Is the United States still the land of the free?

Fifty years of decline

For decades, the United States has been seen as a global benchmark for freedom. But a new report by Washington-based Freedom House paints a starkly different picture. The pro-democracy research group says the US has slipped to its lowest freedom score in more than 50 years, dropping to 81 out of 100 for 2025.

“This is a level we have never seen since we began assessments in 1972,” said Cathryn Grothe, senior research analyst and co-author of the report. “It reflects growing pressures on free expression, legislative paralysis, and the concentration of power in the executive branch.”

The decline is not just a numerical dropit signals a shift in perception and reality. In global rankings, the US now sits on par with South Africa and below several European allies, South Korea, and Panama.

Executive overreach under Trump

The report directly links the erosion of freedom in the US to the actions of President Donald Trump, who has aggressively expanded executive authority. Freedom House highlights the closure of government agencies and the deployment of armed, masked anti-immigration agents across the country, often promised immunity by the White House.

“These measures have created a climate where anticorruption safeguards and ordinary democratic norms are increasingly vulnerable,” the report notes.

The US experienced a three-point drop in its scorean unusual decline for a country historically rated “free.” Only Bulgaria experienced a comparable fall, linked to electoral controversies.

A grim global milestone

The decline of the US is part of a larger, worrying global trend. Freedom House reports that worldwide freedom has now eroded for 20 consecutive years, with only 21 percent of the world’s population living in countries rated as “free.” Much of Africa’s slip is attributed to military coups, violence against protesters, and weakening constitutional protections.

“Over the past two decades, more countries have fallen into the ‘not free’ category than have moved toward democracy,” said Grothe. “The middle ground is shrinking, leaving fewer spaces for citizens to exercise rights freely.”

Among the brighter spots, Bolivia, Malawi, and Fiji were upgraded to “free” after holding competitive elections and strengthening rule of law protections. Finland earned the only perfect 100 score, while South Sudan remains at the bottom, scoring zero.

The irony of independence

Freedom House, founded in 1941 with bipartisan US support, has historically relied on US government funding. Yet, as Trump scaled back democracy promotion efforts, the organization became an even sharper independent voice, assessing the US alongside other nations without political bias.

While the report’s findings do not declare the US “unfree,” they mark a turning point in a half-century-long assessment, challenging the long-held assumption that the United States is the uncontested standard-bearer of global freedom.

For citizens and observers alike, the report raises uncomfortable questions: how much freedom can be eroded before a “free” country is no longer free, and what lessons does this hold for democracies worldwide?

{Source: The South African}

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