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Freedom Day: These are the freest countries in the world, mapped

Freedom Day: These are the freest countries in the world, mapped

South Africa marks Freedom Day every year on 27 April, the anniversary of the day in 1994 in which the country held its first ever all-race democratic election, following apartheid.

The government said in a statement:

This year’s Freedom Day celebration is a highly significant occasion as South Africans have just celebrated 20 years of the Constitution and are celebrating 22 years of Constitutional Democracy.

President Jacob Zuma said:

We call on all South Africans to mark this important day on which the nation triumphed over racism and subjugation. On this day we will be promoting unity and working together to build a non-racial, non-sexist, democratic, and prosperous South Africa.

Picture: SHEEHAN/AFP/Getty Images

He will deliver a keynote address at Giyani stadium in Limpopo Province amid protests for his resignation. Protesters are using #ZumaMustFall to question his leadership after the Constitutional Court found that he had failed to uphold, defend and respect the Constitution when making state-funded renovations to his private homestead in Nkandla, KwaZulu-Natal.

On a scale from one to seven, one being the most free, South Africa recieved a score of two for freedom, civil liberties and political rights in Freedom House's 2015 Index.

A higher resolution image is available here (Picture: Freedom House)

While 51 countries were rated 'not free' in the 2015, it named 10 countries as the 'worst of the worst'.

  • Central African Republic

  • Equatorial Guinea

  • Eritrea

  • North Korea

  • Saudi Arabia

  • Somalia

  • Sudan

  • Syria

  • Turkmenistan

  • Uzbekistan

The countries who received top marks on the newest index were:

  • Andorra
  • Australia
  • Austria
  • Bahamas
  • Barbados
  • Belgium
  • Canada
  • Cape Verde
  • Chile
  • Costa Rica
  • Cyprus
  • Czech Republic
  • Denmark
  • Dominica
  • Estonia
  • Finland
  • France
  • Germany
  • Iceland
  • Ireland
  • Italy
  • Japan
  • Kiribati
  • Liechtenstein
  • Lithuania
  • Luxembourg
  • Malta
  • Marshall Islands
  • Micronesia
  • Netherlands
  • New Zealand
  • Norway
  • Palau
  • Poland
  • Portugal
  • Saint Lucia
  • Saint Vincent & Grenadines
  • San Marino
  • Slovakia
  • Slovenia
  • Spain
  • Sweden
  • Switzerland
  • Tuvalu
  • United Kingdom
  • United States
  • Uruguay

More:These are the countries with the most and least press freedom in the world

More:These are the least free countries in the world

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