partly free” states.

With its score, Georgia ranks 63rd out of 100, which is higher than other “partly free” Eastern Partnership countries, like Ukraine (60), or Moldova (58) or its only “partly free” neighbor, Armenia (51). Georgia’s score is on par with Montenegro (65) and a step below from Serbia (67). Georgia’s largest neighbors are “not free” – Russia scores 20 out of 100, and Turkey – 31.

Freedom House Rankings of Georgia by Year.

Freedom House ranks Abkhazia and South Ossetia as well as the “territories”. Abkhazia is ranked “partly free”, with 4 score on political rights and 4.5 in civil liberties. South Ossetia is “not free” with 7 points on political rights and 6.5 on civil liberties.

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