In an open democracy, it is easy to take the freedom of the press and access to information for granted.

But a report from the Risk Advisory Group shows that these aspects of government are a relative rarity in the world.

The consultancy ranked countries based on the opacity of their governments, scoring them on factors such as the availability of public information, the quality of that data and how easy it is to access "human sources" for new information.

Here's how the world's most impenetrable places stack up according to the study:

9. Belarus —Belarussian President Aleksandr Lukashenko has been called "the last dictator in Europe," earning his country an opacity score of 22 and a place on the list.

Belarusian president Alexander Lukashenko (AFP/Getty)

8. Democratic Republic of Congo — The central African nation has been scarred by civil war and scores 24 on the Risk Advisory Group's opacity scale.

Nothing says "holiday" like the Democratic Republic of Congo (Getty)

7. Bhutan — Bhutan's monarch is known as the Thunder Dragon King, but despite recent political reform the Himalayan state gets an opacity score of 26.

Tiger's Nest Monastery is the most holy Buddhist site in Bhutan (Getty)

6. South Sudan — South Sudan gained independence from Sudan in 2011 and has been locked in a civil war since 2013, earning a score of 27.

Sudan peacekeepers (AFP/Getty)

5. Libya — The North African state is yet to regain stability after overthrowing former dictator Muammar Gaddafi in 2011, and has a score of 28.

(AFP/Getty (AFP/Getty)

4. Republic of Cuba — Despite a recent rapprochement with the US, Cuba's government ranks highly on the opacity scale with 29.

Havana, Cuba (Getty Images/iStockphoto)

3. Laos — Laos is a Marxist republic in South East Asia. The country's GDP per capita is one of the lowest in the world, at around $6,000, and the government has an opacity score of 30.

Bungalows on Don Det (Gorgo/Wikimedia Commons)

2. Turkmenistan — Turkmenistan was ruled by President For Life Sapurmurat Niyazov for 31 years between 1985 and 2006. The country has not opened up much since then, scoring 33 on the opacity scale. Turkmenistan is the third worst country in the world for press freedom conditions according to Reporters Without Borders.

(Getty Images (Getty Images)

1. The Democratic People's Republic of North Korea — The secretive, autocratic state gets a score of 34 from the Risk Advisory Group, cementing it as the most opaque government on the planet.

North Korea leader Kim Jong Un smiles as he visits Sohae Space Center for the testing of a new engine for an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) (Reuters)

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