9/10/2007

How free is your country

According to the World Bank's Voice and Accountablity Index, which ranks countries by the amount of freedom citizens have to voice opinions and select a government, the U.S. tops out at 35th place - a drop from its rank of 22nd in 2005 because of a decreased trust in public officials and restrictions on the freedom of the press. "The U.S. is not a model," says Daniel Kaufmann, a lead author of the report, but it is far from the doghouse. To compare US with the rest of countries, you can check the index. The number 0 (Burma) is the worst, and 100 is the best (Denmark). Canana is 94.2%, US is 83.7%, Russia 24%, China is 4.8%.

3 comments:

Bilbo said...

This is both interesting and sobering. The current administration has done a good job of trying to limit freedom of speech and other constitutional rights in the name of national security, and I definitely don't have much trust in many of our elected officials...but the fact that we can elect those officials and, more so than in many other nations, hold them accountable, is a great thing. Yes, we have a way to go, but I think an honest assessment would show we're still far ahead of most others.

Mike said...

How you got any numbers out of that site is beyond me. Lots of data but limited compilation.

Numeric Life said...

Mike,
yes, that site/report is hard to use. I had to play around it alot.