The report said that political violence and armed conflict fueled the 19th straight year of decline of global freedom. But 34 countries, including Bangladesh, Bhutan, Sri Lanka and Syria registered improvements.

Freedom declined across the world in 2024 — for the 19th year in a row — fueled by armed conflicts, political violence and an unprecedented year of elections, democracy watchdog Freedom House said in its annual report on Wednesday.

But amid the overall decline, South Asia led a series of bright spots.

The report’s co-author Yana Gorokhovskaia said 2024 was especially volatile due to the unprecedented number of elections held around the globe.

“The big picture is that this was another year of the same trajectory of a global decline in freedom but because of all the elections, it was more dynamic than previous years,” she said.

Gains recorded in Bhutan, Senegal and Syria

The research group elevated the status of two countries to “free.”

The first was Senegal, where the opposition triumphed despite the outgoing president’s attempts to delay elections, along with the Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan, which held elections that helped consolidate a long reform process of shifting power from the monarchy to the citizens.

Bhutan is now the only South Asian country with the “free” status. However, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka also saw the largest increase in freedom score. Bangladesh saw its iron-fisted leader Sheikh Hasina flee after a revolt. In Sri Lanka, Anura Kumara Dissanayake was elected president on an anti-corruption agenda, defeating two long-dominant parties. 

Syria also saw gains in liberties and freedom immediately after rebel forces toppled the regime of Bashar Assad. Despite the gain, Syria’s overall score was one of the worst in the index. Like Bangladesh, Syria too has a tough road ahead to establish free and fair elections and only time will show the real gains in political representation, the report said.

Jordan emerged as another bright spot in the Middle East with its status elevated from “not free” to “partly free,” owing to reforms that allowed more competitive elections.

The only country with a perfect 100 score was Finland, with Sweden, Norway and New Zealand right behind at 99.

Kashmir bounces back

India-occupied Kashmir saw the largest increase of score in the index. The region held its first election since the Hindu nationalist government led by Narendra Modi revoked Kashmir’s special status in 2019.

However, India as a whole saw a decline in freedom as the government made efforts to gain power over appointments in the judiciary. Freedom House previously downgraded India from “free” to “partly free” in 2021.

Political rights largely “depend on institutions. And those are easy to destroy but very hard to build up,” Gorokhovskaia said.

Tanzania, Thailand among downgraded countries

At the other end of the stick, four countries — Kuwait, Niger, Tanzania and Thailand — were downgraded from “partly free” to “not free.”

Thailand in 2024 witnessed a court disband a party that won most votes in the election and then dismiss the prime minister from the second-placing party.

Niger came under the complete grip of the military after a coup in 2023 ousted the elected president, and Tanzania saw a crackdown on protesters.

Kuwait, Tunisia, El Salvador and Haiti saw the largest decline in freedom in 2024 while Turkmenistan, South Sudan, Sudan, North Korea remained some of nations with the lowest overall scores.

Kuwait saw its parliament disbanded after elections while Haiti’s capital city has been largely under the grip of gang violence.